Little known facts about Dreams and Sex

Sex remains the main content in everyday dreams of both male and female, according to the new, sensational findings of a Canadian study.

The detailed study that intended to investigate the actual nature and content of sexual dreams across a large sample of dream reports from men and women sheds new light on what people dream about once they go to sleep.

After studying more than 3,500 home dream reports collected from men and women, Antonio Zadra, a researcher at the Universite de Montreal, found that near about eight percent of everyday dream reports from both genders contain some form of sexual-related activity.

To reach the findings, researchers conducted interviews with 109 women and 64 men who logged their dreams over a period of two to four weeks, and racked up some 3500 dreams of which just 8 per cent were erotic dreams.

The findings, presented Thursday at Sleep 2007, the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Minneapolis, revealed that sexual intercourse was the typical form of sexual dream content, followed by sexual propositions, kissing, fantasies and masturbation.

Both men and women reported experiencing peak of sexual excitement (Orgasm) in about four per cent of their sexual dreams, while the current or past partners were identified in 20 per cent of women's sexual dreams, compared to 14 per cent for men, the study found.

Orgasms were experienced by other people in about 4 per cent of women’s sexual dreams. On contrary, men did not report other characters experiencing orgasms in their dreams.

Besides dreaming about sexual activities, women tend to fantasize about public figures like film stars, politicians, rock stars or lovers past and present, while men tend to visualize themselves making love to multiple partners in public or unknown settings, the author of the study said.

According to Zadra, the observed gender differences probably signify the different waking needs, experiences, desires and attitudes with respect to sexuality.

"This is consistent with the continuity hypothesis of dreaming which postulates that the content of everyday dreams reflects the dreamer's waking states and concerns - that is, that dream and waking thought contents are continuous."

The recent findings brush aside a previous research that suggested women are less likely to fantasize about sex in their sleep.

The author says that the increase in the percentage of women that reported such dreams can be due to the increased willingness of women to talk about the subject or the fact that women actually experience more sexual dreams now than they did four decades ago, or both.