THE NUCLEUS Issue 2 Spring 2024

T Y P E S O F D R E A M S

A standard dream varies from person to person, however some typical features are: most dreams are predominately visual, most people dream in colour, but some are in black and white; the less stressed you are the nicer your dreams are; and that they’re normally non-logical.

One abnormal type of dream is a nightmare. Simply put, nightmares are dreams that are scary or disturbing. Some causes of nightmares are watching or reading something scary, sleep deprivation, eating before bed, medication, being ill, or a sleep disorder. People that are under high levels of stress or have a mental health condition are more likely to experience nightmares. The most common themes of nightmares are death/dying, violence, or being chased.

Another abnormal dream type is night terrors. They are not nightmares, but instead are a type of sleep disorder. When you have a night terror, you tend to wakeup terrified whilst not really knowing what you dreamt about. Night terrors are most common in children, possibly because they know less about the world and thus are afraid of more things. When you wake up with a night terror, you will experience typical stress symptoms, for example a racing heart, as if you were actually in that situation. The differences between nightmares and night terrors are that night terrors happen in non-REM sleep while nightmare happen in REM sleep, night terrors are more common in children whereas nightmares are universal, and nightmares tend to be remembered whereas night terrors are forgotten.

Lucid dreams (being aware that you’re dreaming while still dreaming) are a less frequently occurring type of abnormal dream; however, studies have showed that 55% of people experience them once in their lifetime. You can often control your lucid dreams, which can be used to help recurring dreams and nightmares. Another type of dream is recurring dreams. These are dreams that repeat more than once. You can have natural recurring dreams or recurring nightmares; if you have recurring nightmares, it is usually due to an external mental health factor. Common themes of recurring dreams are being attacked or chased, falling, or being frozen with fear. In conclusion, dreams are still somewhat of an enigma to psychologists and can be explained by real events that have happened in your life.

-10-