Nightmares when I'm feeling great but better dreams when things are not so great?

So basically, if I watch/read something horrible before going to bed, I'll have neutral okay dreams, if I watch/read something cute/romantic I'll have horrible nightmares. :') This also goes for if I'm feeling anxious or stressed in my life, my dreams will be more or less fine, but if I'm feeling on top of the world before going to sleep I'll have really bad nightmares, and I'm honestly just confused at this point because at first I thought it was a coincidence but it's happened way too many times by now, can anyone relate to this? Do you know why this happens? I tried Googling but only found "why scary movies give nightmares" which... Isn't really my case as you can see :chuckle:

So yeah, thoughts? :')

Well, I don't really know, LucidKitten!

But here's just a guess, based on your physical state.

Maybe if you process something "horrible", or if you're feeling anxious or stressed, while you're awake, then by the time you go to sleep, your energy levels, and stress hormone levels are already depleted, and your physical brain doesn't have the umph to produce dreams that are nightmarish.

And if you've bathed your brain in happy chemicals and hormones all day long, then those are depleted when you go to sleep, so your body makes due with what it's got left - stress hormones, and a lot of pent up energy.

This is a good question, and I hope someone knows if there's a real answer! Also . . . I know umph isn't a scientific word! I hope you get my drift.

I can think of a couple of possibilities, but keep in mind I'm just as amateur as Amateur is. :wink:

There's a psychological term called enantiodromia (no, there won't be a test), which means that an excess of anything calls up its opposite. For instance, a baby who is all happy and excited for a little too long will suddenly get tired and cranky. Or the opposite too - a baby who's pissed off and having a tantrum will suddenly be giggling.

There's also the effect of 'gearing up' to handle something difficult. Sometimes when things are tough people will get their mojo on, get ready to handle whatever may come their way, and that might involve getting the happy hormones flowing, or whatever you do to deal with stress.

There's a related effect that I'm not sure quite how it ties in directly, but it does illustrate what I'm trying to get across. When a person is in a survival situation - for instance drifting in the ocean for a couple of days - they remain as tough as they need to be, but sometimes just when the rescue helicopter arrives and they start dropping ropes the person will just feel relief and suddenly stop trying so hard, and that's when they give up fighting (and sometimes die because they just gave up and assumed the rescuers would take over from here). So it's about getting your mental toughness on because you have to, in difficult times. But when times aren't difficult you're not doing that, so maybe you're more vulnerable then because your guard is down?

I don't know - just a guess really.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darkmatters

. . . so maybe you're more vulnerable then because your guard is down?

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that's a good point, too!

Hello there, I have heard that nightmares are used to show the things which are happening in life. I don't think that with the help of sleeping position we judge good and bad nightmares. My cousin is suffering from bad nightmares and most of the time he used to do abnormal things while sleeping. I have heard about professionals who helps in overcoming depression and bad nightmares. While searching online I came across voyance direct. Do you have any suggestions?