Types of dreams and what they say about your brain

At times, I’ve found my head spinning over the diverse and seemingly limitless variety of dreams that we experience. But over the years I’ve made it a point to deepen my understanding of the brain chemistry involved in dreaming and how the activation of certain neurotransmitters can affect the content of our dreams. To some - a dream is just a dream, but those who’ve explored the deeper levels of dreaming know that dreams have breadth beyond measure. It’s a complex topic really – and the types of dreams we have actually say a lot about our emotions, our lifestyle and even our brain environment. Here is a small list of some common dreams that you may have experienced and what this says about your brain. You can use this information to promote the types of dreams that you enjoy most.

Serotonin dreams = calm dreams:

These are dreams that promote a very calm and relaxed dreaming experience, one where you might expect to talk to a loved one and wake up feeling refreshed and at peace. Serotonin is active during sleep regardless of your unique brain chemistry, but the amount of serotonin can and will determine the types of dreams you experience if it is at high levels.

What causes these dreams?

Well, serotonin does. When serotonin is high in your mind, your dreams tend to feel very relaxed. If you think I’m just pulling this out of my hat, try taking 5-HTP or Mugwort shortly before going to bed. This is a supplement known to promote serotonin; and when you take either of these, you’ll find that your dreams are very calm and relaxing. Your diet truly does affect what you dream about. Interestingly enough, nightmares can sometimes be reduced or even resolved entirely by carefully increasing serotonin levels before bed.

Dopamine dreams = scary dreams: 

If you've ever found yourself in a dream, running from a gigantic monster of some sort, it’s likely that you were having a dopamine dream. These dreams can be very exciting and fun to talk about later, but when you’re in them – they are usually quite terrifying, sometimes even weirdly so. But even though these dreams are often intense and sometimes scary they do cause you to wake up feeling like you could handle anything and tend to help you feel confident the following day.

Dopamine dreams are not enjoyable to everyone, but if you want to have a dream worth talking about, you may want to consider some ways to increase dopamine dreams.

What causes these dreams?

You can increase dopamine levels by taking a special dietary supplement called mucana pruriens. This supplement is great for improving your mood in general (one of my personal favorites) but if taken a few hours before bed, it can alter your dream content to being highly adventurous.

Acetylcholine dreams = lucid dreams:

As soon as you start sleeping, there is a special neurotransmitter called acetylcholine that begins to dissipate, which causes you to become unconscious. This neurotransmitter is vital because it connects your thoughts to your memories and when it dissolves it causes you to become gullible to your dreams, like we typically are by nature. But sometimes Acetylcholine levels in your brain can be high during sleep, due to personal habits, such as by practicing lucid dreaming techniques, or even because of personal diet. One of the most popular techniques for lucid dreaming today is to increase ACh through diet shortly before bed to promote lucid dreams – a dream in which you know that you’re dreaming.

What causes these dreams?

Eating anything known to promote actetylcholine, such as choline, can cause these dreams. What is even more effective though is to digest anything that blocks the enzyme actetylcholine simultaneously (also known as an acetylcholine esterase inhibitor) such as Huperzine-A or Galantamine. Both of these supplements have been proven to promote lucid dreaming and are used by expert lucid dreamers worldwide.

In summary, you can better understand your own brain chemistry by taking notice of the various types of dreams you're having and comparing them to the neurotransmitters they involve. If you are interested in experiencing lucid dreams in particular, feel free to try out Dream Leaf. This is a lucid dreaming supplement we formulated after years of research. It combines natural ingredients that promote serotonin, and acetylcholine. It also uses Huperzine-A which slows the breakdown of Acetylcholine so that you can better experience conscious dreaming.