Effects of dreams on daytime mood: Socio-demographic and personality factors

About 11% of remembered dreams affect daytime mood, supporting an expanded continuity hypothesis where dreams not only reflect but also influence waking life. A survey of 2,492 adults (mean age 47.75 years) found that nightmare frequency, dream recall frequency, attitude toward dreams, neuroticism, openness to experience, gender, and age all influence how dreams affect daytime mood. The findings suggest that for some individuals—particularly women and those with high neuroticism—dreams may have a clinically significant impact on waking life, pointing to a need for further research into a descriptive model linking thematic content and emotions between dream and waking consciousness.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The continuity hypothesis of dreaming states that dreams reflect waking life, however, research has also shown that dreams can affect waking life, e.g., creativity, daytime mood. So far, factors that are associated with the effect of dreams on waking life have been rarely studied. Overall, 2492 persons (1437 woman, 1055 men) with a mean age of 47.75 ± 14.41 years participated in the study. The findings indicate that there is a continuity from dreaming to waking life, roughly 11% of the remembered dreams affect daytime mood. A variety of variables affected this effect of dreams on daytime mood: Nightmare frequency, attitude towards dreams, dream recall frequency, neuroticism, openness to experience, gender, and age. This line of research can help to develop a descriptive model of how thematic content and emotions between dream consciousness and waking consciousness are linked – expanding the original continuity hypothesis. In addition to the further the understanding of the link between waking life and dreaming, more research into the question what individuals (females, high neuroticism scores) might suffer in a clinically significant way from their dreams affecting their waking life is needed.