How is daydreaming different from nocturnal dreaming?

Daydreaming is actually a fairly active area of research right now, after a bit of a lull and lack of interest from scientists since an early bunch of research in the 1960's and '70s. read more

The clearest and most obvious distinction between daydreaming and nocturnal dreaming is that while you are conscious while daydreaming, you must be asleep to experience nocturnal dreams. Because of this, its very difficult to do in-depth research into the experience of nocturnal dreaming. read more

A number of studies have focused specifically on the relation between daydreaming styles and nocturnal dreams. Starker selected subjects on the basis of their rank order on the relevant IPI subscales, and assigned them to categories of positive daydreaming, negative daydreaming, and anxious-distractible daydream­ ing [59]. read more

One model by which to relate daydreaming and nocturnal dreaming is that of "alternative channels. " That is, whatever is rendered inaccessible to conscious fantasy seeks expression in night dreams. Thema and affects dominating an individual's waking fantasy, then, would be quite different from the contents of his dream life. read more