What do having nightmares mean

Why do we dream? We may not have definitive answers, but there are several types of dreams and themes, and different factors that cause these dreams to occur. According to the National Sleep Foundation , we typically dream about four to six times per night. Dreaming happens throughout the night, but our most vivid and often remembered dreams happen during rapid eye movement REM sleep. According to research, 65 percent of the elements of dreams are associated with your experiences while awake.

Nightmares are dreams that are scary or disturbing. People experiencing a lot of stress or who have mental health conditions like anxiety disorders may experience dreams that are more frightening. Up to 71 percent of people with post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD may experience nightmares, which can be recurring if not treated.

One study found that the three most common nightmare themes involved:. When someone has a night terror, they wake up terrified but may only have a vague idea of what they dreamed about. Like most dreams, it often happens during REM sleep. Sometimes you can control a lucid dream if you have practice.

This can help you control your dreams, especially if you tend to have recurring dreams or nightmares. Daydreams usually involve other people, whether real or imagined. Recurring dreams are dreams that repeat more than once. They often have themes such as confrontations, being chased, or falling.

You can have neutral recurring dreams or recurring nightmares. If you have recurring nightmares, it may be due to an underlying mental health condition, substance use, or certain medication. False awakenings have been noted to occur alongside lucid dreams and sleep paralysis. Prophetic dreams are thought to be dreams that have foretold a future event. Historically, dreams were considered to impart wisdom or even predict the future.

In some cultures today, dreams are still considered to be a way of receiving messages from the spirit world. Studies suggest that this form of therapy can be effective in reducing both nightmare frequency and the degree of distress it causes.

PDMR involves tensing and then relaxing one part of your body at a time, typically starting at the top your scalp and ending at the bottom your toes. Studies indicate that as many as 80 percent of those who practice PMDR experience nightmare reduction within 25 weeks. There are a variety of additional options, as diverse as the content of our nightmares themselves—you may find that you prefer meditation, keeping fresh lavender by your bed, or just generally practicing good sleep hygiene not using caffeine or electronics before bed, keeping your bedtime consistent, etc.

We encourage you to explore which method is best for you. For example, someone who has experienced a natural disaster might dream of high winds, flames, or being trapped in a flooding space. This typically involves working with a trauma-informed therapist who has extensive experience working with nightmares and other common post-traumatic responses such as trouble sleeping, flashbacks, and hyperawareness.

A trauma-informed therapist can gently work with you to help you recognize when you are outside your window of tolerance and implement calming strategies in order to get you back into it. For any information about finding a trauma-informed therapist, what to expect in post-traumatic treatment, or the different treatment avenues you can take, feel free to contact us any time at info vivapartnership.

What do you constantly find yourself dreaming about? Have you noticed any patterns? Lactose intolerance is one of the most common food allergies—one that often goes undiagnosed—with 65 percent of the population having a reduced ability to digest lactose after infancy. So, if you suffer from nightmares, cut out the cheese plates and ice cream. A sharp rise in body temperature could be the answer behind your sudden nightmares.

The amygdala inside your brain—most associated with negative emotions like terror and anger—can be thrown for a loop when your body is overheating. This over-activation of the amygdala, which is already quite active during REM sleep, can cause an increase in intense fear-responses while you're dreaming. Hey, look: An excuse to call out sick tomorrow! Most major shifts in life bring come with their fair share of stress and anxiety, no matter if it's a good change or a bad one.

An Oxford Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute study—and this surely won't surprise you a bit, but it's always good to have scientific confirmation—found that higher levels of worry and stress correlated with an increase in nightmares.

Out of all the factors studied—including worry, psychotic behavior, alcohol use, and depersonalization—worry was the strongest factor associated with nightmare occurrence.

Take a look at what and how much you're putting inside your body. One Alcohol and Drug Recovery Center study found that those who abuse substances are five to ten times more likely to experience sleep disorders or disturbances. Simple: most substances disrupt REM sleep. Continuous abuse and sleep disturbances causes the body to go for a long period of time without deep sleep. And deprivation of deep sleep comes with an accumulation of nightmares. While relying on substances can send nightmare frequency through the roof, quitting those substances cold turkey can have the same effect.

For example, if you drink an excessive amount of alcohol daily and then stop or reduce the amount significantly, you can develop Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome AWS. One of the most prominent symptoms of AWS is nightmares, which can exacerbate over two to three days after withdrawal—and then continue for weeks. As you get older, sleep patterns change. Many elderly people experience sleep disturbance, but telltale signs of major health risks you might develop when older can usually be seen with nightmare-suffering earlier in life.

When experiencing nightmares, many also experience REM sleep behavior disorder RBD , which is where people physically "act out" their nightmares with violent arm or leg movements.

One University of Toronto neuroscientist found that more than 80 percent of those with RBD eventually developed a neurological disease, especially Parkinson's disease. The research found that the group of cells responsible for REM sleep appeared damaged in those with RBD, eventually spreading to damage the areas of the brain that can cause Parkinson's or other neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia.

Nightmares can be linked to a variety of health problems, including the number one leading cause of death in the world: heart disease. A Netherlands Journal of Medicine study found that the percentage of irregular heartbeats and spasmodic chest pain among elderly women and men who experienced frequent nightmares was much higher than those who rarely or never experienced nightmares. During nightmares, our heart rate increases and blood pressure rises.

This accumulation over time can lead to more heart problems later down the road. A Sleep Research Society study found that amongst patients suffering with burn pain, 30 percent of their dreams had associated pain sensations. Another study published in the Open Pain Journal found that patients with chronic back pain reported more pain sensation dreams than those who did not suffer from chronic back pain.

Chronic pain sufferers are also more likely to get less sleep , which is a reoccurring factor in increased nightmares.