Do You Have Nightmares? How To Fade Away Your Bad Dreams
Nightmares can be easy to come by, which is why many people experience them on more than one occasion. While everyone may experience bad dreams while they're sleeping, some experience nightmares regularly.
Dreams and nightmares can come in different forms. They can be about what you fear the most, what you want the most, or they could be about something that happened to you in the past.
Nightmares can be a very traumatizing experience for those that have them. They are often difficult to understand and control. In this section, we will explore the causes of nightmares and how to cope with them.
How Do You Know if You Have Nightmares?
The answer to this question is subjective and depends on the person. However, a few solutions can help you figure out if you have nightmares or not.
Nightmares are defined as frightening dream that occurs while the person is asleep and often includes disturbing images.
The person can be aware of what's happening in their nightmare.
Nightmares usually happen when the person is unable to sleep well, consistently or
at all.
Generally, nightmares happen when there is some kind of stress in the person’s life that they cannot process or cope with. And a night terror is a different phenomenon from a nightmare, where the individual becomes fully conscious but remains in their sleep state and experiences intense fear and anxiety with extreme physical reactions such as rapid heartbeat and severe sweating.
Some people might have vivid memories of their nightmares long after waking up, even though they are hard to remember when awake. And others might feel that their nightmares are less realistic or disturbing now that they’ve grown up, whereas before, it felt like something was chasing them or trying to hurt them.
Dreams and Nightmares – Difference Between Two
Dreams are common phenomena that humans experience. They occur because the brain is asleep but has not slowed down its activity. Dreams can be vivid and sometimes out of the ordinary, but they are a good way for our brains to process the information they could not process while awake.
On the other hand, nightmares usually are associated with negative past experiences, fear about what might happen in the future, or fear about what has already occurred. Nightmares can also occur during REM sleep as well as during non-REM sleep.
Why Do We Have Nightmares?
Nightmares are a sleep disorder characterized by a senseless and terrifying dream that we can remember in detail. They are usually unpleasant to experience, but not always. Some people dream of being pursued or have other disturbing memories from the past.
According to the Mayo Clinic cause of nightmares is still unknown. Still, it may be related to factors such as stress, physical discomfort, anxiety, unrealistic fears, unresolved issues from the past, or poor quality of sleep.
Dreams, including nightmares, occur in the brain during sleep, and they do not hold any specific meaning. The content found in a plan can vary from person to person.
Nightmares are a common feature of people experiencing mental health conditions, such as PTSD & depression.
Schizophrenia. People with PTSD often have frequent, intense nightmares in which they relive traumatic events, worsening symptoms of PTSD, and often contributing to insomnia. Often, these nightmares can be linked to the cause of their condition.
Stopping certain medications can cause a person to go through a sudden rebound effect of more frequent nightmares and REM sleep.
How To Fade Away From Your Bad Dreams:
Many times, people have bad dreams. However, there are many ways to get rid of them.
Dreaming can be a way for the mind to work through past experiences or worries. If you can identify the cause of your bad dreams, you can try these methods that will help you fade away from your nightmares.
Sleep on Your Left Side - The best position for falling asleep is on the left side. Sleeping on this side causes more serotonin production, which can help improve your mood and decrease stress levels, known to trigger nightmares.
Power Nap - Power napping is another good technique for falling asleep fast and avoiding bad dreams.
Stay Away from Alcohol - Alcohol is a depressant that slows down breathing and blood circulation, making sleeping more difficult.
One way to improve the quality of your sleep is by cutting out caffeine or cigarettes. You also need to make sure you avoid exercising right before bedtime. Lastly, it’s important to relax before going to sleep because watching violent media can trigger difficult emotions to wind down from.
The other strategy is to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. It might sound a bit strange, but BMC Psychology has proved that positive thoughts can reduce anxiety and improve sleep quality.
To wrap things up and conclude!
Experiencing nightmares may be a sign that you are not sleeping well and need to get more sleep.
If you find yourself waking up too often and often worrying about the dreams you had, then it may be possible to know that you have nightmares. If nightmares recur, it is essential to speak with your doctor about other potential causes of sleep disturbance.