Here are some links to a few articles about foods that can help you sleep:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleep-newzzz/201311/kiwi-super-food-sleep

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/271232.php

http://www.canadianliving.com/health/sleep/5_foods_that_help_you_sleep.php

Highlights from CanadianLiving.com:

Foods that help you sleep
While turkey and hot milk are the most well-known sleep-inducing foods, there are others you can load into your grocery cart for an express ticket to dreamland.

1. Kiwi fruit
The fuzzy tropical fruit might be the ultimate sleepy-time snack. A recent study by Taiwanese scientists found that women with sleeping problems who consumed two kiwi fruit one hour before bedtime fell asleep 45 minutes faster, and had better sleep duration and quality than those who went without the fruit. One explanation: Kiwi fruit may contain serotonin, a compound that regulates the sleep cycle.
Extra credit: Kiwi fruit is brimming with vitamin C, an antioxidant shown to reduce blood pressure.

2. Pistachios
If you spend too many nights tossing and turning, consider going nuts for pistachios. The verdant nuts are a good source of vitamin B6, which your body needs to make serotonin. Pistachios also contain fibre, protein and healthy fats – a trio that will help quell late-night hunger pangs.
Extra credit: Because you have to shell the nuts, scientists at Eastern Illinois University found that snacking on in-shell nuts as opposed to shelled ones improved portion control.

3. Tart cherry juice
Move over, warm milk, there’s a new drink in town. A 2012 European Journal of Nutrition study showed that insomniacs slept an average of 34 minutes longer after drinking tart cherry juice in the morning and evening. Researchers credit the juice’s high quantities of melatonin.
Extra credit: Look for a brand that is 100 percent cherry juice. Dilute it with water or club soda if you find it too tart. Also try adding dried tart cherries to cereals and salads.

Highlights from MedicalNewsToday.com:

Possible health benefits of consuming kiwis

Consuming fruits and vegetables of all kinds has long been associated with a reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other conditions. Many studies have shown that increased consumption of plant foods like kiwis decreases the risk of obesity and overall mortality.

Beautiful Skin: Collagen, the skins support system, is reliant on vitamin C as an essential nutrient that works in our bodies as an antioxidant to help prevent damage caused by the sun, pollution and smoke, smooth wrinkles and improve overall skin texture.¹

Better Sleep: According to a study on the effects of kiwifruit consumption on sleep quality in adults with sleep problems, it was found that kiwi consumption may improve sleep onset, duration, and efficiency in adults with self-reported sleep disturbances.

Heart Health: The fiber and potassium in kiwis support heart health. An increase in potassium intake along with a decrease in sodium intake is the most important dietary change that a person can make to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease, according to Mark Houston, MD, MS, an associate clinical professor of medicine at Vanderbilt Medical School and director of the Hypertension Institute at St Thomas Hospital in Tennessee.³

In one study, those who consumed 4069 mg of potassium per day had a 49% lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease compared with those who consumed less potassium (about 1000 mg per day).³

High potassium intakes are also associated with a reduced risk of stroke, protection against loss of muscle mass, preservation of bone mineral density and reduction in the formation of kidney stones.³

Lowering Blood Pressure: Because of their high potassium content, kiwis can help negate the effects of sodium in the body. It is possible that a low potassium intake is just as big of a risk factor in developing high blood pressure as a high sodium intake.

According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, fewer than 2% of US adults meet the daily 4700 mg recommendation for potassium.³

Also of note, a high potassium intake is associated with a 20% decreased risk of dying from all causes.³

Constipation Prevention: Numerous studies have reported that the kiwi may have a mild laxative effect and could be used as a dietary supplement especially for elderly individuals experiencing constipation. Regular consumption of kiwifruit was shown to promote bulkier, softer and more frequent stool production.

From PsychologyToday.com:

Here’s some news that might make kiwi a true superfood: new research suggests that eating kiwifruit may have significant benefits for sleep.

Researchers at Taiwan’s Taipei Medical University studied the effects of kiwi consumption on sleep. They found that eating kiwi on a daily basis was linked to substantial improvements to both sleep quality and sleep quantity. Their study included 22 women and 2 men between the ages 20-55. All were experiencing some form of disrupted sleep. For a period of 4 weeks, the volunteers ate 2 kiwifruit 1 hour before bed. Researchers collected data on volunteers’ sleep throughout the study period using sleep diaries, a standard sleep-quality questionnaire, and wristwatches that measured aspects of sleep quality and quantity. After 4 weeks of kiwi consumption, researchers found significant improvements to several measures of sleep:

• People fell asleep more quickly. Sleep onset latency—the amount of time it takes to fall asleep after going to bed—decreased by 35.4%.

• People slept more soundly. Waking time after sleep onset—the amount of time spent in periods of wakefulness after initially falling asleep—fell 28.9%.

• Sleep quality improved. Scores on a standardized sleep quality questionnaire—where lower scores mean better sleep—decreased by 42.4%.

• Sleep efficiency—a measurement of the amount of time spent actually sleeping compared to the total amount of time spent in bed—increased by 5.41%.

• People slept more overall. Total sleep time among the volunteers increased by 13.4%.

These are some pretty dramatic improvements to quality, quantity and efficiency of sleep. We need to see additional research explore the sleep-promoting effects of kiwifruit, but this is a pretty intriguing start.

What’s behind the possible benefits of kiwi to sleep? There are a couple of characteristics of the fruit that may make it a strong sleep-promoting food: its high antioxidant levels and its high serotonin levels.

The same antioxidant properties that provide so many other health benefits also may help to improve sleep. The relationship between antioxidant foods and sleep is one we’re just beginning to understand. Research has established a basic link between sleep and antioxidants in the body. Studies show that poor sleep is associated with decreased antioxidant levels, and also that recovery sleep appears to help restore antioxidant levels. A number of studies have demonstrated the negative effects of obstructive sleep apnea on antioxidant function, and that the antioxidant vitamin C is effective in treating cardiovascular problems associated with sleep apnea. But what about improvements to sleep itself? We’ve yet to see much research directed at the role of antioxidants and antioxidant-rich foods in promoting sleep. This latest study may well indicate a role for kiwifruit and other high-antioxidant foods in treating sleep problems.

Beyond its strength as an antioxidant, kiwi is also a fruit high in serotonin. A hormone that also functions as a neurotransmitter, serotonin is involved in a broad range of physiologic processes: it has digestive and cardiovascular functions, assists in learning and memory, and helps to regulate appetite and mood. Serotonin deficiency has long been associated with depression and mood disorders. The relationship of serotonin to depression has never been fully understood, and the precise role of the hormone in depression and other mood disorders remains contested among scientists. Serotonin is also critical in sleep. Serotonin in the body contributes to several aspects of sleep, including helping to initiate sleep onset and to maintain sleep during the night. The hormone is involved in regulating movement through the stages of sleep, including time spent in the deepest, slow-wave sleep. Serotonin also helps to stimulate wakefulness in the morning. Research indicates that manipulation of levels of serotonin up or down can promote or inhibit sleep. Serotonin appears to interact with melatonin, another hormone essential to sleep, in helping to regulate the body’s 24-hour circadian cycle as well as other physiologic functions. Studies have shown that the stimulation of serotonin levels may in turn increase melatonin levels. The presence of a relatively high concentration of serotonin in kiwifruit may contribute to its apparent ability to improve sleep.

Kiwi isn’t the only potentially sleep-boosting food out there. There are a number of other types of food that can aid sleep. Magnesium and potassium rich foods help promote relaxation and circulation. They include dark leafy greens, bananas, nuts, seeds, citrus, tomatoes, and whole grains. Foods high in calcium help to boost melatonin levels. In addition to dairy, soy, nuts, seeds, and whole grains are strong calcium sources.

So, should you run out and buy a bag of kiwi for a pre-bedtime snack? One study can’t tell us all that we need to know about the effect of kiwifruit consumption on sleep. We’ll need to see additional research to confirm and expand on these very interesting initial results. That said, there is little question that a vitamin rich, low-fat and low-sugar diet is beneficial for your sleep.  And the possibility that we might harness the power of certain foods like kiwi as a natural, low-cost, non-pharmacologic, direct treatment for sleep is an exciting one, and worth further investigation.

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD

The Sleep Doctor™

This original article was posted here:

http://www.oprah.com/health/Things-That-Influence-Dreams-Dream-Facts/1

Unexpected Things That Influence Your Dreams
You know that sounds, smells and situations can invade them and certain medications spin them out of control. But not in your wildest dreams (maybe) did you think these could play a role.
By Jena Pincott
Your “Favored Position”
Being nude, unable to move, using hand tools, making love to a celebrity (or all of the above at once)? Erotic and perverse dreams are more common among stomach sleepers than among those who favor other positions, found a Hongkongese study (face down in the pillow, privates pressed, you can imagine how). Meanwhile, Turkish researchers found that people who usually sleep on their left side have more nightmares and bizarre dreams, whereas those who slept on their right have mellower ones, with themes of relief, joy, peace and love. No surprise, right-side sleepers also felt better rested and less dysfunctional in their waking hours. (Note: A favored position is one you’re in prior to sleep and when you wake in the morning.)
Kindergarten Music Lessons
There’s a little-known payoff to all those years of elementary school band. The younger people were when they started taking music lessons, the more often the sound of music permeated their dreams. Researchers at the University of Florence’s Sleep Lab who discovered this also found that starting formal training at an early age, when the brain was developing rapidly, had more influence on how often people experienced musical dreams than the total number of years they had lessons, or even how many hours a day they played or listened to music. Bonus finding: 28 percent of these dreams featured music the dreamers had never heard before, suggesting that we really can create original art in our sleep.
Your Love of Cheddar Over Blue Cheese
Despite all the hearsay about dream-inducing edibles, there’s not a lot of science yet, says Tore Nielsen, PhD, a professor at the University of Montreal and director of the Dream & Nightmare Laboratory at the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur in Montreal. But take heart, experimentalists. In a preliminary, yet-unpublished study, he and a colleague discovered that the most commonly mentioned dream-disturbing foods contained dairy (milk, cheese and yogurt, pizza and poutine—a cheesy Canadian dish). Interestingly, an informal study by the British Cheese Board also found that cheddar (2/3 ounce, a half-hour before bedtime) inspired the pleasantest, most memorable dreams (with celebrity appearances, no less), while Stilton, a stinky blue cheese, made dreams freakier. Nielsen explains that when dairy dreams are distressing, the problem could be an undiagnosed sensitivity to dairy (indigestion, cramping, gas), which is incorporated into the dream as disturbing symbols or emotions.
The Planet’s Gentle Pull
Research finds a connection between magnetism and melatonin: The fewer fluctuations in the earth’s magnetic field (geomagnetic activity), the more dream-inducing sleep hormone the body produces. Inspired, Darren Lipnicki, a psychologist formerly at the Center for Space Medicine in Berlin, recorded his dreams for eight years—he then looked up the records of geomagnetic activity closest to where he lived and found a statistical correlation. After two or more days of an unusually calm magnetic field—and (presumably) higher melatonin—his dreams were much more vivid and bizarre than they were following stormier phases (when melatonin may have been suppressed). As oddball as this preliminary study sounds, it’s not alone.
Your Nocturnal Tendencies
If you’re a night owl and happen to be female, you’re especially prone to having nightmares, Nielsen found. One theory, he explains, is that go-to-bed-late types wake up at an earlier-than-usual circadian phase, in which dreams (or nightmares) are their most intense—and memorable. Another is that evening types have more REM cycles nightly (that is, more opportunities to have nightmares) than others, especially when they sleep in on weekends. But Nielsen contends that the distressing dreams may be primarily a manifestation of mood disorders such as depression and anxiety, which prey on more owls than larks. The best advice, he says, is to experiment with going to sleep earlier. If that’s not realistic, he recommends “imagery rescripting”: a technique for “rewriting a bad dream” by reviewing it during daylight hours—usually with the help of a psychologist—and playing it back with a different twist or ending.
Your Onscreen Alter Ego
The more you play video games, the more control and awareness you’ll have in your dreams—like playing your “character” in your sleep, found Jayne Gackenbach, PhD, a psychologist at Grant MacEwan University in Canada. She explains that serious gamers get a lot of practice maneuvering in a virtual environment—a skill that may translate especially well in the context of a dream.
The One Thing You Want to Avoid
Just try to quash undesired thoughts—about urges, exes, hair loss, deadlines, white bears, whatever—and they’re more likely to rebound in your dreams, jack-in the-box-style, found a study at the Goethe University of Frankfurt. (The prefrontal cortex, which usually keeps these things in check, goes offline as you dream.) The researchers tested this by asking volunteers to suppress an unwanted thought for five minutes prior to sleep. Not only was the thought likelier to intrude in their dreams, but suppressing it also led to more nightmares overall. And when you already have a lot on your mind, the one thing you’re avoiding is even likelier to rebound. But, as Sigmund Freud pointed out, there’s a bright side: “A wish suppressed during the day asserts itself in a dream.” That is, the fantasies you deny or otherwise make taboo are also likelier to play out in your sleep.

Here is an example of a woman who had a mutual dream with her ex-boyfriend. The dreams were not exactly the same, but there was definite overlap and they happened at the same time. For this one, I am sharing some of the question and answer process so you can see a dream session in action.

Amy sent in this dream:
2 nights ago, I had a dream in which I was running through a dark house being chased by my ex boyfriend. I ran in a room and tried to close the door and could not, and yelled out “What do you want from me?!” Just then a scary voice I said “I want you” I instantly woke up and experienced what I now know is sleep paralysis.  Less than a minute later my phone rang and it was my ex boyfriend! He apologize for the phone call at 2:30 a.m., however he said that he had to call me to be sure I was okay. He said he woke up from a dream that felt real, in which I was falling from a cliff and he was trying to grab me to save me, however I fell to my death.  What does this mean?
~Amy

Mimi:
Do you have a sense for what this dream means to you?

Amy:
I have absolutely no idea. I somewhat feel that I was wanting to get away from my ex boyfriend and move on, however him having the same dream or similar dream at the same time is what concerns me. I dreamed something was grabbing me and I was getting away, he dreamt that he was grabbing me and trying to save me at the same time.

Mimi:
What was going on in your life at the time you had this dream?:

Amy:
I recently broke up with my boyfriend about 2 months ago and moved into my own house he wants to get back together however I do not.

Mimi:
What was the main feeling in the dream? :
My dream was absolutely terrifying.

Mimi:
What you had was a shared or mutual dream with your ex. It is not uncommon amongst people who have emotional ties (couples, siblings, parent/child etc). Just because you had this experience does not mean you should get back together with him, it just means you guys still have an open line of mental communication. If you look at the energetic dynamic, in his dream he is saving you, in your dream you feel terrified, and you want to get away.  From what you have described, this reflects the actual dynamic between the two of you, where he wants to come after you but you want to get away. I am very pro-relationship in general, but the fact that you felt terrified is your own consciousness telling you how you really feel about him at the time of the dream.
Sometimes things seem ‘fine’ on the surface, but our dreams bring to light what is really going on underneath the surface. So I’m not saying this dream means never get back together with him, or that he is a bad person – after all, he was trying to save you in his dream…however your feelings are important to consider. Perhaps they were a reflection of how you felt in the moment, and that can change.  But the fact that you found the dream absolutely terrifying is of concern.
Listen to your instincts always about who to surround yourself with. I hope this helps.

On Sunday (May 19, 2013) I took a nap, and had a dream about a TORNADO.  In the beginning of the dream I was in a house; my cell phone rang and it was a guy named John. The reception started breaking up and I looked out the window to see a tornado. I realized I had better take cover. I scrambled all over the house looking for a safe place to hide, but all the rooms had windows, even downstairs, and I couldn’t find a solid closed basement/concrete type room. Pretty soon I saw out a window that we were in the middle of the tornado. The next thing you know I am lying flat on my stomach, and the tornado ripped the house down. I felt shards of glass hitting my head and the wind was whipping my hair with an intense force. I had a coat on and wanted to pull my hood over my head but something told me it wasn’t over yet.  Sure enough, another blow came and completely tore the entire house down to nothing. I felt more glass shards hitting my head, more wind blasting my hair.
I woke up horrified. This dream seemed out of place with how I felt at the time.  It didn’t fit for regular interpretation, and usually I can get that pretty quickly.
I don’t usually watch the news, but tonight (Tuesday night) something made me tune in for a few minutes. I saw the devastation of the tornado that hit Oklahoma on Monday. Just like the dream I had on Sunday afternoon.
Scientists believe that precognitive dreams like this are actually a survival mechanism. If we lived in a tribe and someone had a dream like this, we might actually take it as a warning, and have more time to prepare  and get ourselves to safety.
The key is not to assume all bad dreams are warnings. I think this is why so many people are afraid of dreams; perhaps they have had a ‘warning’ dream, and then become afraid that any and all unpleasant dreams will actually happen. The truth is, all dreams are there to HELP us – whether to prepare us, warn us, or show us potential outcomes, or current life dynamics. Maybe we can’t stop a tornado, but we can do everything in our power to get to safety, and the more notice we have, the better. Other warning dreams may be of scenarios that are indeed preventable. It is important to listen to them, and start to recognize your own dreaming patterns. This one didn’t fit with my life at the time or seem to have a solid ‘interpretive’ value.  That is one clue that it might be an extra-ordinary dream.

Hypnogogic State – The transitional, twilight state between being awake and falling asleep. In this state it is common for paranormal phenomena to occur, including auditory and/or visual hallucinations, out of body experiences, sleep paralysis and sleep paralysis attacks.

Hypnopompic State – Same as the hypnogogic state, except this term refers to the transition from sleep to waking.

Out of Body Experience (O.B.E.) –  When a person’s consciousness leaves the body and is able to observe the physical surroundings such as the bedroom they are in.  This may also involve travelling around, yet still viewing the physical surroundings as we know them in waking reality.

Near Death Experience (N.D.E.) – (a form of O.B.E.) A person may be pronounced clinically dead, only to later come back to life later.  Many will report conversations they overheard (for example between surgeons at the operating table if they died in a hospital) that are later confirmed, and the person would have had no way of knowing this information otherwise. This brings up the interesting and fascinating distinction between mind and brain, as consciousness (mind) is surviving without and beyond the death of the physical matter (brain).

Astral Projection –  When consciousness leaves the physical body and travels, similar to an Out of Body Experience, but the travel is through a more dream like, other worldly realm.

Lucid Dreaming – Becoming aware of the fact that one is dreaming during the experience of having a dream.  For more information read Robert Waggoner’s fascinating book “Lucid Dreaming”.  For more info, go here: https://www.thedreamdetective.com/faq.html#lucid

After Death Contact (A.D.C.) – When a deceased loved one comes to visit us in our dreams.  While some dreams of loved ones who have crossed over are ways of processing our loss, other are reported as feeling very ‘different’ than regular dreams. Some of the hallmarks of A.D.C. dreams are that they feel very real, as if the loved one were actually with the dreamer.  The dreamer may report smelling grandma’s perfume or grandpa’s cigar, and often the dream takes place in the dreamer’s bedroom, which is not the case for most dreams.  Sometimes a dream ‘already in progress’ may be interrupted by the appearance the deceased loved one, who almost always brings messages of comfort and love in any of these scenarios.  Many people also have these dreams of former pets who have crossed over as well.

Shared Dreams or Mutual Dreaming – The experience of having the same dream at the same time as another person.  Usually this occurs between people who are emotionally close such as siblings, close friends, family members or romantic partners. The degree of the ‘shared’ experience may vary from part of each person’s dream being the same (overlapping), to the entire dream being identical for both dreamers.  People sometimes intend for a shared dream experience, visualizing it and agreeing on a meeting spot before going to sleep.

Sleep Paralysis – In R.E.M. sleep our body becomes paralyzed so that we don’t physically act out what we are dreaming about, as this could be very harmful to our self and others.  When we wake up the paralysis releases, however sometimes there is a ‘glitch in the system’ where the paralysis takes a little longer to release.  Becoming conscious and finding that the body is paralyzed can be a terrifying experience that about 20-30% of the population will experience at some time. However, it usually resolves itself and is nothing to be afraid of.

Sleep Paralysis Attacks – A phenomenon that sometimes occurs during the state of sleep paralysis, where the dreamer reports a visitation. The visitor is most often described as either a dark, shadowy figure, or something know as ‘the old hag’, who is reported to look something like a Halloween witch. This phenomenon has been reported all over the world through out history.  Researcher David Hufford wrote a book about this called ‘The Terror that Comes in the Night’.

Nightmares – Scary dreams that often will wake us up with a pounding heart and covered in sweat.  These are R.E.M. dreams and are important to pay attention to when working through life’s difficulties.  If a nightmare relives a trauma and repeats with no progression or resolution over time, this would indicate a P.T.S.D. nightmare and professional guidance with an experienced professional is recommended.

Night Terrors – Different than a nightmare, these do not occur in R.E.M. sleep, but rather in stage 4, or the deepest, non-dream sleep. Often night terrors cause the sufferer to scream out loud, but upon waking they will have no recollection of any kind of dream or what happened.

Daydreams – A relaxed state (similar to a hypnotic trance) where creativity, imagination, problem solving and learning consolidation occur.  As part of our circadian rhythm (similar to the 90 minute cycles between R.E.M. dreams when asleep), we have a natural tendency to daydream about every 70-120 minutes through out the day.

Precognitive Dreams – Dreams that pick up on potentials for the future that may or may not play out. There have been reports of people who have had a precognitive dream and later recognized a dangerous situation in waking life because of the dream.  They were then able to make a course correction to prevent the potential negative outcome because the dream provided them with the warning and awareness to do this.

Clairvoyant Dreams –  A dream during which the dreamer is able to witnesses an outside event (happening in waking reality) at the same time it is actually occurring.

Empathic telepathy –  Similar to a clairvoyant dream, except that instead of witnessing an event as an outside observer during the dream, the dreamer experiences the event as if it were happening to them – in a sense assuming the identity of someone that the waking life event is actually happening to.

Here is a dream experience submitted via my website:

“Well sometimes I would take a nap during the day or go to bed. The past two night and earlier I would take a short nap because I’m busy doing something. And I start to sleep and have a piece of a dream and I jump when I wake up. The first time in the dream I was in school and I was going to a classroom and the door slammed in my face and I woke up. The second time I don’t remember what happen. It just started happening and I’m trying to figure out why I started doing that.”

Dear Dreamer,
You could be experiencing something called a ‘hypnic jerk’ or ‘myclonic twitch’.  It’s called a hypnic jerk, or hypnogigic jerk, because it happens in the hypnogogic state – that tranistionary state between being awake and asleep.  So the dream you are having is not an R.E.M. dream, but something more similar to daydreaming (only a little deeper). In the process of falling asleep, we are entering into lower brainwave states. For some reason, that translates physiologically into the sense of ‘falling’ for a lot of us, which is why they call it ‘falling asleep’.  You didn’t mention the falling sensation, but when the body experiences this transition it is common for the muscles to contract and that can come out as legs kicking, or a feeling of jumping like when someone startles you (for example).  I don’t know if the slamming door sound really happened and you incorporated it into the dream, or if your dreaming mind created something to explain the sensation of feeling startled (this may sound weird but that dream state can be a few seconds -or more- ahead of waking time).  What is causing this? Could be irregular sleep schedules, sleep deprivation, anxiety, even drugs and medication can trigger this sensation. But the truth is nobody really knows for sure what causes this. You mentioned you are napping, so I wonder if you are on an irregular sleep schedule, and that could be the trigger.  It is likely just a temporary thing that you don’t need to worry about long term, especially if you can figure out the trigger and adjust accordingly.

I hope this helps,

Mimi

We tend to speak in generalized terms of dreams happening in the unconscious (or subconscious) mind, or how it happens mostly in the right (intuitive) brain and that the left (logical) brain goes ‘offline’ during sleep (with exceptions such as lucid dreaming).  While these generalizations may apply, it is much more complicated than that. There are many parts of the brain involved during REM dreaming and the different stages of sleep.

If you have ever been curious about what parts of the brain are active during dreaming, here is an amazingly comprehensive article written by Bob Hoss:

http://dreamscience.org/idx_science_of_dreaming_section-3.htm

GREAT research and explanation. Thanks, Bob!

For a really great interactive online chart exploring the different stages of sleep, visit: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/sleep-memory.html  and click on “LAUNCH INTERACTIVE”.

What happens in your brain as you cycle through the various stages of sleep, and how does this activity affect learning and memory? See what scientists are learning about REM (rapid-eye movement) sleep and other phases, and explore recent research linking sleep—and sleep deprivation—to different types of memories.

Explore the stages of a good night’s sleep and the research linking sleep to memory.

“I dreamed I had sex with someone I’m not even attracted to!”

This is a common one, and can make for an awkward encounter next time you run into the person when you are awake! Even though they don’t know you had a hot dream about them, your feelings were so real in the dream you can’t help but feel embarrassed now.
The first thing to ask yourself when you have this dream is: What are the qualities this person represents to me that I am currently, or would like to be, embracing in myself?
This dream also usually has nothing to do with the actual person, but rather what they represent to you.  Sometimes the person is of the same gender, and we do not swing that way. This can create fear or confusion upon waking!  Rest assured that this does not mean you are suddenly

“What does it mean when I dream my partner cheated on me?”
The first reaction is usually to be mad or suspicious of your partner. But hold on! While again anything is possible – do your fact checking if you think they are literally having an affair – HOWEVER…This dream usually indicates that you are feeling cheated out of TIME with your partner.  So first ask yourself, has he/she taken up a new hobby? Working longer hours? Travelling without you? Anything that takes your partner away from you can feel like ‘the other man or woman’.  Even an illness, disease, or condition like depression can feel like something (translating to someone in the dream world) has taken away the closeness you previously shared.
Before jumping to the literal explanation, see if the metaphor fits.