Men and women experience nightmares or unpleasant dreams rather differently, a recent study confirms.
Researchers from the University of Montreal collected notes on almost 10,000 dreams from 572 people and found that men's bad dreams typically include natural disasters, being chased and insects. On the other hand, women's dreams commonly include arguing with their partner or situations that leave them feeling humiliated, inadequate or frustrated. Women, tend to have more nightmares than men.
"Women are better at retaining negative emotions than men because we tend to be more analytical, so it makes sense that unresolved or recurring painful feelings surface in our subconscious," said Lauri Loewenberg, author of "Dream On It: Unlock Your Dreams, Change Your Life". Study authors also speculate that dreams occur during a stage of deep sleep called rapid eye movement (REM) and that these nocturnal images reveal messages our subconscious mind is trying to send us.
"Think of bad dreams as really dramatic metaphors for what's going in your life, says Loewenberg. "The dream feels heightened because the brain's pre-frontal cortex, the area that controls rational thought, is dormant, so our emotions allow for ridiculous scenarios to play out." Loewenberg also confirms that when women have bad dreams about their partner, it often reflects an issue that is recurring in the relationship or some form of anxiety in the past.
"A woman may suspect that her partner is cheating, or maybe he has in the past and still distrusts him. Or maybe she may have been betrayed by a previous partner and has carried her anxiety into her current relationship."
