Television has strong effect on children's dreams

Chlidren's dreams are influenced more than those of adults by television viewing, while more adults are affected by what they read.

A new study has found that 66 per cent of children said their dreams were affected by their viewing habits and 44 per cent said books had an impact.

Only 61 per cent of adults reported that television influenced their dreams, but 50 per cent reported that they were affected by books, according to Dr Mark Blagrove, of the University of Wales, Swansea, who led the team of psychologists studying the subject.

"Children who reported reading scary books had three times the number of bad dreams than children who don't," Dr Blagrove, who teaches a course on dreams, said. "Adults were not affected in the same way, which seems to be because adults kept away from scary books if they knew they were going to be affected."

Keeping a diary was also an important indicator of whether children had "lucid dreams" (in which they are aware that they are dreaming), he said. "If they tended to keep a diary they were more likely to have a lucid dream. They seemed more self-aware and that carries over into their dreams."

Children who read more fantasy books were more likely to have lucid dreams, while 58 per cent of adults had had at least one lucid dream.

Present scientific thinking is that dreams, which occur during a stage called "REM sleep" – when sleepers have rapid eye movements – are used to store memories permanently from the previous day.

Dr Blagrove said one important finding of the study was that people who slept longer did not have more dreams than those who slept for a shorter period, but they were more likely to tell their dreams to others. This suggested that the dreams of longer sleepers were more memorable and vivid, an aspect that seemed linked to the greater amount of REM sleep they experienced.

"The next scientific question is: If REM sleep plays a part in forming our memories, do the dreams that occur in REM sleep have anything to do with memories from the previous day?" Dr Blagrove said.

The analysis found a number of apparent links between people's dreams and reading habits. Adults who read fiction had more bizarre and intense dreams than those who did not. People who read romance books were more likely to tell their dreams to others.

Fantasy books were linked to a higher incidence of nightmares, but crime books and thrillers were not. Women tended to recall their dreams more than men and were more likely to admit to having unpleasant dreams.

The survey was commissioned by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals as part of the "Frontiers: Science in Libraries" campaign. It examined links between aspects of "waking life", such as reading books, and dreams, and was distributed to libraries across the country.

More than 10,000 adults and children responded to the survey. So far 1,000 responses from adults and 500 from children have been analysed – enough to build a representative picture of the population.