No one wants to have nightmares, but maybe you should.
A new study published by researchers at the University of Geneva and reported in Study Finds found that these dreams actually help your brain prepare tackle real world stressful situations.
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Healthy sleep consists of several stages, and you cycle through these stages four to five times during your nightly sleep cycle. In stage 5, you enter rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, where dreaming takes place.
Dreaming can serve a number of important psychological functions, including aiding memory formation, creative problem-solving, helping you find meaning in life events and imagining a different future.
Lucid dreaming is when you become aware that you’re dreaming. Provided you don’t fully waken, but stay in the dream, you have the ability to shape and alter your dream at will. Lucid dreaming can be fun, as well as quite therapeutic, especially if you struggle with phobias, recurring nightmares and/or post-traumatic stress disorder.
However, lucid dreaming should be avoided by those with certain mental health problems such as schizophrenia, which can be exacerbated by lucid dreaming.
Overwhelming evidence shows adequate sleep is essential for optimal productiveness and creativity. That’s because dreaming promotes creativity and creative problem-solving.
Dreaming is also important for psychological well-being and can be likened to overnight therapy, as it eases the emotional sting of painful experiences.
A deep sleep allows your brain to clear out toxins, including harmful proteins linked to brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s.
Unfortunately, in this fast-paced world, far too many people forfeit sleep in order to get everything done on their busy schedules. This lack of sleep throughout all industrialized nations is having a catastrophic impact on the these populations’ health and wellness.
Studies have shown that the shorter your sleep, the shorter your life. While many like to brag about how little they sleep, this biological necessity provides a foundation for every aspect of your mental and physical health, so it’s certainly nothing to brag about. Sleep is essential for optimal wakefulness, attention and productivity.
Sleep-deprived drivers are thought to cause more vehicle crashes in the U.S. than those involving alcohol and drugs combined. And, even if you’re not behind the wheel, sleeplessness has been shown to have a devastating effect on your health and well-being, contributing to chronic illnesses such as dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, as well as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity.
If you suffer from insomnia, you are at twice the risk of developing depression as compared to individuals who sleep well. Children who do not get enough sleep may be at a greater risk of drug and alcohol use in their later adolescent years and insufficient sleep has also been linked to aggression, bullying and other behavior problems in children across a variety of ages.
To get a good night’s sleep and some creative dreaming, make sure you’re going to bed early enough, and that your bedroom is dark, quiet, cool and free of electromagnetic currents.