There have been many instances in which people have found that their dreams relayed an important message. Since dreams come from your subconscious mind, they may be a message from your body that you need to interpret.
It could be anything from an event that is likely to take place soon, aspects of your personality, or even something very serious such as the state of your mental health.
For example, if you have a dream about spiders, it may be an indication that you are trying to suppress your anxiety.
Anxiety is not the only thing that dreams can tell you about, however. According to experts, there are lots of different things that dreams, especially much more vivid dreams, can try to tell you about your mental health.
Sometimes, dreams can just be dreams, but they also could be a sign of something more. It is important to get checked out by a doctor if you have worries about your dreams and sleep patterns.
Read on to find more about seven different things that your dreams may be trying to tell you about your mental health.
1. You are in a great state of health
Let’s start off with the great news- sometimes, your dreams could simply be an indication that your mental health is great.
Generally, if you find that you are having happy dreams that aren’t particularly vivid and don’t interrupt your sleep, it means that you’re likely in a state of good health.
A side effect of most mental health problems is poor sleep or vivid dreams, so if neither of these things apply to you, you’re likely doing just fine.
Another interesting study showed that people who experience lucid dreams (a type of dream in which the person knows that they’re dreaming) are not experiencing a lot of stress or other problems that would affect their mental health.
That being said, if you don’t have lucid dreams, it doesn’t mean that you have poor mental health.
2. You may have depression
Now onto some of the more serious issues with your mental health. A lot of studies have shown that people with depression experience dreams much more often than people who don’t have depression.
When someone has depression, the quality of their REM sleep is different. So, if you have depression, you may find that it is easier for you to be able to remember the dreams you had the previous night than it would be for most people.
You may also find that you’re feeling pretty tired when you wake up regardless of how long you’ve slept due to the fact that a depressed brain is more active during the night than usual.
It’s common that people with depression will have more negative dreams, and dreams in which they will be experiencing bad emotions such as anger or sadness.
If someone is suicidal as a result of depression, they may see more dreams involving death than usual.
3. There is something making you anxious, or you have anxiety
You don’t necessarily have to have anxiety disorder in order to be feeling anxious about something, but it could be an indication. Is there something that you feel anxious about but are trying to suppress? You shouldn’t be surprised, then, when you find that you are having dreams about this.
A common theme among people with anxiety is that they will be dreaming about whatever is disturbing them- or they will have much more detailed dreams than most people. You may find that you are having relatively long dreams instead of several short dreams.
You’ll likely be feeling anxious in this dream, because your brain will have to process all the details in the dream, causing you to feel anxious. This could indeed have a negative impact on your mental health.
4. You may have bipolar disorder
One of the most common side effects among people with bipolar disorder is vivid dreams. While having vivid dreams doesn’t mean that you have bipolar disorder, it is something worth getting checked out if you have suspicions.
People with bipolar disorder tend to have disturbed sleep or even major changes within their sleeping pattern.
For example, they might be sleeping a lot more or less depending on if they will be having a bipolar episode soon.
Another thing that researchers have found is that, when about to enter a manic state, someone with bipolar disorder may experience more dreams about bad topics like death or injury.
And those about to enter a depressive state may find that they are having less dreams than usual.
5. You may have PTSD
People with PTSD are more likely to have more nightmares than usual. There have even been people with PTSD who have had nightmares almost every day of the week.
If you have experienced some sort of trauma in your life, it is not unlikely that you will be seeing it as a recurring theme in your dreams.
You may even see the traumatic episode in its entirety as you dream- or you may be seeing something related to it.
6. You could have nightmare disorder
Nightmare disorder is not something that you might have initially thought about when contemplating the state of your mental health.
However, if you are experiencing a lot more nightmares than you should, it may be a sign of you having nightmare disorder.
You will want to keep track of your nightmares and explain them to your doctor so you could get a better idea of what is effecting you.
7. You may be experiencing sleep deprivation
While sleep deprivation is not exactly a mental disorder, it can have an affect on the state of your mental health.
Your body will want to compensate for all the sleep it has lost, so you will have longer periods of REM sleep, resulting in more dreams. It is common that people with sleep deprivation will also experience more vivid dreams.
Author Bio:
Caitlyn Payne is the founder of signmeaning.com. As someone who is highly knowledgeable about the world of dreams, she wished to share the knowledge that she has accumulated throughout her profession with people all across the world.
An art that was considered to be a form of communication with divine beings, dreaming has been studied for many millennia.
Payne has been fascinated by this realm for a long time and chose to become a dream interpreter. Now, she seeks to share her knowledge through this blog with the rest of the world.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article !