Nightmares

We all get nightmares. Sometimes they can be bad enough to ruin your entire week. I came across some interesting information regarding nightmares that I thought I would share.

Not Purely Caused by Fear

I was interested to read that very few nightmares are caused by fear. It seems that most nightmares are caused by feelings of confusion, guilt, disgust and sadness. These are most likely the emotions that are causing most of your nightmares. Although we do get fear-based nightmares, those are rare and are the ones that linger with you the most. Which is why the fear-based ones end up being the only ones we remember.

Your Brain is Awake

Nightmares occur when REM (Rapid Eye Movement) is at its highest during the last third of your sleeping cycle. Your brain is awake at this point which is why you are more likely to remember a nightmare than a pleasant dream. This also happens to be the part of your sleep cycle when the amygdala (part of your brain associated with fear and aggression) is most active.

Nightmares Are Good for Your Health

As I said, most nightmares occur when REM is at its highest. REM is known to redirect your blood flow away from your brain and into your muscles and other systems allowing for recovery and restoration. This improves your growth and stress hormones, your immune system and your blood pressure.

Nightmares Can Help You Cope

Because nightmares reflect negative emotions, having a nightmare can really help you cope with these emotions. Once you have had a nightmare your brain feels as if the event and the emotion experienced during the event is in the past. This helps you distance yourself from the worry and causes an emotional release.

Write Them Down

It is important to write down any part of the nightmare you remember. This has proven to prevent nightmares from lingering with you for a long time. As you remember new details, write them down. You won’t feel as if you need to remember it anymore because it is written down and before you know it that nightmare won’t be bothering you so much anymore.

The Poor Children

Children have more nightmares than any adult. In adults, around 50-70% experience nightmares occasionally, whereas 2-8% of adults get nightmares frequently. I was also amazed to read that blind people have four times as many nightmares as seeing people. This is associated with the emotions that blind people experience every day such as embarrassment from bumping into people or spilling coffee.

Now that I know more about nightmares maybe they won’t bother me that much. Quite possibly I will end up analysing them even more now that I understand them better. Hopefully I don’t get the chance any time soon.