HEALTH NEWS

Useful nightmares

Dreams are an essential part of sleep, and – surprisingly – upsetting ones could actually benefit our waking lives, according to a new study*. And there’s one kind of nightmare that may be particularly helpful.

Idiopathic nightmares are when you dream about fear, aggression and death. They usually happen when we’re under lots of stress. If memories of this kind of dream remain in the morning, it can actually lead to a decrease in negative emotion throughout the day, which the researchers suggest is because they encourage us to share or resolve the underlying cause of our stress.

If you have a recurrent nightmare that keeps coming back, try journalling it, then changing its ending. Before bedtime, narrate the new dream aloud to yourself. It may keep it at bay.