North Rhine-Westphalia

Exam jitters – that’s a feeling that millions of students in Germany know and from which they are currently recovering. Many federal states are still on summer vacation, in some schools have already started again, although without the great pressure of exams in the first few weeks. But it’s also a feeling that affects many adults who have long since left school behind. At night.

School dreams, the classics of nighttime head theatre

If you ask around, you’ll find that many people dream about school and exam situations. A nameless classroom, a blackboard at the front, a sheet of paper with tasks on the table – these are classic scenes of theater that our brains create while we sleep.

The long school break in summer is a good opportunity to ask yourself: Why is that actually the case?

Open detailed viewDreams mix current experiences with things that one has experienced in the past. (Symbolic image) (Photo: Christoph Soeder/Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH/dpa)

Anyone who wants to know should speak to Michael Schredl, one of the country’s best-known dream researchers. A man who has very well-considered answers to pressing questions. He says: A school dream is less about concrete experiences in educational institutions many years ago – but about current, emotionally relevant things in the here and now.

“A dream always mixes current experiences with things that one has experienced in the past – if these previous experiences trigger similar emotions or feelings. Dreams link current events with previous ones,” explains the scientific director of the sleep laboratory at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim. From this perspective, school is just a kind of foil on which the current state of mind can be recognized.

A feeling that is not only found in classrooms

“The basic pattern of the exam dream is that someone else wants to know whether you are capable of something, whether you can achieve something. The feeling is: My performance is being observed,” explains Schredl.

It’s a feeling that can be unpleasant. And a feeling that is not only found in classrooms. “This basic pattern is something that we encounter not only in school, but throughout life,” says the researcher. “In professional life, it is no longer the teacher who tests, but the boss or colleagues.”

It is therefore also possible that former model students who were always well prepared dream of sitting cluelessly in front of a math or English exam as adults. “Because it is about current feelings and emotions,” says Schredl.

“If you feel like you are not sufficiently prepared for a certain task at work, this can be mixed up in your dream with a situation from school.” A study by Schredl found that dreams about exams are among the top ten themes in nightmares.

Open detailed viewSchool dreams are among the classics among dreams – and nightmares too. (Archive image) (Photo: Bodo Marks/dpa)

The science author Stefan Klein, who has written a highly acclaimed book about dreams (“Dreams. A Journey into Our Inner Reality”), is one of those people who often dream about exam situations – although he himself says he never had much fear of tests and the like.

But he also says: “I dream about it in a very specific situation in life. Namely, when I am afraid of being judged.” For him, this is typically the case when the publication date of a book is approaching.

“Dreams tell me how I really feel”

“My dream tells me something about myself,” says Klein. During the day, we often tell ourselves that we can handle a situation well. But the dream shows that it is unsettling and causes stress. “A wise friend of mine once said: dreams tell me how I really feel. There is a lot of truth in that,” says Klein. “Emotion is what drives the dream.”

The question remains: Why does this emotion choose school as the stage for its staging?

Well, it is very formative for many people. The first evaluations, the first authorities. “School is so present because many things happened for the first time during this time – also because some problems started there. It is a time of strong emotions,” says dream researcher Schredl.

All we can wish the students who are now streaming back into the classrooms is sweet dreams.