Health News : The new science of dreaming

Mandy Oaklander | August 18, 2026

I first learned about lucid dreaming in college. The idea that you could recognize you're in a dream—and then exert some agency over it—enthralled me. But all of my attempts to "go lucid" failed.

Veronique Greenwood's new feature on the latest developments in dreaming science might inspire me to try again. She traveled to a sleep laboratory at the University of Cambridge to take part in a study about dreaming, and when she wasn’t being a guinea pig, she interviewed some of the world's leading lucid-dreaming experts who are trying to figure out what dreams do and how we might use them to our advantage.

TODAY’S TOPICS

New hope for pediatric cancer
Breaking up with your therapist
Health insurance’s “death spiral”

BIG NUMBER

69%

That’s how much a teenager’s tumor shrank during the first six months of treatment with an experimental T-cell therapy, according to a new paper I wrote about for TIME. —Veronique Greenwood, Staff Writer

SOURCE: JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY

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PLEASE ADVISE

Here’s a great question we received from a reader:

My new therapist shares a lot about her own life, and our sessions feel more like coffee breaks than therapy. How can I end the relationship, transfer my records, and find someone else who accepts Medicare—without offending her?

You’re allowed to break up with your therapist, and you don’t need to feel guilty about it. But before ending things, if you generally find something valuable in the sessions, it might be worth giving her one opportunity to adjust.

I asked Juliann Siwicki, a licensed clinical professional counselor in Maryland, what she’d say. Her suggestion: “I feel like our sessions have become more personal and casual than what I’m looking for. I need more feedback and direction. Is that something we can work on?”

A good therapist should be able to hear that without becoming defensive. And while therapists sometimes share personal experiences to help clients feel understood or less alone, Siwicki says it’s gone too far when you spend your appointment listening to the therapist’s stories—or feel like you need to take care of her.

If you’ve already made up your mind, keep the breakup short: “Thank you for the time we’ve worked together. I don’t think this is the right fit for me, and I’m going to look for another therapist. Can you tell me how to have my records transferred?”

Once you’ve chosen a new therapist, their office can provide a release-of-information form that lets you specify which records your former therapist can send.

As you search, use Medicare’s Care Compare directory—or your plan’s provider directory if you have Medicare Advantage—then call offices to confirm they take the insurance and are accepting new patients. During consultations, be upfront about wanting a therapist who offers insight, feedback, and direction, and who takes a more active, structured approach.

Finding the right fit might take a few tries, but you don’t need to stay in unhelpful therapy to spare anyone’s feelings. “The therapist is supposed to be able to handle that conversation,” Siwicki says. “You’re not responsible for taking care of their feelings.” –Angela Haupt, Editor, Health & Wellness

Got a social dilemma of your own? Send it our way to healthmatters@time.com, and we might tackle it in a future edition.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

Catherine Baab at Quartz explains the health insurance “death spiral”: As premiums rise, younger and healthier people drop coverage, leaving a costlier pool of enrollees that drives premiums even higher.
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has become the deadliest in the country’s history, report Akanksha Khushi, Ayen Deng Bior, and Clement Bonnerot for Reuters.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s mission to find a cause for autism isn’t going very well, KFF’s Amanda Seitz and Stephanie Armour report.

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