We’ve all had a case of the jitters at one point or another. The night before the big exam, the important presentation, or the life-altering meeting, we find ourselves dreaming of arriving late, being publicly shamed, or accidentally deleting all our slides. While these nightmares are unpleasant, a new study featured on The Huffington Post shows that having them may actually be a good thing!

Researchers surveyed 719 medical hopefuls the night before their entrance exam and found that 60.4 percent of them did dream about the exam, with majority of the students classifying their dreams as nightmares. However, after the test, researchers discovered that those who had several dreams about the exam did quite well suggesting that, “negative anticipation of a stressful event in dreams is common, and that this episodic simulation provides a cognitive gain."

Psychology Today blogger Dr. Dennis Rosen, as reported by The Huffington Post, believes that there is logic to the idea. “… the more preoccupied (and nervous!) you are about not succeeding at something, the harder you will work at it in order to prevent the bad outcome you fear,” he writes. “Conversely, if you aren’t worried enough, that’s likely to be reflected both in your preparations and in your dreams, which will be focused upon the things that you are.”

What do you think, FNites? Do you agree that nightmares can actually help you perform better or do you believe that they are a bad omen? Let us know by leaving a comment below!

(Screencap from Scary Movie 5 courtesy of Viva Films)