Strange as it may seem, dreams can provide important health insights. For instance, actor Mark Ruffalo reported having a precognitive dream that led to the discovery of a brain tumour. 

In more benign instances, certain types of dreams may connect to a patient’s stress and anxiety or other health conditions, such as stress-related teeth grinding.

In cases such as Ruffalo’s, a dream that appears to foresee the future—in particular when it concerns a potentially serious health condition—may warrant further investigation and recognition by physicians that dreams truly can offer meaningful insights into a patient’s overall mental and physical health. (You could even take a note from the physicians of Ancient Rome, who believed dreams allowed for insights hidden from direct observation

Klein C. 8 Fascinating facts about ancient Roman medicine. History.com. June 29, 2023.). 

Strange but true patient accounts

Clinical psychologist Helen Marlo, PhD, works with patients experiencing “dream synchronicity,” exploring the interconnectedness of dreams and the external world. In one example, for an article in Jung Journal, she describes a patient whose dream appeared to predict a school shooting, which she reports happened 2 days later. “The details in her dream mirrored very specific aspects of this horrific crime that had happened thousands of miles away,” Dr. Marlo said. “My patient had an extrasensory and spiritual grasp on life.”

Marlo H. Experiencing the spiritual psyche: Reflections on synchronicity-informed psychotherapy. Jung Journal. 2022;16(4):44–69.

In another case, Dr. Marlo describes a disease revealed through a fellow researcher’s own personal dream. “I finally offered to explore the dream with her,” she says. “It spoke strongly of her having health issues and, more specifically, the disease she was researching. Shortly afterwards, she learned that she had the very illness she was planning to research. She had, indeed, had a precognitive dream while we were collaborating on research about precognitive dreams being able to predict the very illness she now had. Her diagnosis came the same week the study received approval.”

Marlo H. Experiencing the spiritual psyche: Reflections on synchronicity-informed psychotherapy. Jung Journal. 2022;16(4):44–69.

Online, patients often share their personal stories with precognitive dreams tied to discoveries of health conditions. Reddit user @CoderWhoReddits says, “Four years back, I had a very realistic dream that my father was sick. After a cascade of visits to the hospital, turns out he had colon cancer which would have otherwise spread to his organs if it hadn’t been detected on time.”

User @scribble23 shares, “I dreamed I was chatting to a colleague and she congratulated me on my pregnancy. She asked how far along I was. ‘Only six weeks,’ I replied. Woke up and laughed at my weird, vivid dream, as I was on the pill and had my period a couple of weeks prior. So no way I was pregnant. It was only a couple of weeks later, when my next period failed to arrive, that I discovered I was in fact pregnant. A dating scan showed I was exactly six weeks pregnant when I had that dream. I guess my brain knew my hormone levels even if I hadn’t realised yet.”