Blog

If You Dream About Someone, Are They Thinking About You?

It's a lovely idea with a thousand-year history. The research says the dream comes from your mind, not theirs, but what it reveals about who you miss is just as interesting.

Jacob Lowe

Published on Oct 8th · 5 min read

Why Do You Dream About Your Partner Cheating?

Dreams of a partner cheating aren't a warning sign about them. Research on couples' dreams points somewhere more useful: your own worries, your attachment style, and a strange next-day hangover worth knowing about.

Jacob Lowe

Published on Oct 1st · 5 min read

Why Do You Jerk Awake Just as You're Falling Asleep?

That sudden falling jolt at the edge of sleep has a name, a rough mechanism and a list of triggers. Here's what sleep research says about hypnic jerks, and why they sometimes come with a split-second dream.

Jacob Lowe

Published on Sep 24th · 5 min read

What Are Fever Dreams, and Why Are They So Strange?

Fever dreams are measurably weirder, darker and lonelier than normal dreams. Here's what the small body of research actually shows, and why a hot body might bend a sleeping brain.

Jacob Lowe

Published on Sep 17th · 5 min read

Can Two People Share a Dream?

Mutual dreams get reported often enough that researchers have studied them. What they found says more about the people involved than about any connection between sleeping minds.

Jacob Lowe

Published on Sep 10th · 5 min read

When Do Children Start Dreaming?

Babies spend half their sleep in REM, so it's easy to assume they dream constantly. The research says real dreaming is something kids build, slowly, and researchers still argue about how fast.

Jacob Lowe

Published on Sep 3rd · 5 min read

What Do People Say When They Talk in Their Sleep?

Mostly 'no.' The largest study of sleep talking found it's grammatical, rude, and full of pauses for a reply nobody gives. What it isn't is a confession.

Jacob Lowe

Published on Aug 27th · 5 min read

Is Sleep Paralysis a Dream? What's Actually Happening When You Can't Move

You're awake, you can't move, and something is in the room. The paralysis is real and measurable. The figure standing over you is dream imagery that arrived in the wrong state.

Jacob Lowe

Published on Aug 20th · 7 min read

Do Animals Dream? What Rats, Birds, and Octopuses Reveal While They Sleep

Only humans can say 'I had a weird dream last night.' That's made dreaming feel like a uniquely human thing. The sleep research on other species says otherwise.

Jacob Lowe

Published on Aug 13th · 5 min read

Do Blind People Dream? What the Research Actually Found

Yes, and the studies on how are more interesting than the question. Blind dreamers report four times as many nightmares, and almost no taste or smell in a sighted person's journal.

Jacob Lowe

Published on Aug 6th · 5 min read