Ever dreamed of someone but don’t know why? Well, you can put this question to bed as we’ll take a closer look at psychology facts about dreaming of someone.
We all understand that dreaming is a natural part of our sleep cycle. And that sleep is a vital part of our lives. Getting a good night’s sleep refreshes our bodies and minds, and helps us stay healthy. But, the experience of sleep is not always the same for everyone.
People typically report experiencing the usual dreams, nightmares, or even dreams about other people. Some of these dreams are bizarre, illogical and surreal, but they can also be realistic and based on our memories.
So, we’re going to check out some psychological facts about dreams, more specifically psychology facts about dreams of someone.
27 Psychology Facts About Dreaming of Someone
Image by John-Mark Smith on Pexels
There could be various reasons you’re dreaming of someone, so let’s take a look at some psychological facts about dreams of someone.
1. You Can Dream About Someone You Know but Don’t Remember Seeing
Interestingly, you can dream about someone without actually remembering seeing them recently.
Our dreams are a collection of images that create a complete picture when put together, so it’s logical that we must have seen (or had a mental image of) someone before we dreamed of them. Pretty interesting, right?
Image by Matheus Bertelli on Pexels
2. Violent Movements in Your Dream May Be a Sign of a Brain Disorder
If you find yourself dreaming of someone and acting out your dreams while in bed, this could be a sign of a brain disorder. Some of these acts include kicking, screaming, and sometimes throwing punches.
Now, if that sounds a bit intense, that’s because it is. The behavior is referred to as REM sleep behavior disorder and could be an indicator of brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia.
3. Not All People Dream in Color
It may come as a surprise to you, but there are people who don’t dream in color. Yes, even people with good vision. It doesn’t matter if they’re dreaming about a friend or people of different races.
Approximately 12% of people don’t dream in color. That being said, the percentage has been decreasing since the 1960s. It’s believed that the shift from black and white television played a role.
Image by Anete Lusina on Pexels
4. You Can’t Control the Dreams You Have
If you could control your dreams, you’d be using your conscious mind to do so. But the fact is our dreams are the uncontrollable operations of our subconscious minds. So that part of our minds provides the data of the dreams we have of other people.
That being said, we can daydream and choose who stars in our dreams and what they do.
5. But You Can Control Them to a Certain Extent
The key phrase here is “to a certain extent”. That’s because we can’t use our conscious minds to direct our dreams. But we can think about someone before we sleep and then dream about them.
Unfortunately, we won’t be able to control what they do in our dreams, but they might appear anyway.
Image by Ivan Oboleninov on Pexels
6. Physical Discomfort May Cause Nightmares
The type of dream you have of someone can be affected by your comfort levels. This includes temperature too. If it’s too hot or too cold, your ordinary dream about someone may turn into a nightmare.
Why? Physical disturbances can increase your probability of having a bad dream or nightmare. To avoid this, you can wear comfortable pajamas and change the temperature of your room.
7. You May Actually Be Dreaming About You Needing to Change Yourself
Dreaming about someone criticizing you could be your subconscious mind telling you to change bad behaviors you may have. Similarly, it could also mean that you’re an overly critical person and need to stop criticizing others. Sometimes it’s best to start with the person in the mirror.
Image by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels
8. Dreaming About Killing Someone Could Be a Sign of Repressed Anger
This may be a disturbing dream—or even nightmare—to have as a person. But this could be symbolic. It could mean that you’re ending certain patterns of thinking or behavior that no longer serve you. An example could be drinking wine excessively.
However, this could also mean you have repressed anger or aggression toward another person. Hey, you could even harbor these feelings toward yourself.
Either way, dreaming of committing murder may suggest you are aggressive in your day-to-day life. It may be something you want to look at.
9. Men and Women Don’t Dream the Same
Interestingly, men and women don’t dream the same. Approximately 70% of the people in men’s dreams are other men, whereas men comprise about 50% of the people in women’s dreams.
Image by cottonbro on Pexels
10. Our Minds Are More Active When We’re Sleeping
You may think going to sleep is a mellow affair without much action, but that is not true. Our minds are actually more active when we’re sleeping.
Your subconscious mind is doing a lot of processing, so it makes sense that it would be busy. Whether you’re dreaming of an ex or dreaming about dealing with a difficult person, the activity in our brain is higher when we’re asleep.
11. We Often Forget Our Dreams
Depending on whether you had a nightmare of someone breaking into your home or a crush texting you back, this could be a good or bad thing.
Approximately 60% of people don’t remember their dreams, and about 90% of the details from dreams vanish within ten minutes. So if you dreamed about having a nice date with your crush, you might want to write it down soon after to keep the memory.
Image by Anna Shvets on Pexels
12. 50% of Our Dreams Are Negative
Sadly, about 50% of our dreams are negative. Our lives are filled with relationships with other people, and not all of these are positive. So it stands to reason that our dreams about other people will not always be pleasant.
13. Dreaming of an Ex May Mean You’re Conflicted
This could mean you have unresolved issues from your relationship or are with someone new and are unsure if you made the right choice.
Image by Nathan Cowley on Pexels
14. Dreaming of Someone Doesn’t Mean They’re Dreaming of You
Sorry to burst your bubble, but dreams have more to do with the dreamer than the person being dreamt of.
15. We Rarely Dream About Friends or Family (Loved Ones)
Dreams are usually our subconscious trying to resolve something, so dreaming about loved ones we don’t have a problem with, is uncommon.
Image by Agung Pandit Wiguna on Pexels
16. Blind People Dream Too
Remember we said that our dreams are based on mental images? Well, blind people can form mental images of other people based on their other sensory abilities.
17. Déja Vu May Come From Your Dreams
If you find yourself having an experience with someone you know that you believe you’ve had before, it may come from a dream you’ve had about this person.
Image by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels
18. You Can Dream of Someone You Haven’t Met
Remember we said that you must have seen someone before dreaming of them? That is true, but you can still dream of someone without having seen them.
19. What It Means to Dream About an Intruder
Dreaming about someone breaking into your home can be terrifying and cause feelings of anxiety and discomfort for a while. After all, your home is supposed to be a peaceful retreat.
Thankfully, this doesn’t necessarily mean someone will enter your home. It could mean there’s an undesired part of yourself that you find shameful that’s trying to come to the surface.
It may help to find ways to let this part of yourself in and accept and confront it. Shadow work may be especially helpful in this regard.
Image by Victoria Akvarel on Pexels
20. Thinking About Someone Before Going to Bed Can Help You Dream of Them
This is similar to being able to control our dreams to a certain extent. Thinking of something or someone before you sleep can help shape your dream.
21. Dreaming About Someone May Be Our Way of Solving Our Problems With Them
We tend to ruminate about our problems as a way to try to solve them, and our dreams work the same way too. If you have an issue with someone in your waking life, a dream you have about them could be a way of you trying to solve the problem with them.
To try to uncover the meaning of your dream about someone you’re not in a good space with, you could try to identify the context of the issue and assess what the cause of the issue is.
Image by Miguel Á. Padriñán on Pexels
22. Dreaming About Someone Else Being Pregnant Could Symbolize You Not Expressing Yourself
It may be strange (or wonderful) dreaming of someone (or yourself) being pregnant, but what does it mean? Does it mean that that person will actually be pregnant?
Well, not so fast. As it turns out, dreaming of someone being pregnant means different things depending on who is pregnant in your dream.
If you’re dreaming about yourself being pregnant, it could symbolize your desire to be more creative or your dream of a fascinating new project. In contrast, dreaming of someone else being pregnant could mean that you’re not expressing yourself and have left things undone.
Image by Kei Scampa on Pexels
23. It Could Signify Your Desire for Recognition
Generally speaking, celebrities are famous people who are recognized and celebrated for their accomplishments in the field of entertainment. So what does this have to do with your dreams?
Interestingly, dreaming about a celebrity could represent the part of you that desires recognition and applause.
Image by Brett Sayles on Pexels
24. What It Means to Dream About Someone Cutting Your Hair
Now, it may be disturbing to dream about someone cutting your hair. This is especially true if you love your locks.
As it turns out, dreaming of someone cutting your beloved locks could symbolize you feeling like you’re losing control or your strength. It could also mean that you feel someone is trying to bring you down.
Dreams like this usually stem from experiencing stress in your personal or professional life.
In contrast, dreaming of someone cutting your hair could mean you’re letting go of the past and embracing a new beginning.
Image by Engin Akyurt on Pexels
25. Dreaming of Someone Strangling You
Understandably, this is a terrifying dream to have. And it’s quite common too. Dreaming of someone strangling you could indicate that you are limiting yourself. You could limit yourself by what you say, think, or do. By limiting yourself, you’re “killing” yourself mentally because you’re not fully expressing yourself and lack vitality.
Image by RODNAE Productions on Pexels
26. What It Means To Dream About Driving in a Car With Someone
Dreaming about traveling somewhere, whether by car or plane, symbolizes where you’re headed in life. But let’s focus on what it means to be driving in a car with someone.
Dreaming about driving in your car with another person can have different meanings depending on who’s in the driver’s seat. If you’re the driver, you could be in control of where you’re going, so to speak.
However, if you’re a passenger, you could feel like you’re not in control of the journey and are not comfortable with where you’re going in life.
It’s also important to consider where you’re seated compared to the driver. Sitting behind the driver could represent expecting someone else to get you where you need to go.
Image by Tobi on Pexels
27. Dreaming About Committing Infidelity
One fact about cheating that nearly everyone can agree on is that it hurts. You may consider yourself the type of lover who would never cheat on your partner. So it may surprise you when you dream of yourself having an affair.
In fact, you may even find it disturbing that you’d cheat on your soulmate, even if it’s just a dream.
Image by RODNAE Productions on Pexels
Amanda O’Brien is the owner of the New Interesting Facts website. She attended Monash University in Melbourne, where she attained two degrees with first class honours. She lives in London and runs four websites (including this one) and loves to geek out on facts of all types.
