You can read as many self-help books as you like to help you access the inner meaning of your dreams - but you won’t remember your dreams any more than the sceptics who read none. The amount of time you sleep makes no difference either, but the longer you sleep the more likely you are to tell others about your dreams, so they may be more vivid and memorable. In general, women are more likely to remember and talk about their dreams than men. And reading crime novels and thrillers before you go to sleep is no more likely to give you nightmares than reading Ofsted reports or any other fantasy tales.
These preliminary findings by a team of psychologists at the University of Wales, Swansea, are part of a survey of 10,000 public library users called Dream Lab, part of the libraries’ Frontiers project for Science Year, which has also set up a network of after-school science clubs. The full report will be launched at the Science Museum on June 10, with a back-up exhibition in the Antenna section of the museum for four weeks. Meanwhile, the Children’s Dream Lab, a survey of six to 16-year-olds, is expected to reveal the influence of scary books and TV on children’s dreams.
