People can walk and chew gum at the same time. Why can’t they dream two or three dreams at once too?
They can walk, chew gum, and even talk at the same time, of course, but the brain doesn’t usually work that way when it to dreaming. More than anything, when you have two dreams at once your brain is simply firing away.
When it does this, it is likely a sign of mental or physical stress or the effect of a drug.
There are no studies on the phenomenon
It simply comes across as a bunch of noise (or that their brain is spinning) unless the dreamer takes the time to piece out what he or she is dreaming.
An Internet search reveals talk about it on Reddit and on some other blogs.
Surely, it happens to others, sometimes regularly. Like strange cloud formations happening around someone who never looks up at the sky, it happens unnoticed, coming across as noise.
I’ve had two dreams at once when I’ve had my sleep schedule completely upturned by having to turn around and fly somewhere. After being up for two days with half the amount of sleep necessary. Why couldn’t anything that causes an excessive amount of stress to the body and brain trigger simultaneous dreams?
This last time, one dream was a kind of “relaxation track” a catchy song about “Pecan Pie.” I was traveling to visit family after having to work during Thanksgiving. The other was about truth versus perception and how perception shapes what is and isn’t true to the person.
My subconscious knew that I needed to get some sleep. It was doing what it could to help me get that sleep. That’s why it was playing the sweet, happy song.
It also knew my perception of events was colored by my lack of sleep. For example, people may overlook danger in their environment as the brain shuts down signals to operate at a more basic level.
Also on the blog:
James Cobb, RN, MSN is an emergency nurse who founded the Dream Recovery System. The DRS is a blog that focuses on the power of sleep and dreaming.
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