Restless sleep... Could 'bad dreams' actually be good for mental health?

Do you often have bad dreams? Many people complain that when their sleep is restless, they feel down the next day. In fact, bad dreams are considered ominous, and restless sleep can affect one's condition. However, dreams are naturally prone to negative content, and there is an interpretation that having bad dreams is good for mental health. Let's explore the misconceptions and truths about bad dreams.

Moderately bad dreams reduce stress

 

The research team at Yeshiva University in the United States stated, "Bad dreams are a process in which the brain 'processes information' about negative emotions and fears that people usually have during the night, so moderately bad dreams enhance the brain's emotional regulation ability and have a stress-reducing effect." Therefore, there is no need to interpret or worry about bad dreams as omens. Moderately bad dreams actually help reduce stress.

 

☆ The process of handling the emotion of fear is exactly a dream.

 

The brain stores negative emotions more effectively. This can be interpreted as the survival advantage of genes that remember bad experiences better in the human environment, where lowering vigilance makes one more vulnerable to threats. However, these accumulated memories and information of fear must be controlled so as not to exceed a certain limit, and the process of handling such fearful information is precisely what dreams are.

REM sleep, during which we dream a lot, is important.

 

People often dream more during the shallow sleep stage called REM sleep. During REM sleep, the brain areas responsible for memory and emotion regulation are highly active. This indicates that the brain actively processes various emotions while in REM sleep, or dreaming. Proper emotional processing through these bad dreams helps reduce stress and prevents feelings of fear and memories from overwhelming us after waking up, leading to a healthier real-life experience.

 

Severe nightmares that wake you up suddenly have a negative impact

 

Dream expert Dr. Ross Levin stated, "Nightmares that make you jump out of bed are not beneficial but rather have a negative impact on mental health." People who are usually stressed or fearful tend to have more nightmares, which involve an excessive activation of the brain's 'fear emotion processing' mechanism, reaching a level intense enough to wake them up. People who wake up from nightmares tend to experience more stress in real life, and they are prone to experiencing a vicious cycle where the memory of the nightmare triggers new nightmares.

 

Reporter Kim Soo-hyun (ksm78@kormedi.com)

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When we have a nightmare, our actions the next day

They say that a moderate nightmare, while cautious, helps relieve stress and benefits mental health.

However, nightmares severe enough to wake you up are considered to have a negative impact.