As a child, it’s easy to recall vivid dreams about monsters or flying in a cute car made of chocolates in the sky. As adults, our dreams now tend to revolve around deadlines and family drama. Which brings the question: do dreams age with us? And is there any scientific evidence for this?
Dreaming patterns and behavior are strongly correlated to cognitive processes and brain development. So yes, aging can actually change your dreams. Dreaming depends on the neural systems associated with emotion, imagination, and memory, which shift and develop as we age. However, researchers don’t have sufficient data on how dreams work because age-related changes in dreams haven’t been intensively studied yet. According to Foulkes’ 1999 study, although much is known about the fundamental mechanisms of dreaming, age-related shifts in dream content remain an underexplored area of scientific research.
Dreams have always been an intriguing subject, something that feels real yet intangible. Let’s explore how dreams tend to transition from childhood to adulthood.
Childhood Dreams
Children often have unique recurring dreams that don’t always show up in adult dreams. According to research, a key difference between a child’s dreams and an adult’s is that kids dream about animals more often. They also dream more often about close family members, and the dreams have a fuzzier, more imaginative quality.
Children’s dreams generally don’t have clear storylines, and they’re short and plot-free. For example, a child’s dream can be about petting a dog or flying on a rocket. In short, children’s dreams don’t have the depth of emotion, plot, and conflict as adult dreams do. Moreover, kids don’t dream every night, and it’s believed they dream less frequently than adults do.
The dreams slowly start to develop between the ages of 5 and 8. It becomes more frequent, complex, and longer. As they move away from unclear snapshots, dreams now take on narrative structures, and kids start to experience themselves as the main character in their dreams. During this age range, the maturing circadian rhythms play a key role, gradually lengthening REM sleep bouts, which supports the increase in dream complexity. Once children reach 10 to 11 years, they start developing more adult-like dream patterns.
Pre-Teen And Adolescent Dreams
Some research suggests that puberty triggers dream changes. Firstly, sleep quality tends to dip at puberty, and this dip can persist into old age. This makes it all the more important to establish good sleep hygiene and a routine, particularly for teenagers as they navigate school and exam pressures.
This is around the age when romantic emotions first appear in dreams. Boys may start experiencing physical aggression in their dreams, while girls tend to dream about verbal conflicts and emotional situations.
Adult Dreams
Adults have intricate dreams that focus on their daily interactions and experiences. Dreams involve social interactions with familiar people. A study found that adults often dream about missing something, or arriving late and trying over and over to do something. The odd nightmare aside, adult dreams usually lack the aggression of adolescent dreams and increasingly reflect everyday life. Adults’ bedtime follies manifest their desires, fears, hopes, and worries.
Women tend to have more elaborate, socially focused dreams. After menopause, as hormonal changes begin, sleep and dream patterns are affected. A decline in melatonin during this period is one reason for the surge in night terrors, as this hormone is crucial for regulating the sleep-wake cycle. Hot flashes are common and can disrupt the usual sleep cycle, contributing to circadian drift. Linking these hormonal changes to sleep disruption can help clarify why many women experience night terrors for the first time during menopause.
This pattern is similar in men as well, and their dreams tend to follow a standard pattern until they reach a similar age. But once they enter senescence and they draw closer to old age, the dreams start to shift once more. A key change is that dreams take on a sentimental, reflective tone as older people tend to dream about their loved ones, living or dead.
Moreover, as people reach the end of their lives, dreams can also take a spiritual turn. Studies of hospice patients have also shown that older adults dream about packing and preparing to go on a trip with their departed loved ones. Patients report that such dreams are comforting and reflect their view of themselves at the end of their lives.
Benefits Of Dreaming For The Body
Our life experiences, stressors, brain structures, and hormonal changes all play key roles in shaping our dreams. But one thing is clear: dreaming is essential for brain health. In fact, scientists believe that dreaming serves some important purposes. Most notably, these benefits are closely associated with the REM sleep stage, where dreaming is most vivid and intense.
- During sleep, the visual cortex is deprived of any visual input. While still debated, it is believed that this deprivation can degrade the visual cortex over time. Therefore, dreaming helps to stimulate and safeguard the visual cortex.
- Dreaming is a way to relive memories and helps the brain to consolidate memories.
- For those who are going through emotional stress, such as losing a loved one, dreaming helps to ease that suffering a bit when we meet them in our dreams.
- Dreaming is a way to flush out our toxins and neural detritus. Think of it as the brain’s waste-management system.
If you want to experience the dream state that allows your brain to carry out these self-healing functions, you must enter the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep stage for long enough. REM sleep, characterized by increased brain activity, blood pressure, and heart rate, is where most of our dreaming occurs. Some dreaming occurs during non-REM sleep, but the most vivid dreams occur during REM sleep, when we are temporarily paralyzed.
Final Thoughts
Maintaining healthy sleep routines is very important, and a solid dream life starts with good sleep habits. If you’re having restless sleep or dreamless nights, then it indicates that you are not well-rested when you wake up in the morning. If so, you need to track your REM cycles.
Theoretically, dreams mirror our daily experiences. So if you’re planning or hoping to go on a vacation, then you may dream about beaches and waterfalls. But if you’re stressed about a work deadline, your dreams are likely to transport you into the office with your manager red with rage.
So while our dreams reflect our lives, it’s natural for them to take on new nuances and settings. It’s a part of growing old, and our dreams reflect that in more ways than one.
