According to a journal-entry by Mary Shelly, haunting tendency of her nightmares derived her to write a book. She said, “When I placed my head upon the pillow I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think. My imagination, unbidden, possessed and guided me, gifting the successive images that arose in my mind with a vividness far beyond the usual bounds of reverie.” Are you also one of those who often experience nightmares? If your answer is yes, then your scary dreams are indicating towards an important aspect of your personality. According to science, people who see nightmares during sleep are more creative than those who are happy dreamers.
THE STUDY: A study was conducted by researchers where they asked nightmare sufferers and happy dreamers to respond to certain emotionally charged words. The researchers also believe that people with creative minds don’t follow common thinking pattern. In the study, they found out that those who suffered nightmares made more creative associations with these words. On the other hand, happy dreamers reacted with common words like ‘joy’ for ‘happy’ and ‘mad’ for ‘angry’. Bad-dreamers responded differently. For ‘angry’ they used words like ‘red’ and ‘face’.
THE LINK BETWEEN NIGHTMARES AND CREATIVITY: First of all, know that what we imply by nightmares are not terror dreams where you are being chased by a lion or falling into an endless abyss. Nightmares are vivid, intense and mostly, imaginative. It should be noted that vivid dreams are not bad. It’s just when you’re stressed, these vivid dreams turn negative. It is also believed that the frequency of nightmares fuel creativity.
HOW EXACTLY DOES IT HAPPEN? Researchers are of the opinion that when you frequently experience nightmares, you derive artistic and creative ideas from them. Nightmares tend to haunt you and remain in your memory for a longer duration. This helps a nightmare sufferer to remember it and create artistic and imaginative ideas out of them.
ARTISTIC VIEW AND EMPATHY: It was also revealed that nightmare sufferers are more empathetic. They are more sensitive to people and their surroundings. This also indicates that a high empathy level in people who suffer nightmares plays a great role in boosting their creativity.
