World of Dreams

Sleepwalking is actually a type of sleep disorder called a parasomnia. Learn even more uncommon things people do while asleep, from eating to having sex.

Some sleep disorders are actually quite common. Most people talk in their sleep, and some are prone to sleepwalking.

But other parasomnias are more unusual, like sleep sex or sleep crime. “Parasomnia is abnormal behavior that occurs during sleep,” says David A. Neumeyer, MD, a sleep specialist at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass. “Some of ...

Have you ever wondered what an especially weird dream meant? The meaning of dreams is debatable, but the science behind dreams is more clearly defined.

William Shakespeare’s Prospero knew that “we are such stuff as dreams are made on,” but scientists are still figuring out the meaning of dreams themselves. People have inferred the meaning of dreams since ancient times. In more recent years, Sigmund Freud believed that a dream provided a window to our unconscious thoughts, while Alfred Adler argued ...

Eating cheese at night can do more than disrupt sleep.

According to a recent study sponsored by the British Cheese Board, the long-held myth that cheese can seriously affect your night’s sleep might have some truth to it. Researchers found that different types of cheese provoked different kinds of dreams. Blue cheese resulted in the most bizarre dreams including talking animals, vegetarian crocodiles and warrior kittens. Cheddar yielded dreams of dancing celebrities. Leicester evoked dreams of the past, while Lancashire created ...

Sounds like the stuff of movies, but some people can realize they’re in a dream while they’re still having it. Find out about this unusual phenomenon called lucid dreaming.

You’re standing somewhere that you only vaguely recognize. Maybe it’s your second grade classroom or a temple from ancient Greece. All the sudden, five tigers descend directly on you. Fear starts to make your breathing stop and your hand flail. But wait — you try to jump and suddenly you can fly ...

In the province of sleep problems, night terrors are terrifying. Doree Shafrir’s quest for relief included a cross-country move.

You’ve probably had your share of nightmares interrupting a sound sleep, but night terrors take scary sleep experiences to a whole new level. They can be absolutely frightening.

In 2012, Doree Shafrir, an executive editor for the web site BuzzFeed, chronicled her harrowing and ongoing experiences with night terrors, which started back in 2003. Night terrors are a kind of parasomnia, or sleep ...

Is it a nightmare or sleep terror? Get advice for helping kids with nightmares sleep peacefully.

Whether it’s a piercing scream coming from your child’s bedroom or finding your son or daughter at your bedside in tears, there are few everyday occurrences more distressing for parents and upsetting for kids than a nightmare. Nightmares may be a normal part of growing up, but when they happen, they can be disruptive, especially if they happen regularly.

There’s some dispute about when children start ...

Research has found that changing your sleep position can influence your dreams, but sleeping in a position that’s unnatural for you may not be a good idea.

Do you sleep on your side, your back, or your stomach? There’s new evidence that changing your sleep position could influence your dreams, but this kind of change might not be the best idea for your health.

Experts say there is no perfect sleep position. The first rule for sweet dreams and a restful night ...

Fact or fiction: Waking a sleepwalker is not a good idea? Read on.

There’s spaghetti in the bathroom sink, the laptop’s in the laundry basket, and please tell me that is not urine dripping down the refrigerator door.

Either a group of college kids took over the house for the night or there’s a sleepwalker on the loose. Sleepwalking, or somnambulism, is a disorder that happens when people do some activity besides snoozing while they’re still asleep. There are lots of potential ...

Large study found nearly 4 percent wander at night, often tied to mental woes.

Sleepwalkers on TV and in movies are often played for drama or laughs, but the phenomenon is surprisingly common in American households, a large, new study suggests.

In what they said is the first research in three decades on sleepwalking prevalence in the United States, scientists from Stanford University School of Medicine found that about 3.6 percent of U.S. adults are prone to sleepwalking, a higher proportion than ...

Staying awake after disturbing event weakened emotional response upon recall, study found.

Your emotional response to a disturbing image or traumatic event is weaker if you remain awake afterward, while sleep reinforces unpleasant emotional memories, according to new research.

The experiments involving 68 female and 38 male volunteers aged 18 to 30 also found that people who saw an unsettling image or traumatic event and then went to sleep are as upset as they originally were if they see the picture again ...