9 fun facts about dreams

Recurring dreams, nightmares, dreams in which you fly... Sometimes it seems like your mind is just as busy at night as it is during the day, and what we come up with is material that the Brothers Grimm could still create a thousand fairy tales about. And did you know that many great discoveries and inventions have come from something that happened in the inventor's dream? I even know a top makeup artist who dreams about hairstyles for her clients.

1. In a dream, you cannot read and also cannot tell the time.

Or has it ever happened to you in a dream? Don't ask me why, but it seems to be impossible. You can look at a clock in your dream, but you will never see what time it really is.

2. 90% forgets you.

And that all happens in the first minute after waking up. So it's not due to your age or alcohol consumption; we all forget dreams.

3. Children have more nightmares.

Research has shown that children have nightmares more often than adults.

4. Nightmares arise from stress.

Do you experience stress during the day or feel guilty about something? There's a good chance you'll have a nightmare as a dessert at night. Infuriating, I know. But you probably process things that way.

5. Dreams in black and white.

12% of people dream in black and white.

6. Blind people dream too.

If you became blind later in life, you will ‘see’ again in your dreams. If you were born blind, you dream more sensorially and hear, taste, smell, and feel things.

7. Erotic dreams.

Everyone has them now and then, but men – why are we not surprised – have them just a bit more often than women. A bunch of rascals.

8. And about that erection. 

Men get them during REM sleep, whether it was erotic or not. They can't help it.

9. Animals dream too.

Just look at your dog or cat who is in a deep sleep but is meanwhile doing the Scooby-Doo with its paws.