Why Most Dreams Are Ordinary

Are your dreams actually chaotic and bizarre, or are you just remembering the

strange ones? We tend to think of dreams as "trippy" or "fantastic," but quantitative

research shows they are mostly reasonable simulations of our waking lives. In large-scale laboratory

studies, researchers found that settings were "exotic" or highly unusual only about

5% of the time, and truly "fantastic" elements appeared in less than 1% of reports.

Most of the time, our dreams are populated by familiar characters and revolve around everyday social

interactions and commonplace activities. It turns out your sleeping brain is much more interested

in your family, friends, and work than in creating surreal masterpieces.