Why do we have Nightmares? – What nightmares reveal about our psyche

Nightmares are a very common phenomenon, essentially it is a dream were disturbing or upsetting images and plots play out in your mind. Once you wake you feel a level of anxiety and destress. Occasionally afterwards you may have a sense of relief it’s over, but as the day plays out it affects your thoughts leading you to questioning ‘Why do people have nightmares?’. In today’s clarity blog, we will be exploring the dark depths of your nightmares and unravelling the mystery’s that hide in them.

Scientists would argue that we dream to play out life threatening and disturbing events, so we have preparation for them. Which may explain why we often dream of being chased by some crazed animal or person. Yet some psychologists describe how we process and organise memory, our experience during the day are organised and we discard unnecessary things and store important things. There is a catch to this, our brain may discard thing which may be important to the analytical mind and remember useless mind clutter. It’s those emotions we feel during the day which dictates our dream state. Dreams very abstractly portray that mental clutter and thoughts to us, If the majority of the clutter build during the day is very anxious, stressed or traumatic. Then that results in our dreams abstractly portraying that to us, all of the insane disturbing and scary things are only reflections of what’s in our minds. The stress, anxious and worry’s haunt our dreams. Especially when that emotions are efficiently expresses or suppressed by ourselves.

The nightmares that involve us facing something we have been terrified of since childhood, those things that terrified us. When they appear in a dream, it demonstrates how you are facing a great anxiety or stress that needs to be faced. And your mind is going to make you face it in your stems. So, it’s important to remember the things you were most afraid of when your little, since they have a large meaning n your dreams. Those who experience regular nightmares, usually have experienced some trauma or post-traumatic stress. Those who suffer with poor mental health also are prone to regular nightmares. This is a pretty obvious fact, after reading why nightmares occur. Yet for those people it’s vital that you record and may attention to the variations of nightmares you experience. That you discuss them and find ways to improve them. Nightmares occur in REM state, which is a state you usually fall into after 3-4 hours of sleep. It is the deepest state you fall into, when you have the lowest heart rate. And the astral body is in charge, and entering dreams. That is when nightmares occur. A certain off shoot of nightmares, which is sleep paralyse takes place then. Not being able to move, or talk in your body. Yet in your dream you are aware takes place. Those forms of nightmares are often linked with being more aware in the REM state. A piece of advice I will give after experiencing a dream is to, relax and wait until you heart rate falls. Is to consider those around you who love you, or care. List them, as though you are trying to build enough events to why you should not be afraid. This technique works to manage to get back to sleep. This may not work for you personally. But create a small comping strategy to sleep soundly.