The effects of dreams will vary depending of course on the dream itself. Dreaming of spending time with a loved one will bring a smile to your face when you wake up. Dreaming of someone you know in your childhood that you have not seen or even thought about in a long time can be very perplexing. Then there are the dreadful nightmares and the effects of dreams of this nature can range from difficulty in breathing to waking up in a cold sweat or waking up screaming.
Aside from the obvious effects of dreams on the mood of a person upon waking, researchers discovered the effects of dreams on the overall functioning of the mind and that dreams are part of the developmental process of the brain and also serves to help a person adapt to certain circumstances.
One of the restrictions in the study of dreams and the meaning and effects of dreams is that the experience is purely subjective. Dream content is very personal so one interpretation cannot absolutely suit everyone just like the effects of dreams in one person may be different in another even if they have they same theme such as falling teeth or being chased. Other people might be bothered with these dreams but others might just shrug it off.
While there is much that has been said about the meanings of dreams, there is very little study on the effects of dreams in a person. However, there are a number of people who claim to have experienced the creative effects of dreams wherein their dreams inspired them to do their creative work. In literature, some famous examples are Robert Louis Stevenson who dreamed about a character’s metamorphosis, which later became the foundation for his book “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. Mary Shelley, author of the novel “Frankenstein”, also drew her inspiration from one of her dreams.
Sir Paul McCartney said to have heard in his dream the melody of one of the Beatles’ most popular songs, “Yesterday”. Such anecdotes point to the creative effects of dreams in many artists.
In science, the effects of dreams can be in the nature of problem solving wherein the dreamer finds a solution to a problem as in the case Dmitri Mendeleyev who dreamt of how to categorize the chemical elements. There are many other stories of similar nature. And then for some, the effects of dreams are that of motivation where the dreamer upon waking is motivated to do something new or different.
However, despite numerous accounts from dreamers of above-mentioned effects of dreams in the waking life, there is still much to be studied about this phenomenon. Techniques are being developed to aid dream recall and to increase the understanding of the effects of dreams.
