Having nightmares about your husband cheating?

New research finds DREAMS can predict future relationship behavior

By Sadie Whitelocks PUBLISHED: 14:32 GMT, 16 May 2013 | UPDATED: 14:33 GMT, 16 May 2013

Nightmares about a partner cheating may indicate that a relationship is heading for trouble, according to a new study investigating the predictive value of dreams. Researchers from the University of Maryland asked 61 participants aged 17 to 42 who had been dating someone for at least six months, to keep a journal detailing their dream and relationship activity over a two-week period. Findings showed that images of jealously and arguing triggered next-day conflict between couples while visions of infidelity resulted in reduced love or intimacy.

Figuring things out: Dreams can be used to predict future relationship behavior according to a new study

Commenting on the outcome, lead researcher Dylan Selterman told the Huffington Post: 'A lot of people dont pay attention to their dreams and are unaware of the impact they have on their state of mind.

'Now we have evidence that there is this association.' When it came to sex dreams volunteers in good couplings spent the following days with a heightened sense of love and intimacy. However, those had by people in weaker relationships had the opposite effect. Explaining the trend, Dr Selterman said: 'We already know theres a high correlation between sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction, this might be another manifestation of that.

'Sex can be good or bad in a dream in the same way that it can be good or bad in real life'
'Sex can be good or bad in a dream in the same way that it can be good or bad in real life. ' He believes these correlations are the result of a psychological effect known as 'priming' - the idea that exposure to external stimuli (sights, sounds, smells) brings certain thoughts to the top of peoples minds. '[Dreams] have predictive value. Peoples activity changes as a function of the dream they had the night before,' he wrote in the paper. He apparently based the research, published earlier this month in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, on his own experience with a college girlfriend who would get angry with the way he behaved in her dreams. A study earlier this year published in the journal Dreaming revealed that romantic partners feature in about 20per cent of people's dreams.
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