While scientists have been studying dreams for years, the images that appear while we snooze are still incredibly misunderstood.

When asleep, our minds are active, creating stories and images that can be either vivid or fleeting; nonsensical or seemingly prophetic; terrifying or absolutely mundane.

Why do we dream?We may not have definitive answers, but there are several types of dreams and themes, and different factors that cause these dreams to occur.

According to theNational Sleep Foundation，我们通常每晚梦想大约四到六次。不可能, you might be thinking, but that’s only because we forget more than 95 percent of all dreams.

Dreaming happens throughout the night, but our most vivid and often remembered dreams happen duringrapid eye movement (REM) sleep。

A dream can be influenced by what we’re thinking about before we go to sleep, or what we’ve experienced in our waking day. Dreams can also bring to light what we’re avoiding thinking about or our anxieties.

据考证，65 percentof the elements of dreams are associated with your experiences while awake.

如果你有工作压力，你的梦想可能会在工作中进行或涉及你的同事。如果你刚刚去过约会，你的梦想可能充满了浪漫，或者在倒塌的一面，心碎，如果你对约会某人的新人有焦虑。

A “standard” dream will vary depending on the individual, but below are some梦想的特征:

  • Most dreams are predominantly visual, meaning that images are at the forefront of dreams, rather than other senses like smell or touch.
  • 虽然大多数人梦想着颜色，但有些梦想完全是黑白的。
  • 你的压力越少，你的梦想越愉快。
  • Dreams can be very strange — and that’s totally normal.
  • Your mood, events in the news, pain, violence, and religion may all influence your dream’s subject.

Nightmaresare dreams that are scary or disturbing. Almost everyone has nightmares from time to time and there’s not always a good reason why.

Some potential causes of nightmares include:

  • 观看或阅读某些吓人的东西
  • 睡眠剥夺
  • eating right before bed
  • 药物副作用
  • 发烧或生病
  • sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, nightmare disorder, or narcolepsy

人们遇到了很多压力或有心理健康状况anxiety disordersmay experience dreams that are more frightening. Up to 71 percent of people withpost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)may experience nightmares, which can be recurring if not treated.

One study 发现涉及三个最常见的噩梦：

  • 死亡或死亡
  • physical violence
  • 被追赶或猎杀

夜间恐怖是一种睡眠障碍，比成年人更常见。

When someone has a night terror, they wake up terrified but may only have a vague idea of what they dreamed about. Most of the time, they don’t remember dreams from the night terror.

In a night terror, a person can wake up:

  • screaming
  • kicking or moving violently, even jumping out of bed
  • 出汗
  • 呼吸困难
  • 赛车心率
  • 迷失方向，不确定他们在哪里或发生了什么

夜惊不是技术上的一种梦想,but a sleep disorder.

噩梦和夜间恐怖有什么区别？

  • 夜间恐怖最常发生在非REM睡眠期间发生，而噩梦通常会在REM睡眠期间发生。
  • 夜间恐怖are much more common in children, who experience more non-REM sleep, while nightmares can affect those at any age.
  • Nightmares are often vividly recalled dreams while night terrors are easily forgotten.

Lucid dreaming意味着你意识到你在梦中的时候梦见。像大多数梦想一样，它经常在REM睡眠期间发生。

Most people don’t have frequent lucid dreams, though some research reports that55 percentof people experience it at least once in their lives.

Sometimes you cancontrol a lucid dreamif you have practice. This can help you control your dreams, especially if you tend to have recurring dreams or nightmares.

白日梦

The main difference between a daydream and all other types of dreams is that you’re awake during a daydream.

白日梦有意识地发生，但你仍然觉得你没有完全清醒或意识到你的周围环境。如果有人抓住你的做白日梦，他们可能会说你看起来“zoned out“或迷失在想法中。

白日梦通常涉及别人，无论是真实还是想象的。有些研究已经表明，关于人们的做白日梦，你知道的人在做白日时，在做白日梦时，你不会接近的人可以预测更孤独和更糟糕的幸福。

Recurring dreams

经常性梦想是重复不止一次的梦想。他们经常有一个主题，如对抗，被追逐或堕落。

你可以有中立的重复梦想或recurring nightmares。如果你有recurring nightmares, it may be due to an underlying mental health condition, substance use, or certain medication.

经常性梦想中的共同主题涉及：

  • 被攻击或追逐
  • falling
  • 被恐惧冻结

虚假的觉醒

虚假的觉醒are a type of dream occurrence where a person believes they’ve woken up but actually haven’t. If you’ve ever found yourself dreaming that you woke up, but it was actually a part of the dream, this is a false awakening.

虚假的觉醒have been noted to occur alongside lucid dreams andsleep paralysis。

治疗梦想

While there’s not a lot of scientific information on healing dreams, they’ve been described as dreams that:

  • bring you balance or harmony
  • give you a sense of connection, meaning, or purpose
  • bring about reconciliation
  • 让你感到快乐或和平

预言梦想

预言梦想are thought to be dreams that have foretold a future event. If you dream of something happening and then it occurs later, you may feel you’ve had a prophetic dream.

Historically, dreams were considered to impart wisdom or even predict the future. In some cultures today, dreams are still considered to be a way of receiving messages from the spirit world.

没有真正的方法来判断梦想是预言还是不是 - 它归结为你所相信的。有些人认为，一个预言的梦想只是你的潜意识，期待特定的结果，让你梦想它准备。

Vivid dreams

Vivid dreamsare almost always associated with waking up during REM sleep when your dreams are most vivid and more easily remembered.

虽然我们可能会考虑任何梦想我们在Rem睡眠中经历的梦想“生动”，而生动梦想，它用于描述一个特别强烈的梦想感觉非常真实。你也可能还记得你生动的梦想比典型的梦想更容易。

任何人都可以生动的梦想，但如果你怀孕或特别强调，它可能有助于拥有一个。

Have you had a dream about your teeth falling out, flying through the sky, or being chased? These are common themes that many people dream about.

一些最常见的梦想主题是关于：

Dreaming about specific things like this could mean many things, or as some researchers believe, be completely nonsensical. Interpretations will vary depending on the individual and how they’re doing in their day-to-day lives.

堕落或被追逐的梦想可能表明焦虑或冲突，甚至坠入爱河。

关于牙齿掉落的梦想被解释为来自压力和大生命的一切，表明牙科健康问题。

在公共场合中赤裸裸地失去牙齿，并在对尴尬的恐惧中进行测试可能都落下。

Just because we don’t alwaysremember our dreamsdoesn’t mean we’re not dreaming. Everyone is doing it. Even people who were born without sight dream — their dreams are reportedly 刚刚组成了更多的其他感官，如声音，触摸和嗅觉。

While we’re all dreaming while we sleep, there may be times when you’re more likely to experience certain types of dreams or remember them more often.

  • 在童年时代。While children may not necessarily dream more than adults, they’re more likely to experience certain types of dreams, like night terrors or nightmares, than adults.
  • During pregnancy.Sleep and hormone changes during pregnancy may be to blame forchanges in dreaming。那些怀孕的人可能会遇到更生动或频繁的梦想，更加噩梦。你也可以更好地记住梦想。
  • While grieving. 有些研究 has found that dreams may be more vivid and feel more meaningful when you’re mourning. This can be a part of going through the grieving process.

If you’re experiencing extra stress or anxiety, have a mental health condition, or have experienced a traumatic event, you may also be more likely to have nightmares or vivid dreams.

Scientists don’t have all the answers on why we dream or why we have the types of dreams we have, but there are some clues.

Whether you’re having vivid dreams, nightmares, or lucid dreams, if your dreaming starts to interfere with getting enough sleep, or you believe there’s an underlying cause for your dream type, speak to a healthcare professional.