London, June 16 (ANI): We are more likely to have positive dreams when surrounded by the noise of commuters and car horns, new research suggests. cientists studied the dreams of 8,000 individuals who were played randomly selected soundscapes as they slept, the Daily Mail reported.
Those taking part had no idea whether they had heard a rural scene with birdsong, a busy cityscape, a person talking to them, or nothing at all. All they did was record details of their dreams when they woke up.
The initial results released were unexpected - those who heard the birds experienced dreams which were 20 per cent more negative than those who heard nothing.
Those who heard the sound of the daily grind were up to 30 per cent more likely to wake up feeling positive and refreshed.
The worst was the "lucid soundscape" - the sound of someone talking - which triggered dreams 30 per cent more negative.
The experiment was carried out with a smartphone app that played different sounds as individuals went into the last period of rapid eye movement sleep or REM - when we dream.
"When we counted the positive and negative words people used to describe their dreams, we would have expected the birdsong and streams and so on, to improve people's dreams," University of Hertfordshire psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman said.
"But what we saw was a lot more negativity. It was very realistic and people seemed unnerved by having birds in their room. Whereas perhaps the city scape was more familiar and comforting," he added.
Prof Wiseman hopes the findings could help people with depression or sleep disorders.
"We want to people maximise their ability to wake up in a good mood, which has a big psychological effect. Depression is often associated with bad dreams," he said. (ANI)
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