For many centuries, humans have had weird dreams that have been considered a big mystery. In spite of all the knowledge we have gained from various scientific studies, dream research is still in its infancy. More research will be necessary to comprehend the actual science behind it all. Although we have definitely made a lot of good progress over the years, there are still some unsolved mysteries of the human brain we may never fully understand.

From the moment we are born until the day we pass away, dreaming will be a part of our lives. Although many people are said to not even recall the majority of their dreams, some claim they clearly remember them. They will even attempt to interpret them to understand their meanings and messages. One thing we do know for sure is that our dreams present us with a world that is entirely different from our everyday consciousness. In this post, we will dig deep into the psychology of the lucid and obscure dreams humans often experience.

Dream History And Purpose

People have been trying to interpret their dreams since 3000-4000 B.C. Even stories in the Bible have hundreds of references to dreams. They were once seen in a religious context during the Greek and Roman eras. They were said to be direct messages being sent from gods or the deceased. People also believed that dreams could solve problems and predict the future. Today, there are still many people that will follow the messages they interpret.

During the Middle Ages, dream images were looked at as evil temptations straight from the devil. People believed that in order for the devil to fill up the mind with poisonous thoughts and lead a person down the wrong path, one would have to be in a vulnerable sleep state.

In the 19th century, Sigmund Freud had revolutionized the study of dreams and their meanings. Today, more and more researchers are joining the mission to understand why we have dreams and what they really mean. Whether or not they actually have a psychological, biological or physiological function has yet to be determined. We are not sure exactly why and how we dream. In fact, we still aren’t even sure about the function of sleep. Although there are theories to why we dream, a commonly known theory is because dreams will work with sleep to help our brains sort through everything it had collected while being awake.

One thing we know for certain is that our dream cycle is usually more abundant and also best remembered during the REM sleeping stage. How often one remembers their dreams is said to vary from person to person, but most scientists will agree that everyone dreams.

Posture Influences Dream Content And Experiences

Based on a study done by a dream researcher in Hong Kong, your dream content and experiences can be influenced by your body posture during sleep. For example, if you are sleeping face down, you’re much more likely to dream about “being trapped” or “tied down.” This is because lying prone makes it more difficult to breath while simultaneously making you feel more constricted. Sleeping face down may also lead to sex-related dreams. Our brain will actually absorb the stimulation that the genitals will get from the bed and sheets.

Why Do People Experience Nightmares?

According to sleep researchers, it is estimated that almost three quarters of our dream emotions and content are negative. Nightmares are a universal experience (regardless of one’s culture or environment) that often come to haunt our peaceful nights. Children are said to experience them more often than adults. Researchers do not know exactly what triggers a nightmare, but they suggest the numbers are higher in children because of the fact that they are often scared when they are awake. It may also have something to do with the development of the brain. Nightmares are said to lower in frequency in early adulthood.

Obscure And Weird Faces Of People

It is said that in our dreams, we will only see faces that we already know or have seen at some point in our lives. You probably have experienced obscure faces, or even monster-like faces. You may not recognize the person. There is a good explanation for this experience. Since we have all seen many faces throughout our lives, your brain is given a lot of different characters that it can use to create a variety of normal and even funny-looking humans.

This raises an interesting question: If all the faces we see in our dreams are of people we already know or have seen, is this also the same for animals? For example, if you dream about a werewolf, is it really just a vision of large dog you used to have when you were a kid?

Unable To Find The Bathroom

You have probably experienced dreams of not being able to find the restroom. This often represents an opportunity to eliminate a negative situation. You may be trying to get rid of a current problem or resolve an older issue. This can possibly be related to a bad habit you have. For instance, you may have told a lie to someone that you want to get off the table. However, it can also mean that your brain is telling you to find a restroom because thanks to the water you drank right before you went to bed, you really do need to go and urinate.

What About The Dreams Where The Toilet Is Not Private?

You may have had an experience where you were able to find a toilet. Unfortunately, once it was found, it wasn’t just the only toilet around, but was also not private. This may represent that you are deprived privacy or personal time in your life. It is said that if you are one who lives in situations with lack of privacy, you will commonly have these types of dreams.

The Deceased In Dreams: Communicating With Your Dead Loved Ones

You may have had dreams where you actually communicate with your deceased loved ones. These types of dreams are in a lower percentage of other dream reports. They are said to usually occur months or a few years after you lose a loved one. They usually mean you are in a grieving process. Although psychics will often say these types of dreams really are your loved ones trying to reach out to you, there is not direct evidence to support this claim

A study revealed that volunteers had often experienced recurring dreams in reaction to a lost loved one. For the people that had changes in the content of their dreams, the study suggested that this it is the primary psychological processes that will follow from a loss.

Falling From A Building

You have probably had many dreams of you falling. This is because it is one of the most commonly reported dreams. If you fall, a theory suggests that you have lost control of a situation in your life or are dealing with insecurities. It may be telling you that not only does the situation need your attention, but it also needs to be fixed immediately. If you happen to experience a recurring dream of falling, it likely means you are ignoring your problems.

Have You Fallen To The Ground?

Many people believe that if you fall from a building and hit the ground in a dream, in reality you will die. You have probably heard people tell you they wake up before they hit the ground. Although this is said to often occur, it doesn’t mean that if you hit the ground, you will actually die in real life. This is just a popular myth that actually sounds similar to the movie series Nightmare On Elm Street. Whatever happens in your dreams, happens in reality.

Dreaming Your Teeth Are Destroyed

According to some dream researchers, dreaming of losing your teeth is also common. You may also dream of them becoming rotten and destroyed. Although there is no one proven reason why one would experience this type of dream, there are theories of its symbolism.

They are said to relate to one’s own experiences in life and can have a variety of meanings. Losing your teeth may represent a loss of power or an anxiety of your appearance. Women experiencing menopause are said to frequently have dreams where they lose their teeth. This can be due to a fear of losing your good looks (related to the unwanted changes caused by menopause). Losing your teeth can also be interpreted as fears of being seen as foolish. For example, if you happen to lose your teeth while you are with a crowd of people, it may indicate that you have a fear of being embarrassed in front of them. You may have this type of dream the night before you have to make a big speech in front of hundreds of people.

Dreams Of Bad Breath

Have you ever had a dream where you had awful halitosis? This may be an indication of you having the desire to either keep your distance from other people, or cross their boundaries.
Bad breath can also mean that you have feelings of vulnerability and feel like others see you negatively. It can also mean that in order to avoid connections and intimacy, you tend to push people away. Then again, it may just mean you are smelling your own bad breath.

Naked In Public

Do you remember having dreams where you go to school in your underwear? This is a commonly reported dream. You are stuck with your undies and can’t even find a pair of shorts to solve the problem. So what about the strange dreams where you are actually naked in public? This type of theme is also very common. Have you noticed that other people in the dream could care less if you are nude? This could mean your anxieties are exaggerated.

Dreams of being naked in public can symbolizes your feelings of vulnerability, shame or embarrassment. These dreams often occur when someone is anxious. Perhaps, they are going to start a new job or their first day of college. You may have an insecurity of meeting new people, fears of being unprepared or not being able to correctly complete your duties.

5 Weird Dream And Daydream Facts

1. Dreams Can Be Influenced By The Type Of Cheese You Eat

You were probably told not to eat cheese before you go to bed. This is because it is often believed that eating cheese before bedtime can give you bad dreams. However, according to research, this is not correct. In facts, studies reveal that cheese can help aid with sleep.

A study involving 200 volunteers concluded that there were no experiences of any kind of bad dreams after consuming a 20g piece of cheese just 30 minutes before going to bed. In fact, there were 72 percent that claimed to have also slept very well every single night.

The study also concluded that the type of cheese you eat can influence the dream you will experience. Stilton was said to cause the most crazy dreams. There were 75 percent of the men and 85 percent of the women that had vivid and odd dreams. One of the dreams that was experienced was a soldiers in a battle using kittens instead of guns as their weapons. British brie was said to give women pleasant dreams. However, with the men volunteers, dreams were weird. They experienced dreams of having a drunken conversation with a dog.

Want Dreams Of Your Favorite Celebrity?

The study also showed that cheddar cheese caused celebrity dreams to nearly two-thirds of the volunteers. Michael Jordan was just one of the several reported celebrities seen.

2. Animals Dream

Science data has shown that most mammals (even birds) experience dreams. You may have heard your dog making vocals or observed them twitch in their sleep. This is likely because they were dreaming. Research has also shown that animals will experience complex dreams.

Do Insects Dream?

Although insects have resting periods, there is still no direct evidence to support that they are actually capable of dreaming. We certainly know that they do not have complex brains and unlike animals, scientists have yet to develop the technology to study their little brains.

3. You Will Forget 90% Of Your Dreams

Within just 10 minutes after you wake up, you will forget 90% of your dreams. If you are one who would like to remember them for whatever reason, there may be a perfect solution for you sometime soon. There will be future technology allowing you to playback your dreams.

4. You Don’t Have To Be Asleep To Dream

Did you know that you are capable of dreaming even if you are awake? Not to be confused with daydreaming, a doctor claims that “wakeful dreaming” can actually occur. The doctor says this is possible by just tapping into your active imagination. Here is how it can be done:

Step 1

Find a quiet place where you will not get interrupted.

Step 2

He recommends you think about a good and recent dream you can remember.

Step 3

Allow the dream to re-energize by bringing it back into your awareness and letting it unfold.

Wakeful dreaming can also be used as an effective relaxation tool (similar to meditating). The doctor also claims that it can actually help your mind process your puzzling dreams by creating a more fluid interaction between the unconscious and wakeful parts of the mind.

5. A Chemist Gave His Daydreaming The Credit For His Discovery

Chemist August Kekule von Stradonitz discovered a new understanding of benzene and gave all the credit to his daydreaming. He claimed that he discovered the ring shape of the benzene molecule following his day-dream experience. He was daydreaming of a snake that was seizing its own tail. He claimed the vision had came to him after years of studying the nature of carbon-carbon bonds (a covalent bond between two carbon atoms in a molecule).

Even though we may never fully understand everything about dreaming, humanity has certainly progress towards answering questions that people have been curious about for centuries. As science progresses with more advanced technology, we will surely learn more.

Do you have any weird dreams you have experienced and would like to share? If you don’t remember any of them, you’ve probably heard of some from friends and family members. Although some of them may be quite frightening, others may be very bizarre and hilarious.