WHY ARE WE ALL HAVING NIGHTMARES? - THREAD.

Ever gone to bed but woken up with your heart outside your chest and your pajamas soaked in sweat cus you fell 100 feet In your dream and now you're unsure if you're alive or dead?.
Well, me too, we all have nightmares
But why are we having consistent and more frightening nightmares since the lockdown started?

We call these nightmares "stress response nightmares". With all the uncertainty Miss Rona is causing, stress levels for all of us have risen, and now its spilled over to our dreams.
And nightmares don't end for some of us when we wake up, it carries over into our daily lives like a shadow. This can lead to mood swings, fear and serious paranoia.
And can even go as far as affecting our mental health.
So what can we do about these dreams?

1. Don't postpone sleep: Trying to postpone sleep so you can avoid nightmares is setting yourself up.
Nightmares happen during REM sleep ie Rapid Eye Movement Sleep.

When you sleep less, it leads to "sleep deprivation".
Sleep deprivation causes less REM sleep.
*Angel you said nightmares happen in REM sleep, if I get less REM sleep doesn't that mean no more nightmares?*

WRONG. When the brain is deprived of REM, the brain chases after it like a drug addict either that night or the next night
This is known as a REM rebound effect.
The brain goes into REM faster =
The brain stays in REM longer=
More intense nightmares.

So when you're sleepy, sleep. That episode of Money heist will still be there when you wake up in the morning. Allow your body and brain rest.
2. Decrease Alcohol intake.

I can see you rolling your eyes 😅

How can I say that alcohol which is a depressant and makes us slow, drowsy and sleepy should be decreased. I'll explain.

Alcohol prevents us from getting into the deeper stages of sleep.
And if you don't get to the deep stages, you can't get into REM and if no REM sleep, you REM rebound and end up with the nightmares you were tryna run away from.

I know that alcohol is a coping mechanism for many right now, but do you really need that extra glass?
3. Wake up.

Ever woken up from a nightmare , blinked a few times and went back to sleep and the nightmare continues like Part 2 ?.
In simple terms, this happens because the veil between dreams and reality can get quite blurry.
Movies mirror society, dreams mirror your life.
When you wake up from a nightmare, wake up completely. This may involve taking a few steps, splash water on your face, brewing a cup of tea, taking a shower etc.

Basically what you're doing is breaking the transmission of your dreams and reality.
3. Seek help.

Some people have Nightmare disorder (repeated awakenings with detailed recall of extended & extremely frightening dreams, involving threats to survival, security, or self-esteem).
For those in this category, you may need to seek further help from professionals.
If you have any questions send a dm. https://twitter.com/RedWhinee/status/1227705717760634883?s=19
You can follow @RedWhinee.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: