One reader suggested after reading the "Dream On" blog a couple of days ago that she thought men didn't dream in color. I became curious about that and decided to check (my thought is men aren't as tuned into color as women,or possibly it has something to do with men being more prone to color blindness?).
I found several interesting things when looking for more information on dreaming. People usually have several dreams each night,each one lasting between 5-20 minutes. During an average lifetime that is around six years. As much as 95% of all dreams are forgotten shortly after waking,this is thought to be because the frontal lobes that play a key role in memory are inactive during REM sleep. 80% of all dreams are in color,though there are people who claim to dream only in black and white. Men dream more of aggression,women tend to have longer dreams with more characters. Men dream more about other men that they dream about women,while women dream about both sexes equally. A lucid dream is one in which you are aware that you are dreaming,and you can often direct or control the content of the dream. (I don't recall ever having one of these.) The most common emotion experienced in dreams is anxiety,and negative emotions are more common that positive ones. REM sleep,when dreams occur,is characterized by paralysis of voluntary muscles,which prevents you from acting out your dreams while you are asleep. Many dreams are universal,being chased,attacked,falling,school events,feeling unable to move,arriving late,flying,and being naked in public.
In a one of my recent dreams I dreamt I had hot pink hair and was so angry about it (I don't care for pink) that it woke me up,in another I dreamt the neighbors mail box had two red flags instead of one, the next morning I was fixated on their mail box until I finally made myself quit looking at it!
I found several interesting things when looking for more information on dreaming. People usually have several dreams each night,each one lasting between 5-20 minutes. During an average lifetime that is around six years. As much as 95% of all dreams are forgotten shortly after waking,this is thought to be because the frontal lobes that play a key role in memory are inactive during REM sleep. 80% of all dreams are in color,though there are people who claim to dream only in black and white. Men dream more of aggression,women tend to have longer dreams with more characters. Men dream more about other men that they dream about women,while women dream about both sexes equally. A lucid dream is one in which you are aware that you are dreaming,and you can often direct or control the content of the dream. (I don't recall ever having one of these.) The most common emotion experienced in dreams is anxiety,and negative emotions are more common that positive ones. REM sleep,when dreams occur,is characterized by paralysis of voluntary muscles,which prevents you from acting out your dreams while you are asleep. Many dreams are universal,being chased,attacked,falling,school events,feeling unable to move,arriving late,flying,and being naked in public.
In a one of my recent dreams I dreamt I had hot pink hair and was so angry about it (I don't care for pink) that it woke me up,in another I dreamt the neighbors mail box had two red flags instead of one, the next morning I was fixated on their mail box until I finally made myself quit looking at it!
One of my best dreams happened in my teen years - Paul McCartney and I were walking around together. Sigh. I woke up happy that day!
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