Had a dream about someone you like? Scientists explain what it means

“When you sleep, your brain is figuring it out”

Alan Trapulionis
4 min readOct 4, 2021

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Someone else’s dream.
Someone else’s dream. Commercially licensed by Aubrey Topaz via Flickr

Dreaming about specific people is more common than you might think. Dr. Selterman’s research shows that about a quarter of reported dreams include romantic partners, and 13% even involve cheating.

Some scientists propose that dreams are merely a by-product of other processes happening in your brain while you’re asleep. Much like a light bulb emits heat, your brain activity emits visual images. A waste mother nature wanted you to forget.

However, if that explanation doesn’t cut it for you, here are a few scientific and not-so-scientific theories that could help uncover the meaning of your dream.

The ‘continuity’ theory

The simplest theory behind dream meaning is boring and unsatisfying. It suggests that dreams are simply a reflection of what happened to us while we were awake.

Example: if you played football all day, you might dream about playing football in your sleep. Whenever you go out with someone, you might keep revisiting that person in your dreams.

The theory explains some dreams, but certainly not all of them. People report most illogical, humanly impossible dreams. In your…

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Alan Trapulionis
Alan Trapulionis

Written by Alan Trapulionis

In quest of understanding how humans work.

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