Do your dreams change as you age?
You might assume that children have nightmares about monsters under the bed, while adults dream about stressful events like deadlines. But is there any scientific evidence that dreams change as we age?
Although there are plausible mechanisms for how aging might alter dreams over time, very little research has explored the topic.
THE studies who studied this idea showed that people tend to report their dreams differently at different stages of their lives. While younger dreamers tend to see and feel more clearly, older people remember more complicated and less emotional situations.
One of the simplest, and perhaps most common, explanations of how our dreams adapt and evolve is called “continuity hypothesis“, first put forward in 1971.
According to this theory, our dreams tend to reflect what we experience in our waking lives: if we’re lounging on vacation, we may see the sun and sand when we fall asleep, but if we’re anxious about work, we may be transported to the office. But ultimately, the parallels between sleep and reality reveal very little about why our dreams may change as we grow.
“Changes in dreams across the lifespan reflect the complex interplay between brain development, sleep architecture, and cognitive and emotional maturation,” Bernardi said. Everything from memory to sleep quality can influence how we experience dreams and their consequences: “These factors determine not only how vivid dreams are during sleep, but also how likely they are to be remembered upon waking.” »
How dreams change with age
Basic research into how children dream was carried out by sleep researcher David Foulkes in the 1970s to 1990s. According to his researchYoung people’s dreams tend to be relatively simple: they involve animals, static objects and simple interactions. (However, research on children’s dreams involves complications because the results depend on each child’s ability to understand what dreams are and how to convey them to others.)
During adolescence, dreams tend to become more frequent and vivid than they were during childhood, reflecting the many changes we experience in our waking lives. While young adolescents report By dreaming of falling, being chased, and facing monsters or animals, older adolescents relive the stresses of school and new relationships.
In adult life, dreams generally become a little more mundane. A study found that adults and older people dream of arriving somewhere late and “trying again and again to do something” more often than other age groups. Strange dreams and nightmares still occur, but the aggression of adolescence begins to fade and the complexity of dreams begins to mirror our waking lives even more.
Studies show that in old age, people tend to report having fewer dreams. Many also experience “white dreams“, in which they remember having a dream but are not sure what happened during it. Although this may be partly explained by the lower quality of sleep that older people tend to experience, much of this change – as is the case with dreams at any age – has to do with the ability to remember accurately and descriptively what we saw in our sleep.
“Dream is defined as a subjective experience that occurs during sleep.” Michael Schredlhead of the sleep laboratory at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Germany, told Live Science. “What we get is only a dream or dream report, the memory of those experiences that occurred during sleep.”
At the end of life and during the dying process, people report seeing deceased loved ones and remembering visions of packing and preparing to go on a trip in their dreams. Studies Hospice patients have found that these dreams are often comforting and put people at ease, reflecting the reflection that often occurs at the end of life.
Sleep Quiz: What do you know about sleep and dreams?
