Time specifications in dreams of a long series: Time of day and day of the week

Abstract

The present study analyzed the frequency of time specifications (time of day, day of the week, exact time references) in a long dream series (N = 10,148 dreams) reported by a single participant. Comparisons were made with a dream sample of students (N = 1612 dreams of 425 students). Overall, about 10% of the dreams of the series included such references—similar to that of the student sample. The results indicate that time of day and day of the week are not equally distributed in the dream series, i.e., morning settings and weekend days are overrepresented. This line of research might provide insights into the continuity between waking and dreaming, e.g., that social interactions taking place in leisure time might be of more importance to the dreamer compared to work-related topics and, thus, are incorporated into the dream more often than every-day work issues.