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June 30 2010
Studies show frequent bad dreams have negative impact on health
DO you dream of falling or being naked in public? Bad dreams may be a nightmare for your health.
FOR some it is about falling and never hitting the ground.
For others it is about being chased but never caught.
Some see their teeth falling out, while others sit a test or exam but have forgotten everything they once knew.
Whatever the dream, it is the stuff of nightmares.
It is easy to dismiss them all as just a bad dream but researchers now say they can have a dramatic effect on health and are associated with insomnia, fatigue, depression and anxiety.
Jane Teresa Anderson is a Brisbane-based dream analyst who has been studying the cause of such dreams for more than 20 years.
She says most dreams are people’s brains processing information from their waking experiences over the past day or two.
"The dreams are very symbolic," she says. "And if you can interpret them then you can get some understanding of how your mind works and how you perceive your waking life."
The nightmares usually come when people are facing a challenge or difficult times. However, Anderson says, most people have lost the ability to interpret their dreams and if the nightmare goes unresolved it can lead to health problems.
About one in 20 people suffer from frequent or chronic nightmares according to a new study in China.
Psychiatrists there investigated nightmares in 9000 adults, looking at the frequency, as well as who had them and any links with ill health.
The results showed that 5.1 per cent of people have frequent nightmares, defined as at least one a week. They were more common among women, with 6.2 per cent having at least one a week compared with 3.8 per cent of men.
Anderson says there are common themes such as death or dying, being chased, extreme bad emotions such as rage or anger, and falling.
Recurring nightmares, she says, can relate to a recent challenge in life that has strong similarities with other challenges dating back many years.
Researchers have found the frequency of nightmares can be linked to income. Those on the lowest incomes were 2.3 times more likely to have three or more nightmares a week compared with the more wealthy.
These results were also echoed by researchers in Germany who found there were even some differences in the nightmares of men and women.
Men were more likely to have nightmares about being fired from a job or violence while women’s nightmares were more about sexual harassment or the death of a loved one.
Women were also more likely to have bad dreams about losing their hair or teeth which the researchers say could reflect an anxiety about becoming unattractive.
Researchers at the Central Institute of Mental Health’s sleep laboratory in Mannheim, Germany, also highlighted a link between nightmares and health.
"The high correlation between nightmare frequency and sleep-related daytime consequences underlines the fact that nightmares might have a strong effect on the wellbeing of the patient, and should be treated," the lab’s Dr Michael Schredl says.
A greater frequency of nightmares has been linked to an increased risk of insomnia and to a higher risk of daytime fatigue, headaches and difficulty getting up in the morning.
Anderson says this is not surprising.
"Nightmares cause broken sleep, increase our daytime anxiety – we worry about what they mean – and frighten us from falling asleep the next night," she says.
"All this waking-life worry then reflects in the next night’s dreams. Plus, health and wellbeing decline under such stress, worry and sleeplessness and then this decline in wellbeing, in itself, is processed in the next night’s dreams.
"It all compounds."
Common dreams and what they mean
• Being naked:
Becoming mortified at the realisation you are naked in public reflects your vulnerability or feelings of shamefulness.
• Being chased: This sensation stems from feelings of anxiety in your waking life. Running away is an instinctive response to a physical threat in the environment.
• Teeth: One theory is that dreams about your teeth reflect your anxieties about your appearance and how others perceive you.
• Flying: If you are flying with ease and enjoying the scene and landscape below, then it suggests that you are on top of a situation. Having difficulties staying in flight indicates a lack of power in controlling your circumstances.
• Falling: Falling is an indication of insecurities, instabilities, and anxieties. You are feeling overwhelmed and out of control in some situation in your waking life. Contrary to a popular myth, you will not actually die if you do not wake up before you hit the ground during a fall.
• Failing a test: To dream that you are taking an exam, indicates that you are being put to the test or being scrutinised in some way.
Source: dreammoods.com
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