Work-life balance in dreams: Frequency and emotional tone of work-related and hobby-related dreams

As dreams reflect waking life, the so-called continuity hypothesis of dreaming, the literature showing that work-related stress affects dreams negatively is very plausible. As in waking life, hobbies are an important component in the work-life balance. In the present study, the work-life balance in dreams was studied. Overall, 1695 persons (960 women, 735 men; mean age: 53.84 +/- 13.99 years) participated in an online survey entitled Everyday life and dreams. The data collected refer to the pre-pandemic period. The findings indicate that hobby-related dreams are more frequent in persons who often engage in their hobbies, supporting the notion of a thematic continuity. As expected, the emotional tone of hobby-related dreams was more positive compared with dreams in general and work-related dreams in particular. Interestingly, the emotional valence of hobby-related dreams was related to the valence of general emotionality towards work in waking life, supporting the idea of an emotional continuity between waking and dreaming. The work-life balance in dreams could be defined as the difference of the percentages of work-related and hobby-related dreams; it is linked to work-related stress and the hobby frequency, factors similar to those that shift the work-life balance in waking life toward the work end of the spectrum.

Automated summary

A study found that people who frequently engage in their hobbies are more likely to dream about hobby-related content, and these dreams have a more positive emotional tone. Additionally, the balance between work and life in dreams is related to work-related stress and the frequency of hobbies in waking life.