A new study from researchers at Northwestern University found that it might be possible to influence your dreams.
The study published in the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness earlier this month validates the possibility of influencing dreams. Researchers said it also supports the theory that dreams in REM sleep can help people come up with creative solutions to a problem.
The study was conducted by Northwestern neuroscientists and recruited 20 people who had experiences with lucid dreaming, the state of being aware of dreaming when they are dreaming.
Scientists used a method called targeted memory reactivation (TMR) in the study. They found that 75% of the study's participants had dreams that included parts of unsolved puzzles they were presented with earlier, and puzzles incorporated into dreams were solved more often than puzzles that were not.
Researchers said the hope is that "these findings will help move us towards stronger conclusions about the functions of dreaming."