Buzz
From the perils of a late-night cheese feast to that recurring dream about taking the SATs in your underwear, we’re here to debunk eight common myths about dreams, based on an episode of Misconceptions on YouTube.
1. Myth: Eating cheese before bedtime leads to nightmares.
In Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge brushes off a spectral visitation as nothing more than a result of the cheese he ate before bed. While it sounds peculiar, cheese has long been blamed for causing nightmares. However, it's unlikely that a slice of cheddar is the true cause of your nighttime fears.
In 2005, the British Cheese Board sponsored a study to challenge the belief that cheese causes nightmares. As part of the research, 200 participants ate 20 grams of cheese half an hour before going to bed. While 67% of those who ate cheese remembered their dreams, none reported having nightmares. The dreams they did recall, however, were quite strange. One participant described dreaming of a vegetarian crocodile upset about not being able to eat children, while another dreamt of soldiers battling with kittens instead of weapons.
The study also suggested that different types of cheese had varying effects, with Stilton cheese leading to the oddest dreams. It's important to note that there are several flaws in this research—it hasn't been published, there was no control group, and it was funded by the British Cheese Board, probably as a public relations strategy. Still, it's unlikely that 'cheese nightmares' are something to genuinely be concerned about.
2. Myth: We only dream during REM sleep.
While there’s still a lot we don’t fully understand about dreams, it was once believed that they only occurred during REM sleep. However, it’s now been proven that we actually dream throughout the night, across different stages of sleep. We tend to remember the dreams that happen during REM sleep, which is named after the rapid eye movement that takes place during this part of the sleep cycle. These REM dreams tend to be more intense, bizarre, and exciting. In contrast, dreams during non-REM sleep are simpler and less emotionally charged.
3. Myth: Dreams are completely meaningless.
While it’s hard to draw conclusions from any single dream, research indicates that dreams are more than just a random collection of images that flicker through our minds at night. Recurring themes in dreams often mirror real-life concerns. The dreams you have about being unprepared for a test or arriving to class in your underwear aren’t just limited to high school. These dreams can resurface well after graduation, especially during stressful times. So, if you're feeling nervous before a big job interview, don’t be surprised if your subconscious revisits that old nightmare about failing a math test.
4. Myth: Remembering your dreams means you're getting good sleep.
Some believe that recalling your dreams in the morning means you've had a restful night, but that’s not the case. In reality, people who don’t sleep well are more likely to remember their dreams. A 2014 study in Cerebral Cortex found that those who remembered their dreams experienced twice as much 'wakefulness,' meaning they woke up more frequently. These individuals also showed greater brain activity in the temporoparietal junction, the area responsible for processing information and emotions. Their heightened reaction to sounds could explain why their sleep was more disturbed. Essentially, those who are sleep-deprived tend to have more intense sleep during the little rest they get, leading to more vivid dreams.
5. Myth: Not everyone dreams.
A 2015 French study published in the Journal of Sleep Research set out to determine whether everyone dreams. The study focused on individuals with REM sleep behavior disorder, a condition where people physically act out their dreams. Less than 4% of participants claimed to never dream. However, the researchers observed otherwise. Even those who denied dreaming showed physical movements during sleep, indicating they were dreaming after all. It’s more likely that people simply forget their dreams. While adults typically have four to six dreams a night, most forget 95 to 99 percent of them.
6. Myth: Dreams can kill you.
No, your dreams can’t harm you—though, there was a time when people believed they could. In 1981, it was reported that Southeast Asian refugees escaping violent regimes had died of heart attacks in their sleep. The suspected cause? Nightmares induced by PTSD. However, it was soon discovered that these mysterious deaths had been happening in Asia and other parts of the world long before. The nightmares weren’t causing the fatal heart attacks after all.
More recent studies have linked these medical incidents to a genetic disorder called Brugada syndrome. In this case, it’s not the dreams themselves but rather the REM sleep phase that poses a risk. During REM, your heart rate becomes less stable, which puts those with heart conditions at higher risk.
7. Myth: Dying in a dream means death is imminent.
According to a common myth, dying in a dream signifies that your real-life death is just around the corner. Thankfully, there's no scientific evidence to support the idea that dreaming of death predicts your actual demise. Instead, death dreams are often seen as symbols of major life transitions or the end of something significant, such as quitting a job or ending a relationship. So, even if you find yourself facing death in a dream, it’s likely that you’ll live to see another day.
8. Myth: Abraham Lincoln dreamed of his own death just before his assassination.
One of the most well-known death dream myths is that President Abraham Lincoln had a dream that foretold his own death. According to his friend and bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln shared with a group of people that he had a dream shortly before his assassination. In the dream, he encountered a group of grieving soldiers who had died. When he asked who had been killed, they responded, 'The president. He was murdered by an assassin.' However, modern historians doubt the authenticity of this premonition, given the inconsistencies in Lamon’s account.
In some versions, Lincoln reportedly had this dream 10 days before John Wilkes Booth shot him, while in other versions, he foresaw his death just a few days prior to his fatal trip to the theater. Additionally, neither Lamon nor Lincoln’s wife mentioned the dream immediately after the assassination—Lamon didn’t reveal the story until 20 years later.
