Do You Dream in Fear or Joy? The Answer Could Affect Your Morning Mood

“It has been proposed that REM sleep, in which dreaming occurs, is almost a virtual therapy or sandbox environment,” said Alex Dimitriu, MD, double board certified in Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine. Dimitriu wasn’t involved in the study. “In the dream state, and absent any norepinephrine (adrenaline), the brain replays emotional experiences to plans for future ones. Dream sleep is like an emotional playground for the mind. Building on this, people who have more active dream lives may enjoy the benefit of better emotional regulation. Their sleeping brains have had more time in the sandbox. Fear, primal as it is, may be the emotion that requires the most processing in our dreams,” Dimitriu told Healthline.

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