The relationship between your mental health and what you dream about hasn’t been established yet, but some evidence suggests there is indeed a link to your waking life.
A 2018 study indicated that someone’s waking mental well-being might influence the content of dreams.
For example, researchers found that experiencing peace of mind before falling asleep was linked to a higher chance of pleasant dream experiences. On the other hand, anxiety typically led to negative dreams.
Study authors suggested that based on these preliminary findings, dreams have the potential of being mental health markers, giving you insights into your mental well-being.
And since dreams do often involve emotional responses, it’s also been suggested that they may help you process and manage the way you react to life. They would serve as a way to emotionally reset and could prepare you for any emotional challenges you may face the following day.
Some experts believe there’s a connection between the sleep cycle and your emotional state.
The lack of good sleep could lead to mental health symptoms while achieving the REM cycle — a stage where you tend to experience vivid dreams — could be linked to mental health benefits.
In any case, more research on this topic may be needed.
How to interpret symbols in your dreams
You can explore dream interpretation by becoming familiar with common symbols. These symbols may mean many things, so keeping context and personal feelings in mind is recommended.
Consider asking these questions when identifying symbols in your dreams:
- What was the symbol or object doing in your dream?
- What did it look like?
- Where was it?
- How did you feel about it while you were dreaming?
- How do you feel now when you think of it?
- What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of this symbol in your dream?
Here are some of the most common symbols in dreams and what they could mean:
House or room
Houses and rooms can represent unexplored aspects of yourself.
For example, if the house or room was foreboding, it could represent an aspect of yourself that you may feel fearful about exploring.
Looking into other symbols in the same dream scene may help you develop possible personal meanings.
Dog
As a source of affection for many people in the waking state, dogs can represent a need for love or affection.
If you’re fearful of dogs or dream of an aggressive one, it may mean you’re sensing danger about a specific situation or person, or you may feel hurt by someone and haven’t yet become aware of it.
Teeth
Teeth can be symbols of aggression, assertiveness, or your “bite.”
Dreaming of teeth falling out could indicate you’re experiencing intense stress or anxiety. It could also mean you’re fearful or concerned about a lack of control and power in your life.
Weaponry
Weapons such as guns typically involve themes surrounding personal power or control.
Dreaming of firing weapons may be linked to the desire to hurt someone or have them disappear from your life. If you’re being hurt in the dream, it could mean you feel vulnerable in a situation or with a person. If you have a tank or an Apache helicopter perhaps you spent too much time playing games or you are a veteran.
Friends and family
People who appear in your dreams may reflect parts of your own personality. Analyzing these dreams may help to think about what the person was doing in the dream and what part of yourself you think may be shown to you through the other person.
Liquids
Water may be a symbol of your emotions. If the water appears still and murky, it could represent a disconnect from your emotional reality or the need to explore your own emotions.
Driving
Driving can be thought of as a type of forward momentum. If the car doesn’t start, you may feel stagnant or stuck. If the car is running smoothly, maybe you feel you’re making strong progress on your life path.
Falling
If you dream about falling, you may be dealing with control challenges in your life.
If you felt relieved about falling, or it was a pleasant sensation in the dream, you may be letting go of some emotional weight and may now feel relieved.
If you felt scared while falling in your dream, you could be having a hard time not being able to control everything around you. It could also mean that you feel you’re disappointing someone.
How do you analyze your dreams?
Interpreting your dreams takes patience, practice, and an open mind. It may be a good idea to remember that you give meaning to your own dreams by identifying symbols and thinking about what they mean to you personally. Is it a way to control yourself in the Matrix?
The same dream can mean different things to different people in this sense. The same dream could also mean different things to you, depending on when you dream it.
Here are some tips to start analyzing your dreams:
1. Try to recall your dreams every day
The best time to recall your dreams is as soon as you wake up, while the dream is still fresh.
If you tend to wake up during the night, it might help to have a notebook next to the bed to record your dream before you fall asleep again. Recording a voice memo on your phone may also help.
It’s natural to only remember fragments of your dreams at first. They may seem vague or meaningless. The more you practice recalling them, the more details you’ll remember from your dreams.
Try saying to yourself out loud 3 times “I want to remember my dream” trust me it works
None of this dreaming and self-teaching is at all possible if you don’t have a good bed and we all know who in Thailand sells the best mattresses….