Bad news if you occasionally have nightmares about your fella playing away from home – it could mean that your real-life relationship is in some serious trouble!
A new study from the University of Maryland has discovered that dreaming about a partner cheating usually predicts that there is some relationship trouble on the horizon. It sounds a bit far-fetched, we’ll admit it, but the results of the study are pretty interesting.
Researchers asked 61 volunteers aged between 17 and 42 who were in long-term relationships to keep a journal detailing their dream activity and their relationship activity over a two-week period.
The researchers were shocked when they went through the particpant’s journals and found that dreams about cheating, fighting or jealousy triggered major conflict between the couple at some point during the following day.
“A lot of people don’t pay attention to their dreams and are unaware of the impact they have on their state of mind. Now we have evidence that there is this association,” said Dylan Selterman, the lead researcher of the study.
What does he get up to in your dreams?
When it came to sexy dreams about getting down and dirty, particpants who were in happy couples spent the following day feeling more affectionate and loved-up to their current partner. However, people who were in weaker relationships tended to feel jealous and angry.
“We already know there’s a high correlation between sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction, this might be another manifestation of that,” said Dr Selterman.
“Sex can be good or band in a dream in the same way that it can be good or bad in real life,” he added.
According to Dr Selterman, the premonitionary aspect of our dreams are the result of a psychological effect called ‘priming.’
“Dreams have predictive value. People’s activity changes as a function of the dream they had the night before,” said Dr Selterman.
The research, which has been published in the noted journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, was based on Dr Selterman’s own experience with a college girlfriend who would get angry with him as a result of the way he behaved in her dreams.
