Jesse Bering has an interesting blog item about recurring dreams. You know, the ones that keep coming back to you year after year as you sleep. One theory is that it helps us rehearse responses to threats that may face us in real life.

Which probably tells us something about modern-day threats. Reading the comments responding to the post, I see many people share my recurring dream of being in college but forgetting to show up for a class until midway through. In my case, the dream either is that it's the start of the quarter and I can't find a record of what classes I've signed up for, or it's finals week and I realize that I had forgotten I was registered for a course and have to take a final without having gone to any of the classes. 

Other recurring dreams: that a tornado is coming (a result of having grown up in the Midwest, I'm sure) and that I'm back in another city where I used to live, but trying to get back to New Mexico (a sign that this is the place for me). Oh, yeah, and snakes. The ground covered with snakes, so that there's no place to step. Ewww...

But rehearsing for threats? Where does that put my recurring dream about walking languidly along a beautiful ocean shoreline?

What do you think? Do our dreams really mean anything? Do they serve any evolutionary purpose?

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