Kashish Sharma
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Written By: Kashish Sharma | Updated : December 30, 2022 12:20 PM IST
For people suffering frequently from nightmares, the primary stressor must be identified
Many of us see a movie at night. It is full of images and a fragmented storyline. We call it a dream. Sometimes they are entertaining and romantic and other times they can be bizarre and threatening. Yes, we are talking about the dreaded nightmares. They are disturbing dreams that can sometimes wake you up from sleep.
During a nightmare, the affected person experiences negative emotions such as fear, guilt, feelings of loss and others.
Since most of the dreaming occurs during the rapid eye movement (REM) phase of sleep, one is more likely to experience nightmares during this cycle of sleep. REM cycles tend to be longer in the morning, hence, people are more likely to experience them in the early hours of the day.
Nightmares can happen for a variety of reasons, including stress, anxiety, irregular sleep, medications, and mental health disorders but the most studied cause is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dreams are considered a default network- a system of interconnected regions that remain active in some quiet phases of sleep (REM phase). The REM phase is usually characterized by rapid eye movement, and irregular heartbeat and is discontinuous. It is during this phase that all the vividly recalled dreams occur.
As per some experts, in cases of post-traumatic nightmares, the region of the brain involved in fear behaviours and works to identify potential threats might be overly active or sensitive. Some studies have observed high-stress hormone levels (cortisol) late at night or during REM sleep that also affects the content of the dream.
Nightmares usually contain content like physical aggression, emotionally intense situations, failures and unfortunate endings like someone being killed or a loved one passing away. While bad dreams are usually benign, frequent nightmares can interfere with a person's sleep and can impair one's mood.
For people suffering frequently from nightmares, the primary stressor must be identified. Many times it might be happening due to a hyperactive threat system that might keep a person on alert mode. Stressors can be some suppressed emotions in waking life. If the dreams don't stop occurring, one can go for journaling or talk therapy. Psychological therapy for nightmares is called image rehearsal therapy. In this the individuals, especially those who repeatedly experience a given type of nightmare, are asked to recall and write down their nightmares, then be asked to rewrite the nightmare and give it a positive ending. Another way to reduce nightmares is to follow a hygienic and healthy sleep routine. Scary, distressing and emotionally triggering content such as a horror movie or an explicit crime scene must not be consumed right before you go to sleep.
