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Humans and spiders are known to have a somewhat tricky relationship, but a new study suggests that the eight-legged arachnids could have something rather special in common with us!

According to the new research, jumping spiders may experience a state known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep - just like humans!

REM is known to be the stage during sleep when most dreams take place, suggesting that spiders could experience dreams too.

(Lots of different species go through different stages of sleep just like people do, and now)

The theory that spiders may dream like people was sparked by observations of nocturnal behaviour in jumping spiders.

At night, these arachnids suspend themselves upside down on a silk line, and it's believed this is when they are resting or asleep.

While hanging upside down, the spiders display different behaviours which the researchers concluded could be connected to REM sleep.

To test out their theory, the researchers filmed 34 young jumping spiders overnight using an infrared camera.

They observed the spiders' movements including their stretching and leg curling as they slept, as well as their eye or retinal movements.

Although they can't say for certain whether jumping spiders actually do dream, the researchers found evidence of an REM sleep-like state in the spiders displayed through their limbs twitching and eye movements.

The study also suggests other species which are yet to be explored may also experience REM sleep.

The researchers believe this may be shown through eye movements in animals and species that can see, but may also be expressed differently in animals with eyes that don't move, as well as species with poor or no vision which largely rely on their other senses, such as web-building spiders.

So, if the jumping spiders are indeed dreamers like humans are, what is it that they could be dreaming about?

"I could imagine a replay of memories that allow them to work out possible problems," entomologist Dr Barrett Klein, who wasn't involved with the study but wrote about it, told the New York Times.

"A dream, in my mind, for a jumping spider would involve the most demanding, fitness relevant, maybe dramatic times of their lives," he said.

What do you think spiders dream about? Let us know in the comments!