Adults get nightmares too. Here's how to conquer them.
Although monsters under the bed are more common in nightmares of children, anywhere from 50% to 85% of adults report having occasional nightmares. Nightmares are definitely disturbing and disruptive to our sleep - but are they a sign of something bigger? Yes, dreams can affect how well we sleep.
If someone has frequent nightmares - more than once or twice weekly - that cause distress or impairment at work or among people, he or she might have nightmare disorder. Addressing frequent nightmares is important since they have also been linked to insomnia, depression and suicidal behaviour.
Try these 5 tips to help you conquer nightmares and improve your sleep quality:
Establish a bedtime routine
Cut back on alcohol and caffeine
Limit screen time
Exercise
Meditate
Despite how it may feel, disturbing dreams don’t always have a significant effect on your sleep architecture, meaning they won’t necessarily change how much time you spend in the different stages of sleep or the number of times you awaken. What nightmares can change is how long it takes to fall asleep at night and how challenging it is for your body to switch between non-REM and REM stages of sleep, which may leave you feeling less rested.
Dream content often relates back to what’s happening in your waking life. If you’re experiencing low stress and plenty of satisfaction in your day-to-day life, you may have more positive dreams. By contrast, if you’re depressed or anxious during the day, you may have more unpleasant dreams and compromised sleep quality at night.
The good news is that while you cannot control your dreams directly, you can work on improving your state of mind during the day. This, in turn, may help improve the quality of your dreams - and perhaps sleep - at night.