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The Most Common Nightmares And What They Mean

Most of us have had at least one unsettling nightmare that sticks with us, causing us to wake up in a sweat in the middle of the night. Asides from pinching yourself to make sure it’s only a dream, there are ways of decoding your nightmares and reflecting on your current stresses in life. In fact, scientists are continuously finding more data that connects our nightmares to our subconscious. Specifically, they believe dreams serve as a “data dump” from our daily lives, and paying attention to them can ream positive effects.

While you might feel your nightmare was vivid and extremely personal, the reality is many people share similarities in their reoccurring nightmares. These are the four of the most common nightmares, and what they may mean.

You Are Endlessly Falling

man suspended in the air, falling.

According to a 2016 study by Amerisleep, falling was the most common anxiety-fueled nightmare that people had. Scientists believe it could be due to your nervous system turning off for the night while you sleep, making it feel like you are falling endlessly. The lack of stable footing that results in our falling can also be an indicator that you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and lacking control of your life.

Nightmares With All Your Teeth Falling Out

scared woman covering her mouth, represents nightmares with all your teeth falling out.

Sadly a majority of us have at some point have dreamt of losing all of their teeth, their mouth left with only gums. Whether immediate or gradual, this nightmare undoubtedly leaves you feeling shocked. Dream interpreters have come up with many different possible meanings for this dream, but most are related to feeling inferior, unattractive, or neglected in some way. It can also mean that you fear losing something or someone that is vital to your emotional and mental wellbeing.

You Are Being Chased

Whether you’re running from an attacker, animal, or monster, being chased can be absolutely terrifying. This is particularly true if you seem to be in slow motion or can’t move fast enough. Chasing dreams commonly are interpreted to mean you are avoiding something in real life, or even trying to escape your own bad habits.

Nightmares When You Or A Loved One Dies

woman holds a skull in front of her face while she stands on a dark forested road. Elements of nightmares.

Nightmares about death can send instant chills up your spine, given how real they feel. However, dreaming of death isn’t all grim. Sometimes it simply means a certain stage in your life is coming to a close and you’ll soon experience a new beginning. It could also mean that a romantic relationship is about to end. Regardless, with each of these dreams there is no set significance, as each person’s life situations are different.

Photos: Freepik, Pixabay

How to travel with a group and not die trying

How to travel with a group

From a bachelorette party to going on a trip with your friends, traveling in a group can become the best experience of your life. However, if all goes wrong, it can quickly become living hell. That’s why we bring you some tips to survive (and even have fun) when traveling with a group.

It might not seem like it, but living for a couple of days with relatives or friends can be quite a complicated experience. This is why it’s always better to think about the complications that might arise beforehand. You’ll be able to avoid a lot of headaches and discussions.

Fully plan your trip

Fully plan your trip

Saying you’ll see what happens once you get there is not enough. It’s the perfect recipe for disaster, wasted hours and boredom. Because although later on you will be able to change your plans, having a well planned out itinerary will save you from some useless discussions, and eternal “where do we go next?” conversations.

Each and everyone of the people attending on the trip should write down at least a couple of things they’d like to do during the trip. Then, with that basis in mind, make yourselves an itinerary. If later on you decide to skip some parts, that’s fine too. At least you’ll now know the direction in which you’re headed.

Make sure you’re on the same terms, money-wise

Be it through apps of instant payments, an expenses list, or a common money-pot, it’s essential you all take care of the money you spend. Don’t start with the “I’ll pay you later”s because it usually ends up begin a “never”.

In fact, there’s no worse way to ruin a trip than by owing someone money and not giving it back. That’s why the quicker you set things right money-wise, the better.

Use group discounts

Group discount activities

For tours, transport or touristy places, there are usually all sorts of great discounts or coupons. You should definitely use them when possible. You’ll see how, on the long run, you save lots and lots of money.

There are even certain places you can only visit if you’re in a group. This means you’ll be able to see more places, and spend less money on them. It’s key you obtain information on promos or discounts before you go on the trip.

Don’t be afraid to divide the group

Separating the group when traveling

Starting the day together does not necessarily mean you have to spend the entire day stuck to each other. If one half of the group wants to take part in a certain activity the other half doesn’t, that’s fine. You don’t all have to do everything together.

On the one hand, no one is going to do something they don’t want to do. And on the other hand, you’ll get rid of that sensation of “exhaustion” from when you spend long periods of time in a large group. This can even prevent stupid fights that stem from spending too much time together.

Communication is key

Communication while traveling

And not just when deciding where to head next or where to eat. It’s also essential when it comes to getting back together. Make a WhatsApp, Telegram, or any other chatting-app group. This way you’ll be able to easily communicate, and it’ll be less hard to get back into one group.

It’s key because, when traveling, it’s not rare that one half of the group ends up somewhere completely different to the other half, without knowing each other’s location. This we definitely don’t want.

Don’t forget to enjoy your holidays

Enjoy your group travel

There’s all sorts of people: those who have a hard time going letting go, and those who just go with the flow. It’s important to get yourself to try out new stuff. Join activities you had never done before and make the most out of your time there. The main thing is you have fun on your own, as well as together.

Images: Unsplash and Pixabay

Petting Dogs And Cats Can Instantly Reduce Your Stress

At many universities and colleges nowadays, it’s common for the institutions to provide dogs and cats for a few hours for students to play with during finals and mid terms. Why? Typically this time of year is when students are immensely burdened with exams and final projects. Having a few minutes to escape the stress overload and pet some adorable fluffballs is thought to be a happy reprieve. Considering the amount of therapy animals that exist for this purpose, it would seem accurate. However, the benefits of petting animals was not proven to be true until a recently, with this study published in AERA Open.

girl petting a sleepy puppy.

A Study On Stress And Animals

In the study, Washington State University researchers Patricia Pendry and Jaymie Vandagriff discovered that students who went to pet dogs and cats at their university animal events had reduced levels of cortisol in their saliva compared to their peers who did not go. Cortisol is the body’s hormone that is in charge of stress, leading to the conclusion the students themselves were less stressed.

woman playing with a small kitten.

The Experimental Design

The experiment was performed by placing 249 university students into 4 groups. Group one got to play with dogs and cats for ten minutes. The second group was only allowed to watch. Group 3 was shown pictures of the animals, but never saw them in person. The Final group was told they were on a waitlist to play with the animals, but never were called to do so. Each student also had to provide saliva samples. One sample was from when they woke up in the morning, the second 15 minutes after the experiment, and the last sample from 25 minutes after the experiment.

The Final Furry Takeaway

happy man with no stress high-fiving a dog.

The final results of the study showed the students in the first group, who were able to pet and play with the animals, had significantly lower cortisol levels than the other groups. Although this study has a small sample size, it does seem to confirm that anxiety and stress can be eased with the help of a furry friend.

Photos: Freepik

Instagram Will Soon Hide Like Count From Public View

Have you ever regretted uploading a photo because it didn’t receive the number of likes you wanted? Do you constantly compare the like count of other friends’ photos, or take hours to nail the perfect shot for Instagram? You’re not alone, but all this constant pressure and worrying might soon come to a close. Instagram has decided to do a trial to hide like count in several countries, including Australia, Japan, and Brazil.

a neon sign showing zero like count.

Design Of The Trial

In this trial, Instagram will hide the total number of people who have liked posts from public and friends’ views. All that will be seen is a user name “and others.” The only people who will be able to see the actual total like count is the individual who posted the photo.

Like Count Affects Mental Health

The reason for this trial is due to the fear that “social media may be fueling a mental health crisis.” A UK snapshot survey found that of all the social media apps available, Instagram was voted worst for self esteem and well-being for people aged 14-24.

Teen girl sad and anxious looking at her phone.

This hit to mental health comes from a variety of factors. Self comparisons to photos (often photoshopped), a competition for likes, and online bullying are just some of the many sources for anxiety and depression on Instagram. As a result, the company has felt immense pressure to improve the app for its users’ mental health.

Directors’ Goals For The Hidden Like Count Trial

According to Mia Garlick, Facebook director of policy in Australia and New Zealand, “We hope this test will remove the pressure of how many likes a post will receive, so you can focus on sharing the things you love.”

five beautiful young girls make selfie in the park

The trial originally began in Canada, to which the country’s Facebook director Adam Mosseri said they wanted to promote more connection between users. “We want people to worry a little bit less about how many likes they’re getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people that they care about.”

Positive And Negative Outcomes

The like count has often been equated to ones’s level of popularity and success. Consequently, erasing this tally is likely to improve the self-esteem of those who felt inadequate for their photos’ low like count. However, it may make those who typically had popular posts feel worse for having nothing to show of it.

Friends lying on ground, surrounded by social media icons, some happy and some sad.

For those who use Instagram for business purposes, the company said the trial would not affect the measurement tools.

Photos: Unsplash, Freepik

Netflix launches low-cost plan for mobile phones

Netflix is an online streaming platform which offers all sorts of movies, series, and other types of audiovisual content. If you want to enjoy the privilege of watching unlimited videos you can choose between three payment plans: basic, standard and premium, for respectively, 7,99€, 11,99€ or 15,99€.

Most people opt for the latter, and choose to share costs with other 4 people. This results in a pretty affordable price per person, given you can watch almost anything you like in HD.

Where the idea stems from

However, for some people it’s still a price too high to pay, for how they use it, anyway. Many people watch videos on their mobile phones, meaning they don’t really get the most out of the plan they’ve paid for: screens are so tiny that HD doesn’t really make sense in these cases.

A lower price for lower quality

This is why Netflix has come up with a new idea to become leader in the smartphone industry: a new low cost plan just for mobile phones. The price would be around four dollars, and with it you can watch videos in a resolution of 480p.

This is quite low given what we are used to, but definitely enough to watch something on our mobile phones. It also poses the condition that you can watch each video just once.

Netflix for mobile phones

A special plan for mobile phones

The plan is a tad more restricted than what Netflix usually offers, but good enough for what it costs. It brings their services closer to those who would, in other circumstances, not be able to afford it. For now, they’ve just launched the plan in India, a country where people tend to own a smartphone rather than a TV.

Netflix: a market leader

The main objective of this project is become number 1 in this market, above other platforms that are currently making their way to the top, like Amazon Prime Video or Hotstar. If the proposal turns out successful, Netflix will eventually extend it to other places like Europe or the United States. For now, we can just cross our fingers for it to be successful.

Images: Twitter and Unsplash

Chow Down On These Facts About Hot Dogs

Hot Dogs are considered the classic American Food and summer staple. Whether you top your link with ketchup and mustard or go for some crazy toppings like caramel popcorn or arugula pesto, this savory food is a sure crowd pleaser. Asides from the not-so-pleasant thought of the meat processing, there are a pretty interesting array of facts to chow down on!

hands holding a hot dog topped with ketchup and mustard.

There Is Still A Debate Over The Origin

Believe it or not, hot dogs have been around since the classic tale of Homer’s Odyssey, yet no one is certain about the exact origins. Many people claim to be the inventors, with the dispute rooted in the definition of a hot dog itself. Was the originator the person who first put the sausage on a roll? Or the first to name the short sausage after the dachshund dog? It’s an origin legend that will surely never be solved.

A dachshund dog looking at camera.

People In Los Angeles Consume The Most Hot Dogs Every Year

You might associate glamorous, fit celebrities with Los Angeles and Hollywood, but turns out this city buys the most hot dogs! In total, residents buy close to 34 million pounds a year. Meaning even one of the fittest cities in the world knows the importance of a cheat day that includes a juicy dog.

Lots of hot dogs all lined up.

Black Hot Dogs Are The Rage In Japan

If the multitude of topping options wasn’t enough of a change-up from the typical reddish frank, Japan has popularized the black hot dog. These sausages get the black color from black charcoal ash, which purportedly doesn’t change the flavor, simply the appearance. Even large chains like Ikea have joined in selling the spooky creation. Dare you try it?

Yes, There Is An Official Correct Way To Eat A Hot Dog

As shocking as it may seem, there exists both a) The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council and b) an official correct way to eat a hot dog. Avoid any “frank faux pas” by watching this video through. You’re sure to get a laugh, and maybe learn some etiquette you have been breaking all along!

Photos: Unsplash and