Dream moods on the surface may not seem to have great influence on your ability to get a good night's sleep, but they can. Dreaming is a mysterious phenomenon that has no known cause and dreams can't be captured for clinical study. However, the field of psychology and some sleep research include dreaming and mood.
Dreaming and Sleep Disorders
While disturbing dreams can interrupt a night's rest, they are separated from the topic of sleep disorders for the most part. When dreaming prevents you from sleeping normally, whether too much or too little, it becomes a matter of concern. Dream interpretation, on the other hand, has little impact on the ability to get enough sleep. This does not mean that dream moods are not related to sleep problems.
Mood's Impact on Sleep
Stress and anxiety can have a significant effect on sleep, and many people can relate to feeling anxious as they are unable to fall asleep. Moods are similar to dreams in that they are fleeting, intangible, and subjective. Many words related to mood send a message about its nature:
- Atmosphere
- State
- Feeling
- Tone
- Aura
- Disposition
- Temperament
- Humor
None of these terms are applicable to objective data. They are not measurable and they are not constant. Dream moods may have an impact on sleep but it seems impossible to determine whether this impact exists and to what extent.
Dreaming's Impact on Sleep
If you have ever awakened from a nightmare or unusual dream, you may have carried segments of the sleep experience throughout the waking day. These dream moods may be difficult to describe and sometimes they can be very distracting. In some cases, the feeling-the memory of the dream-is negative and disturbing; other times it is so appealing that you want to fall back into the dreaming state.
When the dreaming mood is related to nightmares or night terrors, they can disrupt your ability to fall asleep. The urge to avoid having another disturbing episode can be great. When the feeling is pleasant, you may try to sleep in late in order to continue the pleasant experience.
Dream Moods
The website Dream Moods is a guide for people interested in dream interpretation. On the surface, it seems to contain mystical elements but the information involves dream theories of some of the most well known theorists.
- Alfred Adler - Dreaming is a problem-solving activity that requires interpretation to be effective.
- Carl Jung - Dreaming is the window to your subconscious mind.
- Frederick Perls - Dreams are aspects of yourself that you have disowned and there are no universal interpretations.
- Sigmund Freud - The mind uses symbolic images in dreams to release repressed impulses and urges locked in the subconscious mind.
Instead of creating universal dream interpretations, Dream Moods looks to theorists as well as research. For example, a dream dictionary may interpret a dream about losing teeth as denoting disappointment while the online dreaming guide offers a description of teeth dreams, teeth symbolism, theories and different perspectives and interpretations. Included in the information is a dream research study that notes that women entering menopause have teeth dreams frequently.
The Dreaming Brain
Researchers can measure certain aspects of dreaming using REM equipment to record the onset and duration of the dream state and devices that measure brain waves. However, the fleeting experience escapes; it cannot be plucked from the mind and observed. Dream research is fascinating whether you are looking at the clinical or theoretical aspect of the research.
Psychology is replacing the mind with the brain as psychoanalysis and Freudian theories are becoming antiquated. Dream moods are things of the mind. They are not tangible, they are fleeting and they are visual. As you try to describe a dream, much of its message is lost when you translate the images into words. The brain is the only organ that is self-reflective. It thinks about itself and it tries to understand itself. Dreaming and moods tell us that the brain still has many mysteries to uncover.
