Women Totally Mad IRL for Stuff Their Boyfriends Do in Dreams

Tabloid trendpieces should be taken with an entire shaker of salt. But the headline “Over Half of Women Admit They Have Woken Up In A Bad Mood With Their Partner Because He Annoyed Them… In A DREAM” does not require any additional sodium. It is 100% correct, based on totally unscientific anecdata.

This finding has all the markings of bullshit; it was conducted by a UK chain of hotels and reported on by the Daily Mail, which is like two scoops of Probably Not Real. But — hand to God — this is a real thing. And learning that other women do it made me feel slightly less crazy. From the Mail,

A study found that British men frequently commit misdemeanours such as being unfaithful, having a row or even fathering a secret child in their wives’ dreams.

I’d add: Dream Boyfriend stealing my shit. Dream Boyfriend accidentally killing my cat. Dream Boyfriend trying to get me fired. Looking at Dream Boyfriend’s cell phone only to find out he’s been forwarding all of my emails to a European model with footnotes making fun of what an idiot I am. Dream Boyfriend runs into my path during a marathon and says “WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS NOW!” and I’m like “Dude, I can’t; I’m running a marathon.” Dream Boyfriend giving me confusing directions. Dream Boyfriend telling me he’s interested in my 24-year-old sister. More than a decade of having boyfriends means more than a decade of boyfriend stress dreams. The other week I woke up mad at my boyfriend (a comedian) because in my dream, he made me perform stand-up comedy and I sucked at it. It never ends! At least I’m not alone.

It wasn’t just significant others whose nocturnal doppelgangers caused dreamers stress. According to the survey cited by the Mail, people also found themselves angry with bosses, coworkers, friends, acquaintances. No one is immune. Two-thirds of survey respondents say they get mad in waking life at things that happened in dreams.