Dreams

Researchers have shown they can achieve some control over what people are dreaming, bringing a theme that has been frequently explored in the sci-fi and horror genres off the screen and into the lab. Puzzle-solving was at the heart of the research.

The findings of a new study suggest that the age-old belief that eating cheese before bed can give you nightmares might actually be true. But it’s not just cheese; other foods, and when you eat them, can make a difference to sleep and dream quality.

Four independent experiments across the globe have found that it's possible to establish two-way communications with people in the weird, hallucinatory state of lucid dreaming, opening up a new field of real-time "interactive dreaming" research.

New research has identified a dramatic change to the nature and purpose of sleep in babies, occurring around the age of two. The discovery suggests sleep initially aides brain building and neurodevelopment before rapidly switching to a reparative role.

A new study has, for the first time, homed in on a novel EEG signature that can identify when a subject is in an REM sleep stage. Prior to this, scientists were unable to differentiate between dreaming and waking states using EEG brainwave data alone.

A new study from researchers at the University of Adelaide suggests that taking vitamin B6 supplements before sleep may help a person better remember their dreams the next day. It is hoped that the specific vitamin could be recruited in the future to aid the process of lucid dreaming.

New research into what is occurring inside our brains when we dream points towards an entirely new understanding of the complex neurological processes involved in dreaming. As a result, the researchers are keen to define dreaming as a form of consciousness that occurs during sleep.

Volunteers are being sought to try out the Dream:ON iPhone app, which may allow users to determine what sort of dreams they have.