Here's What It Means When Your Dream Comes True
You've heard the saying "a dream come true" for most of your life but have never actually taken it literally. It typically has a figurative meaning and refers to something you've wanted in your fantasies but never really believed could become a reality. But some people really find that dreams they have while they sleep actually come true in real life.
Sometimes when our dreams seem to come true, it can be purely coincidental and other times there can be a true scientific meaning behind what Healthline refers to as precognitive dreams. Neurology Live reports that humans have found spiritual meanings behind what it calls predictive dreams for centuries, but there are no scientific facts to back up those beliefs. Instead, these types of dreams are typically based on what is happening inside the brain during the dreaming part of the sleep cycle and not on any kind of clairvoyance.
The science behind predictive dreaming
Dreams take place during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) cycle of sleep. Your most intense dreams will occur during the deeper cycles or REM sleep when your brain is more active, according to WebMD. Each stage of REM sleep gets longer with the first one topping out at 10 minutes and the last one lasting for about an hour.
Some surveys show that up to a third of humans report some sort of precognitive or predictive dreaming at some point in their lives, according to Healthline. However, the site also notes that these surveys can be skewed, as those who believe in psychic abilities may report dreams coming true more often.
Neurology Live suggests that predictive dreams may come from events that a person has not thoroughly processed during waking hours. There is other evidence that dreams can combine both conscious and subconscious memories that allow your brain to predict a logical future while you're sleeping. So, when you feel like your dream is coming true, you did not have a psychic superpower event while sleeping. Instead, your very clever mind used information that was already there to give you a dream that comes true.