Save money? In your dreams

South Africans are not counting sheep to fall asleep. They’re counting rands and cents.

A survey by a dream interpretation website has found that in the first week of this year, nearly one in three of us dreamt about saving money.

The online survey by US-based website The Pleasant Dream found that 30.4% of the more than 200 South African participants had “a dream of saving money”.

“Dreams about current events in my life” and “dreams of family” were second at 17.39%.

Most participants said saving money was not on their list of new year’s resolutions.

Psychiatrist Nereida Gonzalez-Berrios, who works with The Pleasant Dream, told the Sunday Times that people often sought solutions through their dreams.

“Dreams are a representation of one’s unconscious desires, wishes and motivations. It has been backed by research. Many residents of South Africa might be encountering financial pressures, and that could be the reason they had the dream of saving money,” she said.

Durban clinical psychologist Nazia Osman said dreaming about finances was usually a reflection of a person’s desires and concerns.

“They might want to make a significant purchase and desire to save enough to be able to accomplish this,” Osman said.

“Or they could be insecure and unsure of their ability to accumulate the funds and their mind might be bringing this concern to their consciousness.

“Persistent dreams of money could be a sign that this is a priority to the person and a concern. This would be understandable taking the current times into account coming out of Covid, the weak state of the rand, petrol hikes, load-shedding and its impact on the economy, and the price hikes we have been observing.”

Osman agreed Gonzalez-Berrios that money worries could be influencing dreams in South Africa.

“Financial concerns can keep one awake at night and intrude into one’s thoughts and dreams.”

She called it a vicious circle of not getting enough sleep and then being more prone to negative moods, irritability, foggy thinking, poor decision-making and reduced capacity to remember and reason rationally. “There is an economic cost to sleep deprivation in terms of health care and reduced efficiency,” she said.

Professor Renata Schoeman, head of health-care leadership at Stellenbosch Business School, said dreams often arose from events or experiences that happened earlier in the day.

“Dreaming about money may be that during the day people were thinking about their financial pressures and where they can save money, or how to curb expenses, but it also might be more symbolic in terms of being more prepared for the future.

“To save money may not literally be the act of saving money. It also might be a more general theme of preparing yourself for the future, for yourself and for your children. It may represent some of your concerns of not being as well prepared as you would want to be,” she said.

It’s not all about money 2% of South Africans in the survey dreamt about losing their teeth, getting married or having a bleeding nose in the first week of 2023.

“There is no one way to interpret dreams,” said Osman.

“However, the dream of teeth falling out is usually associated with fear of loss of composure or control in front of people. Some say it can also be fear of letting go, loss and fear of abrupt change.

“Nose-bleeding is usually interpreted as the subconscious mind asking you to take a break. It is often seen as the body’s way to bring attention to the fact that you might be overworked and be close to burnout. The message could be to pause, reflect, self-nurture and rest.”