How Does Activity Before Sleep Affect Dreams?

The average person spends two hours a night dreaming, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dreams occur during REM sleep, which is unique to mammals and birds. Researchers believe that dreams are the way a brain makes sense of random information it gets during the day and during REM sleep. This means that things occurring during the day can have an impact on dreams.

Influencing the Subject Matter

• Have you ever watched a television show before bedtime and dreamed of the actors on the show? Or been up late worrying about a presentation the next day and then dreamed that you bombed it? The things you see and think about before you go to sleep at night will influence your subconscious mind while you dream. This is why things or people you see during the day end up in your dreams at night.

Helping You Enter REM Sleep

• REM sleep is necessary for dreaming to occur. REM sleep is the deep sleep state caused by a signal from an area of the brain called the pons. This sends your body into a temporary paralysis and allows your brain to repair itself and stimulate regions used in learning. Engaging in physical activity a few hours before bedtime can help tire your body and allow it to enter REM sleep much more easily. This will give your mind more of a chance to dream during your sleeping hours.

Creating Your Brain's Memory

• Dreams help you to make sense of the information you are presented with over the course of a given day. The activities you engage in throughout the day will later become the memories you have for tomorrow. For example, if you play baseball during the day, you may have a dream about baseball during your sleep---or you may not. But those thoughts will be present during your REM sleep cycle and become a memory you have when you wake up. Failure to enter REM sleep can result in a failure to remember learned skills or activities from the prior day, according to the NINDS.

Conclusion

• Activity prior to sleeping at night can have obvious and not-so-obvious effects on a person's dream state. Activities can help you to enter a state of REM sleep necessary for dreaming or influence the subject of what you dream about. Your activities may reveal subconscious desires or needs you only become aware of during your dreams. For these reasons, you can evaluate your dreams and activities together to look for patterns or similarities, especially when it comes to emotions or desires.