Financial worries don’t just affect our waking hours
Financial fears are creeping into sleeping hours, as new research shows money worries are a top cause of nightmares[1]. Our dreams are how we naturally make sense of all the information and experiences that we unconsciously absorb every day.
They are not just some random occurrence but actually a deliberate process, enabling us to draw on our past experiences and then use them to make the most of future possibilities. Dreams provide us with meaningful insights into specific challenges that we may be encountering in our day-to-day lives.
Power and confidence
Two in five (41%) people said money makes them anxious, which can have a big impact on the subconscious. One of the most common types of dream is about teeth falling out (18%). Teeth symbolise power and confidence, with financial concerns leading to nightmares about you losing them as you’re not in control.
Financial worries don’t just affect our waking hours: as the research shows, they are creeping into our subconscious and giving us nightmares. Keeping on top of finances makes us feel in control and eases money worries. Setting a budget can help towards getting our finances in order.
Reality of dreams
The research highlights the link between our dreams and what we get up to when we’re awake; nine in ten people think real life issues (88%) and their emotions (91%) affect the type of dreams we have. People in the UK take it one step further, with three in ten (31%) basing real-life decisions on dreams or nightmares.
Nightmares plague millions of people, with nearly nine in ten (85%) of us suffering from them. A quarter (23%) suffer from nightmares once a week or more frequently, with falling (40%) and violence (29%) being the more common types of nightmare.
Gender divide
The data also shows a gap between men and women when it comes to dreams, with more than half (56%) of men having based decisions or changed something in their life after a dream in comparison to just a quarter (27%) of women. Two in five men (44%) suffer from nightmares once a week or more frequently in comparison to one in six women (17%). Women (37%) are also more private about sharing their nightmares with other people in comparison to men (27%). τ
Source data:
[1] The research was carried out by RWB, on behalf of Royal London, between 6 and 9 July 2018 amongst 1,055 UK adults (aged 18+) and is representative of the UK population. The survey was carried out online and all research conducted adheres to the MRS Code of Conduct (2014).
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