Women dream mostly of being chased while men about sex

Women tend to have more nightmares while men dream more about sex, a new 11-year study has claimed.

Scientists at the University of Montreal spent 11 years collecting data on the different nighttime dreams of men and women.

They found that the happiness index for dreams is at its lowest when we are between the ages of 20 and 30, the 'Toronto Sun reported.

Researchers found that women too dream about sex, but men have it on their unconscious minds a little more often.

The survey listed 56 dream themes, including falling, floating, being chased, snakes, swimming, flooding and losing your teeth.

Sex was the most common dream theme for men, with 85 per cent of respondents saying they dream about it at least occasionally.

Women weren't far behind, with 73 per cent responding they dream about sex at least once in a while.

Women are more likely to dream about being chased - 83 per cent compared to 78 per cent for men.

For both men and women, dreams of falling are the third most frequent dream, the results indicate.

According to researcher Tore Nielsen there appears to be a clear "dream theme diversity" between the two sexes.

Women are more likely to dream about someone dying, being paralyzed by fear, or spiders and snakes. Women also report more nightmares than men.

Men dream about flying, having magical powers, trying to kill someone or travelling to distant planets.

The least surprising part of the study was that as we age, the range of things we dream about becomes smaller.