Can Weight Loss Cause Nightmares?

Can Weight Loss Cause Nightmares? (Helpful Content!)

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Losing weight in and of itself cannot really cause nightmares. However, there are many ways of losing weight, and any one of them could cause nightmares indirectly. It’s more about the method you use rather than the weight loss itself. Dieting can be a very sensitive thing, and it’s important not to push it too far.

 

It’s much more about what you are doing to lose weight, than the weight loss itself.

Weight loss can certainly have profound psychological effects on us, but nothing that should necessarily, directly cause nightmares.

Let’s find out more.

Can Weight Loss Cause Nightmares?

 

Does losing weight give you nightmares?

Losing weight does not necessarily give you nightmares in any strict sense.

That said, many of the ways that we go about losing weight can indeed lead to nightmares or at the very least vivid dreams.

It’s important to have an idea of how dreaming works in the first place, though, if you want to understand why methods of weight loss might lead to nightmares.

Dreaming is something that, in a general sense, happens every night.

Your mind is always active at night, more so than you might expect.

During the deepest part of our sleep cycle, known as REM sleep, most dreaming tends to occur.

If this part of sleep is somehow disturbed, then we are more aware of our dreams.

Equally on the flip side, if we are sleeping more deeply, then the dreams can feel more full and complete.

One of the main ways that people go about losing weight is by vigorous exercise.

This exercise can lead to deeper sleep because we are more tired.

This deeper sleep could then cause vivid dreams or even nightmares.

On the other hand, intense exercise too late in the day might actually make your brain more active during sleep, and thus you feel your dreams or nightmares have been more vivid.

The connection, then, is really always indirect.

There’s nothing physiologically going on in weight loss itself that would lead to increased nightmares or dreams, with perhaps one minor exception.

When our bodies change dramatically, it does have an impact on us mentally.

This can potentially lead to nightmares, though again this is more a question of self-image and self-reflection than of the weight loss itself.

Dieting is much more commonly the cause of nightmares which seem to be associated with weight loss.

 

Can dieting give you nightmares?

While the relationship is, again, mostly indirect, dieting can certainly lead to nightmares in one way or another.

Again, though, dieting is a very broad term and can mean very different things for different people.

To some, dieting simply means avoiding fatty and sugary foods, avoiding snacking, and controlling portion size.

For others, dieting means following a bespoke menu recommended by a healthcare professional or nutritionist.

Some diets of this kind are, famously, much worse than others.

The Atkins diet, for instance, has been generally agreed to not be good for your health in the long term.

The adverse effects of this diet or of any like it which ultimately deprive you of the nutrition you need can ultimately lead to nightmares due to stress.

Dieting, when done properly, should not lead to any nightmares.

Many diets are constructed by people without any health qualifications, and even those diets which are still are not free from criticism.

 

Always consult with a doctor about any given diet you are thinking of undertaking.

 

Depriving yourself of essential nutrients can be just as bad for you as being overweight.

Losing weight is a tough road for many of us, but ultimately taking the right path, however harder, is the better choice in the long term.

 

Can losing weight cause sleep problems?

Usually, losing weight should not cause any significant sleep problems.

That said, striking the balance between hunger and overeating before bed is one of the more common weight loss factors which can cause sleep problems.

If you go to bed having overeaten, then your body will be overactive trying to break everything down while you’re asleep.

This will make your sleep less restful. On the other hand, you don’t want to go to bed feeling hungry, either.

This equally will make it harder to fall into restful sleep.

So, again, it’s all about how exactly we are losing weight, rather than the weight loss itself.

 

Can weight loss cause night terrors?

Weight loss is very unlikely to cause night terrors.

Night terrors are almost always carried over from childhood in any adult who experiences them.

So, if you are an adult who has not had night terrors before, weight loss will probably not cause them.

For children who do suffer with night terrors, any of the peripheral aspects of weight loss could cause them to have an increased risk of night terrors.

So, it’s very important that you take careful steps for any child who is losing weight and may suffer with night terrors to ensure their comfort.

 

Losing weight is something we’ve become accustomed to thinking of as being a good thing no matter what.

However, it’s just as important to your health that you lose weight at a steady and healthy pace, and in a constructive way, as is losing the weight at all.

If you go about it in an unhealthy way, then this could very likely lead to nightmares and bad dreams.

Ultimately, it is a profound change in ourselves, and this can very often lead to nightmares.

 

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