People can walk, chew gum, and even talk at the same time, of course, but the brain doesn’t usually work that way when it comes to dreaming. More than anything, when you have two dreams at once, synapses in your brain are simply firing away.
It’s a sign of mental or physical stress or the effect of a drug.
There are no studies on the phenomenon
Having two dreams at once comes across as noise (or that their brain is “spinning”) unless the dreamer takes the time to piece out what’s running through their mind.
An Internet search reveals talk about it on Reddit and some other blogs.
Surely, it happens to others, sometimes regularly. Like strange cloud formations happening around someone who never looks up at the sky, it happens unnoticed, coming across as noise in the head.
Listening to your dreams could be compared to listening to a radio that’s stuck between two or more stations.
I’ve had two dreams at once when I’ve had my sleep schedule completely upturned. I had to suddenly fly somewhere after being up for two days with half the amount of sleep necessary.
One dream was a kind of “relaxation track.” A catchy song about “Pecan Pie” played over in my head. I was traveling to visit family after working during Thanksgiving, my second favorite holiday. The other dream was about truth versus perception; perception shapes what is and isn’t true to the person.
Perception isn’t the same as reality, of course. You’ve got to be careful about the conclusions you reach when you’re so tired.
Bottom line: my subconscious knew I needed to get some sleep. It was doing what it could to help me get that sleep. That’s why it was playing the sweet, happy song.
It also knew my perception of events was colored by my lack of sleep and it seemed to consider the ramifications of that. For example, people may overlook danger in their environment as the brain shuts down signals to operate at a more basic level.
Having two dreams at once isn’t good. It’s a kind of warning light, but in the body, not a car.
Also on the blog:
James Cobb RN, MSN is an emergency nurse who founded the Dream Recovery System, a blog focusing on the power of sleep and dreaming.
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