What are nightmares?
Nightmares are a type of human dream that brings each of us into a state of horror, or causes a feeling of panic.
As a rule, the manifestation of nightmares carries a negative emotional connotation. Constant nightmares can cause a number of psychological disorders. At their core, nightmares are realistic disturbing dreams that awaken you from deep sleep. They almost always make your heart race with fear.
Nightmares typically occur during rapid eye movement sleep, when we do most of our dreaming. Scary dreams usually occur in the first few hours after falling asleep.
Usually bad dreams have physiological causes, for example:
- You may have fallen asleep in an uncomfortable position;
- You have a fever and fever;
- Eating food before bed that causes an increase in the body's metabolism and brain activity is a potential trigger for nightmares.
To prevent nightmares from bothering you very often, you need to lead a calm and healthy lifestyle so that your sleep is normal and your body gains strength.
Special cases
The reasons we discussed above relate to regular nightmares. If a bad dream is a “one-time event,” perhaps the impressions of the past day influenced your consciousness and transformed into scary pictures at night.
For example:
- You have caught a cold, you have a high temperature that has not been brought down for a long time. You fall asleep and see in your dream a terrible fire-breathing dragon.
- You ate a big meal at night. As a result, the digestive organs, which need to rest, are very heavily loaded, for which the brain takes revenge on you with nightmares.
- Sleeping in unfavorable conditions: with the lights on, loud sounds, in a room with stale air.
- Late in the evening you experienced some strong emotion: perhaps creative inspiration struck you. Or you simply had a row with your husband.
- You drank too much alcohol, used drugs, smoked a lot of cigarettes, or took a dose of medication that was more than necessary.
To stop nightmares, try to be in a calm state an hour before bed, do not overeat, and put gadgets away. Instead, go for a walk or meditate to relax and prepare your mind for sleep.
The meaning of nightmares
Every dream we have carries a lot of information that we have experienced over a certain period of life.
Thus, it can be assumed that deep perception and human development allows one to see prophetic dreams. Every dream carries some kind of message, you just need to learn to understand the meaning of the events you dreamed of. No one is protected from nightmares. A person has had a terrible dream at least once in his life. But what do these frightening pictures mean in our imagination?
In scary dreams we often see a reflection of the real fears that we experience in real life. For example, if you are afraid of the dark, you may dream of falling from a high place. And if a person has a fear of water, then he dreams of a sea storm.
Scientists have proven that women usually have nightmares with emotional meaning:
- quarrel with a friend;
- parting with a loved one;
- relationship problems.
Women have nightmares at night, and after that they take the dream to heart.
Men have global dreams, such as:
- Apocalypse;
- fire;
- tsunami;
- earthquake.
You may also dream of any catastrophes that are difficult for a person’s life.
Each dream has a specific meaning, depending on events in a person's life. A student may dream of a final exam due to dislike for the educational institution. But an office worker having nightmares can serve as a reminder that there is no need to take on too many responsibilities at work, as well as in life.
10 reasons for nightmares and poor sleep
Adequate healthy sleep is necessary for every person on the planet. We need it to restore strength after a hard day. But due to the modern rhythm of life, which includes constant stress, about a third of the population suffers from insomnia or has nightmares. Disorders can be determined by many factors.
Read recommendations on how to get rid of insomnia
Doctors advise keeping a diary in which the patient can record events that may have caused a deterioration in the quality of sleep. This will help analyze the disease and prescribe treatment. There are many reasons that affect sleep. Let's consider the main ones:
1 Overwork
Constant overwork greatly affects the quality of sleep.
Try to get more rest so that you don’t have to look for ways to get rid of bad sleep. You may be so tired at work that now you won’t even be able to fall asleep. Overwork can affect not only the quality of your sleep, but also your overall health. The main signs of sleep disturbance are redness of the eyeballs, decreased reaction, swelling of the face, and nausea.
If you regularly overwork, you will not only have insomnia and nightmares, but also a bunch of other various diseases.
stairway to Heaven
I go into the entrance, and everything is very strange there: a huge space connected by bridges and passages. I want to get to the apartment, but the stairs under my feet begin to shake. I run through a three-dimensional labyrinth, losing strength and falling into despair.
What dream books say:
- Walking up an endless staircase means setting unattainable goals.
What the psychologist says:
- Dina Tainskaya : You feel stuck on some task. To “return home”, you should listen to yourself more often and trust your intuition. A reboot may be required. Let go of what is occupying your thoughts for a while and switch to other things. Once the idea has matured, you will surely find a way to implement it in the best possible way.
Seeing a bright light means pleasant changes in life. Getting out of the dungeon means moving. Hiding in a cave means they will soon make you a lucrative offer. Photo: globallookpress.com
What harm can bad sleep cause to a person?
Poor sleep or lack of sleep can lead to irreversible consequences. The average person needs 6 to 8 hours of sleep per day. If you don’t get enough sleep regularly, this will not only lead to mild nervous disorders and extra centimeters in the waist area for girls. But it can lead to serious health problems - heart disease, increased risk of diabetes, headaches, joint problems, blurred vision, and so on.
From lack of sleep, people begin to overeat, since a small amount of it causes appetite and also provokes the choice of higher-calorie foods.
Poor sleep also leads to poor attention. Due to drowsiness, you can miss an important moment on the road and get into an accident. Emotional instability from overwork and loss of strength may occur. Thus, a person’s productivity decreases, and the likelihood of seeing a terrible nightmare at night becomes higher.
Researchers from Harvard and Berkeley medical schools conducted an experiment in 2007 and proved that if you don't sleep enough, the emotional areas of the brain become more than 60% active. This will lead to you becoming more irritable and harmful. Which is unlikely to please the people around you.
Wandering in an unfamiliar place
I'm in a foreign city. I have a piece of paper with the address in my hands. There is no telephone or Internet. I ask passers-by for directions, but no one knows. The taxi driver promises to take me, I get into the car. We drive for a long time, I fall asleep. I wake up in the desert completely alone. The address sheet has disappeared. I understand that I won’t get anywhere. I want to call for help, but I can’t make a sound. And I'm just wandering along the gray sand to nowhere.
What dream books say:
- If you get lost in a strange city, you will feel remorse.
What the psychologist says:
- Dina Tainskaya : This is a dream about searching for new life guidelines. You have “moved away” from the past, but the future seems very vague. You'll have to move at random. This is a period of renewal, when old relationships have exhausted themselves, and new ones have not yet developed. The desert metaphor is symbolic: you will have to go alone, because you are used to relying only on yourself.
What to do if you have frequent nightmares?
Frequent nightmares may signal serious physical or mental health problems. First of all, you need to check the conditions in which you spend the night, change the uncomfortable mattress, or buy new pillows to improve the quality of your sleep.
It is also necessary to get rid of the appearance of stress coming from the outside, that is, from the environment. Take a vacation from work and have a good rest with family and friends in a cozy atmosphere. If our advice does not help, you should definitely contact a specialist to identify the problems.
My child has poor sleep, what should I do?
Every parent worries about their child, and if you find that your child is not sleeping well, you will want to help him. If the child is still very small and does not want to fall asleep at all, take him to your bed.
Perhaps he feels abandoned when he lies alone in his crib. But in addition to emotional problems, the child may also have somatic ones. Poor sleep can be caused by intestinal spasms or colic. Also, children often suffer from rickets.
The psyche of children is very vulnerable, and nightmares at night can provoke a number of mental problems. Therefore, immediately contact psychologists or healers who can find out the cause of bad dreams and solve the problem once and for all.
Poor sleep in adults, what to do?
If adults have problems falling asleep, first of all you need to pay attention to the emotional background and a comfortable place to sleep.
If you have a fear of the dark and are afraid to fall asleep every time, you can buy a night light or hang a garland. Dimmed light will help every adult and child fall asleep soundly.
If the advice does not help, you should definitely visit a doctor or other specialist to find out the true cause of nightmares.
Prevention of bad dreams
The optimal preventive measures to eliminate negative dreams are improving the quality of life and taking care of your own health.
Discuss nightmares with loved ones to find reasons.
To keep nightmares as rare as possible, it is recommended to follow these rules:
- 1 hour before going to bed, do not use electronic gadgets (phone, computer, tablet, etc.). The radiation emanating from the screens of these devices stimulates brain activity and prevents sleep.
- Ventilate the room thoroughly before going to bed.
- Arrange your sleeping place in the most comfortable way.
- Maintain an adequate level of physical activity throughout the day.
- Engage in any activity that requires increased concentration: drawing, knitting, assembling mosaics, etc.
- Use practices that help achieve inner harmony: yoga, qigong, breathing exercises, etc.
Any dreams are the result of the activity of the subconscious, so you should not attach much importance to them and worry about what has not yet happened. It is necessary to tune in to a positive mood, to drive away disturbing thoughts, then such dreams will no longer often haunt the dreamer.
The consequences of poor sleep are its impact on the human psyche.
Of course, poor sleep greatly affects the human psyche. A huge number of experiments have shown that by constantly reducing sleep time, we can greatly harm our health and mental stability.
Also, changes can be observed even at the DNA level. What's more, research shows that people who are sleep-deprived report lower mood and less vitality. Even one sleepless night can lead to negative emotions and an irritable mood.
Solving the problem during the day
In cases where nightmares are not accompanied by destructive processes, and you cannot cope with them on your own, it is good to try several methods of dealing with bad dreams in daylight:
- Getting out of stress on your own, for example, taking a long rest, returning to your favorite hobby, self-care;
- Discussing scary dreams with loved ones, perhaps together we can find the cause of the problem;
- Increased self-esteem;
- Understanding dreams and working out another scenario for the development of events, leading to a positive ending to the nightmare.
In some cases, psychotherapists help in the fight against fears. Comprehensive therapy, consisting of regular conversations and taking mild sedatives, allows you to calm your emotions and look at the situation with a fresh perspective.
