discuss how external factors can sometimes affect the realisation of your dreams
Answers
What if our brains are more susceptible to external electromagnetic interference while we sleep? Maybe some of our dreams are directly affected by particles hitting our brain cells, activating all kinds of signals. Perhaps part of the telepathy is unintended signaling that occurs in our dreams?
This might explain why couples or family members share similar dream topics and can relate to one another's experience. This may also explain why sometimes you get weird inconsistencies in your dream, which might be nothing more than your neighbor jamming you with his/her own brain radiation. Perhaps, it's all those neutrinos. Perhaps it's synaptic resonance.
Or maybe we suffer from bad cellphone reception?
Therefore, there are several factors that influence the events and sensations in our dreams. What are they?
1. Sounds
Have you ever dreamed that your alarm clock is ringing? Such dream can be caused by the sound coming from an alarm, and it shows how the sounds you hear may actually be incorporated into a dream and affect the story we see while we sleep.
2. Scents
German researchers studied the effect of external scents in dreams. They made the participants in REM sleep phase smell either a “good” scent (roses) or a “bad” one (rotten eggs). Roses had a positive impact on the dreams of the participants, while the eggs didn’t.
Scientists explain that if we smell flowers or a nice perfume when we are awake, it will probably cause us positive emotions. So, the dream that you see in your sleep follows the same pattern. There is also biological explanation for this phenomenon, as the limbic system of the brain that regulates the perception of smell also controls emotions.
3. Posture
Recent study conducted in China showed that people who sleep face down frequently see erotic dreams or dreams in which someone is stalking them.
The explanation is that when we sleep in this posture, our genitals come in contact with the bed and therefore there is a subsequent stimulation. At the same time, breathing is prevented.
Another surprising finding is that we better remember dreams we saw when we keep the same posture after waking up.
4. Psychological state
Naturally, our psychological state affects our dreams. Depression, for example, seems to have an impact on the colors we see in our dreams. The dreams in black and white or shades of gray can be a sign of depression.
Besides the colors, our psychological condition affects weather patterns in our dreams. Stress brings tornadoes, while mental calm brings sunny days.
5. Abstaining from something
When we are on a diet, sometimes we see in our sleep mouth watering dishes and desserts. When you abstain from something, whether it is food or cigarettes or anything else, then you will probably see in your sleep.
6. Medications and vitamins
The drugs we take affect our dreams in many different ways, and intervene in the REM stage of sleep.