9 Key Insights About Dreaming

People spend about one-third of their lives sleeping, and many dream almost every night. Whether a sweet dream or a nightmare, most dreams feel very vivid while dreaming, yet are largely forgotten after waking. Below are the "9 Major Truths About Dreaming," as published by American Medical Daily. How many are you familiar with?

• People collectively spend over six years of their lives dreaming.
• The most common emotions encountered in dreams are "anger" and "fear."
• On average, most people have between 4 to 7 dreams per night, with each dream lasting from 5 to 20 minutes.
• Eating cheese before bed can help prevent nightmares. The tryptophan in cheese helps reduce stress, leading to deeper sleep and fewer dreams.
• There's a type of dream known as a "lucid dream," where the dreamer is aware of dreaming and can control the dream, such as flying freely in the sky.
• Animals also experience dreams.
• People typically do not dream while snoring.
• About 90% of dreams are forgotten within 10 minutes of waking up.
• The people and events in our dreams are usually familiar faces and situations.

In essence, dreams can reflect our daytime emotions. For example, students might dream of failing an exam when under significant stress. Therefore, managing anxiety and stress while maintaining a calm and peaceful mindset can help reduce nightmares.

Predictive Dreams

Sometimes, if a dream feels incredibly real and you can clearly remember the people, events, and objects after waking, it may possess predictive qualities.

According to foreign media reports, Carl Gustav Jung, the founder of analytical psychology and a renowned Swiss psychiatrist, achieved significant breakthroughs in dream interpretation. He estimated that he analyzed around 80,000 dreams. Astoundingly, he even dreamt of the outbreak of World War II before it occurred. In fact, many Europeans reported dreams about war prior to the start of World War II.

Carl Gustav Jung explained predictive dreams as reflections of the human subconscious, like a book written in a special language. He classified dreams into "retrospective dreams" (recalling past experiences), "simultaneous dreams" (occurring in real-time elsewhere), and "prospective dreams" (or prophetic dreams).

He believed that while modern science still cannot explain the latter two types of dreams, they should be viewed from a "phenomenological" perspective, rather than simply dismissing "prophetic dreams."

Though modern science cannot verify "prophetic dreams," they undeniably exist. Throughout history, there have been numerous accounts of miraculous "prophetic dreams."

According to the "Records of the Grand Historian: The Zhao Family," there was a time when Duke Mu of Qin fell ill and was treated by the famed physician Bian Que while in a coma. After seven days, Duke Mu awoke and told Gongsun Zhi and Ziyu about a dream: "I visited the Heavenly Emperor, where I felt very happy and learned many things, which is why I stayed so long. The Heavenly Emperor told me: 'The State of Jin will soon face turmoil, and after five generations of succession, it will still be unstable. The one who regains power will die young, and the ruler's son will defeat your state.'"

Upon hearing this, Gongsun Zhi recorded the dream and stored it for future reference. Eventually, the State of Jin did indeed face chaos, Duke Wen of Jin rose to power, and Duke Xiang of Jin defeated the Qin army at Mount Xiaoshan—fulfilling the prophecies of Duke Mu's dream.