EVIDENCE has shown that positive dreams give us a spring in our step and make us work harder.
Now, as Britain prepares to lose an hour's sleep with the start of Summer Time on Sunday, they may be more than just a dream for the lucky few.
An experimental mobile phone app first unveiled at the Edinburgh International Science Festival in 2012 has helped thousands of people enjoy more positive dreams.
Professor Richard Wiseman, of Hertfordshire University, co-developed the software, which plays a pleasant soundscape to evoke scenarios such as a walk in the woods or lying on a beach to people as they sleep.
The app then sounds a gentle alarm and prompts participants to submit a description of their dream. It has been downloaded 500,000 times and researchers have collected millions of reports.
Mr Wiseman said: "If someone chose the nature landscape they were more likely to dream about greenery and flowers. If they selected the beach soundscape they were more likely to dream about the sun beating down on their skin."
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