If you’ve been having trouble sleeping lately, here are five sleep hygiene tips that you can follow to improve your nightly rest: If you feel that chronic nightmares are affecting your mental health, you can learn more about finding the right therapist for you. However, research has shown that people who live with certain mental health conditions are more likely to experience nightmares more frequently. Nightmares aren’t necessarily always a sign of an underlying mental health condition. Are bad dreams a sign of a mental health condition? For example, some religions view dreaming as a form of communication with a higher being, while others regard dreams as a meditative experience. While there’s very little research on the spiritual aspect of nightmares, some people believe that nightmares and spirituality are linked. Learn more about getting support for PTSD. Many of these nightmares tend to involve the trauma that caused the PTSD - such as either dreaming about the traumatic event or experiencing the thoughts, feelings, or emotions associated with the event. Statistics show that roughly 70% of people living with PTSD experience frequent, chronic nightmares. If your nightmares have increased to the point that they’re starting to affect your sleep quality or mood, consider reaching out to your doctor or healthcare professional. Researchers suggest that around 35 to 45% of people experience at least one nightmare per month - but only around 2 to 8% of people experience chronic nightmares. When should I be worried about nightmares? If you’ve been having nightmares more frequently than usual and have found yourself worried about what these bad dreams could mean, here are a few more things to keep in mind. Research also suggests that certain health conditions, such as migraine and asthma, and certain medications can cause an increase in nightmares. One study found that nightmares are also commonly associated with other factors such as negative feelings, worry, and sleep duration. It’s not just mental health disorders that can cause an increase in nightmares, either. A condition called nightmare disorder, specifically, appears to affect a large percentage of people living with mental health conditions. In fact, one study states that up to 70% of people with PTSD, major depression, and other mental health diagnoses experience chronic nightmares. However, there’s one thing that nightmares may actually “warn” us about: our physical and mental health.Īccording to research, nightmares are more common in people who have mental health diagnoses. None of the theories about dreaming point to our dreams (or nightmares) as being warnings of potential or impending doom. And the neurocognitive theory says that dreams are merely a byproduct of the brain’s natural evolution. For example, the psychodynamic theory of dreams says that dreams simply exist to fulfill our subconscious desires. Researchers still have a lot to learn about the science of dreaming, and there are multiple theories as to why we dream.
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