What it means to dream about sweets (and what it does not)

The short answer

Dream interpretation is not prediction and not diagnosis. This article separates what sleep research observes from what popular interpretation associates with the theme, always saying which is which.

Dreaming about sweets is not a promise of money, romance or a party on the way, and it is not a sign of illness either. Most of the time, the dream goes along with a concrete craving (hunger, a restrictive diet, a wish for sugar), a childhood memory or a moment in which the person misses affection, rest and reward. When the sweets run out, spoil or cannot be touched, the emotion is usually frustration.

Read also: Dreaming about cake and Dreaming about chocolate.

What sleep research has observed

Research on the continuity between waking life and dreaming shows that what fills the days tends to come back at night. Someone on a diet, someone who works in a pastry shop, someone who spent the weekend preparing a children's party or who saw a window full of sweets before bed is more likely to find brigadeiros and candy in the dream.

The emotional load counts too. Sweets are usually tied to birthdays, grandma's house, the little bag of candy from childhood and small prizes. In the dream, those memories reappear mixed with the present: the children's party table may show up in an office, and a relative's favorite sweet may be served by someone you barely know.

Source: Schredl and Hofmann, Continuity between waking activities and dream activities, Consciousness and Cognition, 2003.

Scenes that show up most in this dream

If the celebration was the center of the dream, it is worth reading dreaming about a party too.

See also: Dreaming about coconuts and Dreaming about a refrigerator.

If the dream keeps coming back: when to seek help

Dreaming about sweets rarely worries anyone. If dreams about food become very frequent, come along with intense guilt, binge eating or strong food restriction during the day, or if you wake up in distress and start to fear sleep, it is worth talking to a health professional. For dreams that frighten you, see what helps reduce nightmares.

Source: Morgenthaler and colleagues, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2018.

Science and belief: Freud, Jung and traditions

In Freud's psychoanalysis. Sweets are perhaps the best example of Freud's central idea: the dream as wish fulfillment. He wrote that when he ate anchovies or olives at night, he dreamed he was drinking water in great gulps; thirst became a dream of drinking. Someone on a diet who dreams of devouring a tray of brigadeiros lives the same mechanism. Freud also quotes the philosopher Maass: the lover dreams of the object of his "sweet hopes".

In Jung's psychology. For Jungian psychology, the dream tries to restore psychological balance, compensating for what conscious life exaggerates or forgets. In Jung's key, a phase of much discipline and little joy may be compensated by a dream of sweet plenty.

In symbols and faith. In A Dictionary of Symbols, Chevalier and Gheerbrant read honey as a symbol of sweetness, opposed to the bitterness of gall, but they recall that this sweetness can be dangerously seductive, like the words of a flatterer. In Buddhism, the doctrine is compared to eating honey: sweet at the beginning, in the middle and at the end. The Bible speaks of the land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8) and says in Psalm 119:103 that God's words are sweeter than honey. In Brazil, September 27 is the day to hand out little bags of sweets to children in honor of Saints Cosmas and Damian; in religions of African origin, the date is linked to the Ibeji, the orixás of children and twins.

Bringing both readings together. Before looking for a meaning, it is worth asking: who was offering the sweet, and what did it bring to mind?

Sources: Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols; Chevalier and Gheerbrant, A Dictionary of Symbols.

What dream books say

In O Livro dos Sonhos, a Brazilian dream book, L. P. Baçan separates two entries. Sweets, in life, indicate tranquility; in love, a deceptive situation. Sugar, on the other hand, appears in life as financial success and, in love, as affection and joy. It is curious to see the same flavor take on such different meanings depending on the word.

Jung distrusted this kind of catalogue: for him, dreams are entirely individual phenomena, and their symbols cannot be catalogued. A brigadeiro may be longing for grandma for one person and guilt over a diet for another. The book's reading serves as a starting point, not as an answer.

Sources: Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols; L. P. Baçan, O Livro dos Sonhos, 2014.

What folk tradition associates with this dream

In folk reading, sweets are usually associated with happy moments, affection, good news and reconciliation. Eating sweets with pleasure appears as a sign of joy; spoiled or bitter sweets, as a warning about relationships that seem good but deceive; and receiving sweets from Cosmas and Damian, as protection for the children of the family. These are cultural readings for reflection, not guarantees. See what dream meanings look like according to science and culture.