4 minute read
IN YOUR DREAMS...
You are at a wedding. The couple exchange vows. They lean in for a kiss. But they aren’t wearing masks. People at the ceremony aren’t social distancing. There is no hand sanitiser.
This isn’t right. You run away. And run and run and run. And then you wake up. It was all a dream.
Dr Hetal Mehta says this year's events will affect our dreams.
Dreaming is good says Dr Hetal Mehta, consultant neuropsychiatrist at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. Even COVID-19 dreams.
In fact if you are having stressful dreams about life in COVID-19 times (and it’s not surprising) this may be your brain helping you to process the unusual situation.
“Dreaming is the brain’s way of helping us to consolidate what has happened to us during the day as well as reprocessing memories from our past. Research suggests it even helps in memory function,” says Dr Mehta.
WHAT IS A DREAM?
A dream can be defined as ‘mental activity in sleep’. Experts divide sleep into two distinct stages – REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and non-REM sleep. The latter is better understood as ‘deep sleep’ and it is the first part of our sleep that is generally deeper.
During the night the blood flow to different parts of our brains changes – at one point it is the decision making, problem solving area that receives more blood flow than that which serves memory and emotions and vice versa.
“We think of them as visual images but they are also fed by other sensory inputs – we hear things, someone touches us, we can smell and feel emotions,” explains Dr Mehta, who also works with patients who have experienced a brain injury.
Since March 2020 when the UK first went into lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19, our lives have changed. We wear masks, we keep two metres distance from others, we wash our hands more regularly. The Government lays down rules about who we are allowed to see, where we go and how we behave when we get there. And sadly many have lost their lives or loved ones.
Dr Mehta thinks our dreams are connected. “There is sufficient research to suggest that for most people the stress response of dreams serves an adaptive function. The brain is trying to adapt to events and at the same time develop networks to help you cope with a stressful memory.
“An interesting study involved people going through a divorce. It showed that those who were able to incorporate their ex spouses into their dreams were better able to process their situation and adapt to it six months on, than those who had not done so.”
People are reporting vivid pandemic related dreams on social media using the hashtag #CovidDreams and researchers all over the world are delving deeper into our dreams to find out more. * Dr Mehta expects the results of this research will make interesting reading.
“These are stressful times and from past experience this last year will have affected our dreams.
“After 9/11 several studies reported people having stressful dreams even if they were not directly affected by the terrorist attack or living in America at the time. It happens because of the information we receive in different ways – on television, on the radio, via social media for example.”
NIGHTMARES
Vulnerable people or those prone to anxiety will still find that the brain can help them adapt to stressful situations in their sleep.
Even nightmares are normal says Dr Mehta.
“If you have had a threatening or traumatic experience or event in your life, your brain may try to incorporate that in to your dreams and help to process it.”
But when do dreams or nightmares become an issue?
“If your nightmares are more intense, more recurrent and more prolonged or if they are a replication of the traumatic event, rather than a representation of what happened you should seek medical help,” says Dr Mehta.
COMMUNICATION
Talking about your dreams is good and can help you process any stress connected with them.
“In these days when we have less human to human contact it is good to check in with someone, even remotely,” says Dr Mehta. “Talking about your dreams helps reduce your stress and anxiety about them, assists dream processing and aids better sleep.”
SLEEP TIGHT
Dr Mehta’s top tips to help you sleep better:
• Avoid stimulants like tea, coffee, smoking, alcohol and even chocolate after 6pm. Even doing this for a couple of days a week can help you sleep better
• Switch off your television and other screens at least two hours before going to bed or consider a red filter
• Prepare yourself for bed an hour before you plan to go to sleep
• Get into a good habit – routine is very important. Try to go to bed at the same time each night and wake up around the same time.
Research on Covid Dreams • Guardian article on research at Monash University in Australia, University of Cambridge and Finland’s University of Turku. • The COVID-19 pandemic is changing our dreams. Scientific American • Frontiers in Psychology. Pandemic Dreams: Network Analysis of Dream Content During the COVID-19 Lockdown
