Do Dreams Affect Sleep?

Nightmares can negatively affect sleep, but usually only if they occur frequently or at a very disturbing stage.

Most people can have their nightmares once in a while without having a noticeable impact on their sleep quality. However, when nightmares are experienced frequently, it can be a barrier to experiencing quality sleep. For some people, nightmares occur several times a week and/or more than once a night.

Nightmare disorder can be defined as the experience of frequent nightmares that interfere with a person’s sleep and/or their mood or thinking during the day. People with nightmare disorder may have restless sleep and wake up more, and have greater difficulty getting back to sleep. In addition, they may avoid sleep for fear of being disturbed by dreams, increased risk of insomnia, and sleep deprivation.

If you have nightmares more than once a week, you should talk to your doctor about this. The same should be consulted if sleep has disturbed their mood, thinking, or daytime energy levels due to being affected by nightmares.

A doctor can work on this together with you to identify the cause and optimal treatment to reduce these disturbing dreams.

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