Can Stress Cause Nightmares?

Can Stress Cause Nightmares? (Answered!)

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Yes, stress can certainly lead to increased instances of nightmares. Whether or not we remember our dreams, and how vivid those dreams are, is dependent largely on how restful our sleep is. Stress can disrupt restful sleep in many ways, and this can in turn lead to nightmares and bad dreams.

 

So, there isn’t necessarily any neurological connection between heightened stress and dreaming.

It’s just that stress leads to restlessness, lack of sleep, and other things which can affect how we dream.

But there are things you can do to combat it.

Let’s look further into this.

Can Stress Cause Nightmares?

Does stress cause nightmares?

It certainly can, although it is not guaranteed to do so.

There is a clear link between heightened levels of stress and more frequent dreaming in general—not just nightmares.

I’ll get into precisely why shortly.

But you should be aware that stress can take many forms, and lead to a lot of different symptoms.

Nightmares can be caused by a great many things, many of which can also be symptoms of stress.

So, as you can see, it can become increasingly likely the more stressed you are.

Stress is naturally an extremely broad term, and can be anything from a mild annoyance to truly life-threatening.

Naturally, the higher the stress, the more likely it is to cause nightmares.

Fundamentally, though, stress gets in the way of restful sleep—so let’s look at exactly how this affects sleep.

 

Why does stress cause nightmares?

Nightmares, and dreaming in general, are often the result of a lack of restful sleep.

Every night as we sleep, we go through cycles of sleep.

The deepest of these cycles, REM sleep, is where most dreaming occurs.

Stress makes it a lot more difficult to get into a deep, REM sleep because your mind is overly active and stimulated.

When your sleep is more interrupted, you can still achieve REM, but your mind is a lot more aware.

The exact mechanism of dreaming is still not entirely understood.

Our best theory, though, suggests that it is a way for our brain to sort useful memories from the less important ones.

To compartmentalize. Indeed, it is mostly the memory centers of the brain that are active during REM sleep.

So, whether or not we have vivid dreams or nightmares is really more about whether we remember them due to being more awake.

Stress will make your sleep less restful, and your mind more awake when you are trying to sleep.

If you are stressed and fixated on a particular thing, that will take up a great deal of your memory and subconscious, making you more likely to dream about it.

What can you do about stress nightmares, then?

 

How to stop stress nightmares

I want to say, first off, that the answer to this really depends on the level of stress.

Stress is far more dangerous than we tend to accept, and if you are in a seriously bad and stressed state, you should consider seeing a specialist.

They can help you in ways nothing else can.

That said, it’s not your only option. If it’s a more mild stress, and indeed even if it is very severe, there are a lot of simple things you can do to ease your mind and help your sleep.

Basic, tried and tested relaxation techniques are really useful. Meditation, yoga, aromatherapy—all of these things will give you a better chance of falling asleep more soundly at night.

Perhaps the single best thing you can do, in general, is to stick to a routine.

Go to bed and wakeup at the same time each night. This will allow your body to fall into a more natural rhythm.

Again, though, if it becomes too much, see a professional.

 

Does stress cause night terrors?

Night terrors are an entirely different beast.

While it’s not impossible that stress could cause night terrors, it’s very unlikely.

Night terrors are incredibly uncommon in adults.

If you aren’t, as an adult, already predisposed to nightmares, then it’s unlikely that anything but the most extreme stress could bring on night terrors.

For children, though, it is a different story.

If your children are very stressed for whatever reason, then this could bring on night terrors.

While night terrors are less common, they are also far more problematic for your health than nightmares.

So, you should still take them very seriously.

 

So, the thing to remember is that it’s not a guarantee that stress causes nightmares.

It very often does, and can, but there could also be other reasons for it.

If you are experiencing a lot of stress, though, the likelihood is that you’ll have trouble sleeping in any case.

This is a very common cause of nightmares.

But you don’t have to suffer in silence.

There are many things you can do to lessen the stress and give yourself a better chance against the nightmares.

 

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