Contents
Hello dear blog readers! Today I want to discuss the topic of why do you have nightmares? How normal is this phenomenon and what can be done to combat such sleep disorders?
Causes
This issue should not be ignored. Terrible dreams not only leave an unpleasant emotional aftertaste, but also can disrupt the general mental state of a person. Lead to neurosis, depression and more severe pathologies.
It is worth paying attention to such dreams. Especially for those who often have terrible dreams, because in some cases this is a symptom of various diseases.
There is an age factor that affects the frequency of nightmares. The older a person becomes, the fewer nightmares he sees during the year.
For comparison, in infancy, more than 70% of dreams are nightmares. The reasons for this dependence are determined by the amount of nervous tension and the need to adapt to unknown situations. For children, the world is unpredictable and frightening, and the experiences received during the day are finally processed in a dream.
In adulthood, relationships with reality become more understandable and stable, which is why the number of unprocessed fears decreases.
Psychological
The psychological causes of nightmares can be as follows:
- Psychological trauma that has not been lived or worked through. This often happens if the traumatic event occurred at an early age. Or the fright was so great that the psyche could not cope and part of the energy went to the subconscious. In these cases, nightmares are an attempt by the psyche to process the negative experience gained by periodically returning to the traumatic situation.
- The development of mental processes and transitional age-related crises. Any age characterized by a change in activity and semantic space entails an increased level of anxiety regarding the uncertainty of a new situation. A person has to look for answers to questions that were not relevant to him before. This makes the psyche work in the background even in sleep. Working through all the possible scenarios for the development of events, the brain also gives out the most negative ones, launching a full-fledged living.
- Daily impressions or experiences. At night, the psyche organizes the events and experiences of the day. It forms a complete picture and gives vent to those emotions that, for various reasons, were stopped in the state of consciousness. Since most often people stop living fears and anxieties, it is they who become the main ones in the subject of sleep. This happens after disagreements with superiors and watching a news bulletin. Also, after horror movies or worries about the late return home of one of the family members.
- Eliminating psychological causes often takes time and conscious effort. Often, in order to normalize sleep, a person has to radically change his life. Quitting an extreme job, leaving a scary relationship, working through painful situations that you want to forget about. Unfortunately, if you do not find out what exactly in the psyche causes nightmares and do not carry out corrective work, then their number and intensity will only increase.
By the way, I recommend reading the 14 rules of healthy sleep.
Physiological
Physiological causes also began to be seen as capable of inducing nightmares. And not only doctors and physiologists, but also psychologists. After all, it makes no sense to look for subconscious psychotrauma if everything can be explained by physical factors and the problem can be quickly eliminated.
Physiological factors that provoke the appearance of nightmares:
- Pain in the body, temperature and other painful conditions. When something is wrong with the body, the psyche signals these problems through dreams as well. Often such dreams have physical sensations of pain in their plot. It is worth noting that in addition to diagnosed diseases, there may be unidentified problems. Those who are able to subtly listen to the signals of their psyche had to make sure that in a dream the body gives signals about an incipient inflammatory process or a change in the rhythm of the organs.
- The amount of oxygen and thermal conditions in the sleeping room. If you began to notice that with the advent of the warm season, the quality of sleep worsens, then the reason may be overheating of the body or insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain. In this case, nightmares play the role of a self-preservation instinct. The organism tries to wake up the consciousness in order to change external conditions.
- Flashing lights, extraneous noises — provoke additional images, can change the course of a natural dream. Such phenomena often manifest themselves in nightmares in the form of unexpected appearances, a sudden change in location, and other frightening factors built on the effect of surprise.
- A heavy dinner just before bedtime, psychostimulant drinks (containing caffeine and alcohol) — change the functioning of the nervous system. Thus, the need to digest food keeps the whole organism in a state of partial superficial sleep, which is very susceptible to external influences. Alcohol and caffeine stimulate nerve processes and impulses, which can produce frightening images.
Setting up these factors is not difficult. But few people with nightmares make a connection between dreams and the organization of their space and food intake. You can read about the rules of a healthy lifestyle in the articles in this section.
Ways to deal with nightmares
Finding a way to get rid of nightmares will help determine the cause that caused them. It is useless to improve the environment if the precipitating factor is in the relationship with someone. It also makes no sense to waste time on endless sessions with a psychoanalyst when you can simply close the window at night.
Below I give advice on stabilizing the nervous system during mental overload, stressful situations and post-traumatic syndrome:
- Before going to bed, use a decoction of a sedative collection or an appropriate medication.
- Drink a course of vitamins for the nervous system.
- Ensure a healthy work-life cycle.
- Spend at least 2 hours a day outside — walking in the park or playing sports.
- Exclude psychoactive substances.
An important point is the organization of the space of sleep and the very way of falling asleep. Many people often do not pay enough attention to this. For example, if a sufferer from nightmares says “when I sleep on my back, I have wonderful dreams,” this is due to the fact that the oxygen supply is poorer in the position on the stomach or the throat is constricted. The same thing happens with closed windows and hot air. The bedroom should be well ventilated, have light and sound insulation.
Elimination of physiological problems
To exclude the impact of physiological disorders, it is necessary:
- Pass a complete medical examination.
- To treat existing chronic diseases, and in case of acute ailments, it is necessary to take symptomatic treatment at night, which removes the main pathological manifestations.
- Exclude the intake of food and substances that activate the nervous system at night.
Elimination of psychological problems
What to do with violations of the psychological plan — it is necessary to decide together with a psychologist or psychotherapist. If there is a long-standing psycho-traumatic situation, then the participation of a specialist is necessary to overcome it and return to a normal level.
In a situation of an adaptation period or an age crisis, it is worth focusing on solving psycho-emotional problems, and you can cope with this on your own. The main point will be the establishment of new priorities and a sparing regime for the period of adaptation.
It happens that a person has nightmares because he is forced to live in really dangerous conditions. For example, in a situation of military operations, with a spouse who uses physical violence, in a criminal area or under persecution. The solution to this problem is only in the way out of this situation. It is necessary to move, ask for protection from law enforcement agencies and friends, after which it is imperative to undergo a course of psychotherapy.
Conclusion
Dear friends, be attentive to your dreams. After all, if a nightmare had a dream once, then it may not mean anything. But if their appearance enters the system, then this is a clear signal that negative events are occurring in your life that require immediate correction.
Also, I recommend that you read an article about pattern thinking that we have since school.
Subscribe to blog updates to keep abreast of the latest interesting topics. Share this article on social networks and send the link to friends who have problems with dreams.
Until next time!