Dreams About Putin
Following the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many people started to dream about the Russian president Vladimir Putin. People have recorded and shared over 1000 of these dreams on social media, creating a surreal archive of the troubled collective unconscious in times of war. In Dreams of Putin, these visions are brought to life using a combination of found footage and scenes created in Unreal Engine, a 3D graphics programme for designing computer games. Fascinating in both its experimental form and themes, this is a film that is destined to remain in the subconscious of all who see it (Sheffield Doc Fest, 2026)
Dream States by Sin Wai Kin
Dream States — the 18th edition of Artists’ Film International — explores the boundary between waking life and imagination, bringing together moving image works that reflect on how dreams shape our sense of time and identity. The programme highlights artists who use film to navigate memory, perception, and the subconscious, inviting viewers to inhabit these liminal spaces (Southwark Park Galleries, 2025).
Prodromal dreams
Dream content sometimes changes before any obvious illness symptoms appear, potentially acting like an early warning system. The research suggests that in REM sleep the brain integrates internal bodily signals—errors, distortions, or threats—and represents them metaphorically in dreams, which may help detect or even respond to emerging health problems (Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2025).
Adaptive effects of the dreams of Ukrainian female refugees to Poland after February 24, 2022
This paper investigates the dreams of Ukrainian women who fled to Poland after the Russian invasion, revealing how dreams can play a powerful role in coping with trauma and adapting to new lives. Drawing on interviews with 50 refugees, the study finds that, while many dreams reflect the pain and anxiety of war, a surprising number also serve an adaptive purpose—helping women feel hope, joy, or strength in the face of adversity (International Journal of Dream Research, 2025).
Typical dreams and mental health among Generation-Z
This study finds that recurring everyday dream-themes — things like falling, enjoying good food, or sexual experiences — show meaningful correlations with mental health symptoms among Generation-Z. It suggests that the content of ‘typical dreams’ may offer important insights into psychological well-being for young people (International Journal of Dream Research, 2025).
The Value of Shared Dreams
Can dreaming really help solve waking problems? And could a specific form of dream analysis help an organisation better achieve shared goals and objectives? In this INSEAD Knowledge podcast, Susan Long, Emeritus Professor at the National Institute of Organization Dynamics Australia and Michael Jarrett, Professor of Management at INSEAD offer their perspective on the value of social dreaming for firms (INSEAD Knowledge, 2025).
The Island’s Collective Dream
Dreams from people living on the Isle of Sheppey are weaved together, using AI, human curation, and imagery to highlight shared motifs like carnivals, dogs, mazes, climbing, and steam. The work creates a communal dream-sequence that blends individual fragments into something collective—surfacing the emotional highs and anxieties of that community (Adam Chodzko, 2025).
cosmologyscape
Cosmologyscape is an invitation to the public to dream. Created by artists Kite and Alisha B Wormsley, and selected in Creative Time’s 2022 Open Call, the multimedia and participatory public art project unfolds across multiple sites, digital and in public space (Creative Time, 2024).
Within the space of a dream
The exhibition "Le temps d’un rêve / In the space of a dream" at the Musée des Confluences in Lyon, France, is a comprehensive exploration of dreaming, covering its science, cultural representations, and artistic endeavors (Musée des Confluences, 2024).
Anxiety Dominated our Dreams in 2024 with a Spike During US Election
Dream data from over 13,000 reports in 2024 revealed that more than 70% carried anxious or fearful emotions, with a striking spike around the U.S. election. Yet as the year went on, these anxiety-laden dreams gave way to themes of growth, resilience, and transformation, showing how collective stress can shift into adaptation (Dream Decoder, 2024).
How to optimise the cognitive benefits of dreams and sleep
Dreams help us emotionally process the day’s challenges, reduce the intensity of distressing memories, and strengthen resilience. By getting enough quality sleep, tuning habits like pre-sleep reflection or sensory cues (scents or sounds), and using tools like memory reactivation or dream journaling, we can boost these cognitive benefits (The Guardian, 2025).
Sleep Patterns and Crisis-Related Dreams During the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian War
This study examines how two major crises—the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian War—impacted sleep patterns and dreams in Portugal’s general population. Researchers analyzed how these crises shaped dream recall, nightmare frequency, and emotional dream content, revealing key psychological differences between pandemic and war-related dreams.
Are Ads Infiltrating Our Dreams? A 2025 Consumer Report
More than half of Americans aged 18-35 say they’ve had dreams influenced by ads, and about two in five believe advertisements are already infiltrating their sleep. While most report that such dreams didn’t spur purchases, one in three say they did, and many would accept ads in exchange for discounts—raising serious questions about the commercialization of our subconscious (The Media Image, 2025).
Psychosocial and Cultural Perspectives on the War in Ukraine. Imprints and Dreamscapes
Following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, students were invited to keep diaries and dream journals to capture what they saw, heard, and felt. The resulting book layers these personal records with artistic materials and scholarly essays on fear, rupture, and resistance, offering rare insight into the everyday and emotional dimensions of war (Routledge, 2024).
Oneiric Witnessing: Dreamscapes of War
This academic paper proposes that wartime dream diaries become testimonial acts, offering visibility to experiences of violence and trauma that society often silences. Through sharing dreams, individuals engage in both self-disclosure and political memory, making dreams themselves a form of witnessing and relational ethics in times of war (Humanities, 2025).
Dreams, Visions, and Worldmaking: Envisioning Anthropology Through Dreamscapes
This paper explores how dreams and visions shape the way people understand and construct their worlds. Anthropologist Katherine Swancutt examines how different cultures view dreaming as more than just a personal experience—it can be a way of gaining knowledge, making decisions, and shaping social structures (Annual Review of Anthropology, 2024).
The LEGO Group Reveals How Children Can “Dream Craft” Their Way to Amazing Adventures
In the lead-up to the final 10 episodes of LEGO® DREAMZzz™ Night of the Never Witch, a new study reveals that children can learn how to guide and change their dreams, similar to the characters in the series (Lego, 2024).
The stuff that nightmares are made of: Israeli dreams in times of the Israel-Hamas war
This qualitative study of 242 dreams collected after the Hamas terror attack of October 7, 2023, shows how national trauma and heightened mortality salience were mirrored in dream content.
Dreams, problem-solving, and resilience in Chinese young adults
In a survey of 233 young people in Hong Kong, researchers found that vivid or altered dreams (rich in sensory detail or unusual content) were positively linked with better problem-solving ability. However, frequent or intense dreaming was surprisingly associated with lower resilience, suggesting that the number or strength of dreams may need to be balanced for psychological well-being (International Journal of Dream Research, 2024).
Correlation between attitudes toward dreams and workplace well-being
This survey of 340 Taiwanese employees found that attitudes toward dreams are closely linked with workplace well-being. In particular, seeing dreams as meaningful was strongly associated with higher well-being, while focusing on ‘understanding’ dreams showed a surprising negative relationship.