Why do we have nightmares?

o What is the "nightmare"?

A nightmare is a dream that evokes strong negative emotions, most often fear or dread, but also despair, anxiety or great sadness. This type of dream can lead to situations of danger, psychological or physical discomfort. Dreamers often wake up in distress and may have trouble going back to sleep for a while.

o When does it appear?

Nightmares occur during REM sleep, the last stage of the sleep cycle. UK researchers have also found that nights of 9 hours or more increase the risk of having nightmares, due to the increased duration of REM sleep.

o A necessity?

Regardless of the scenario of your nightmare and the emotions it reveals, it allows you to simulate a threat to better face it. It is a "training" of our brain, to prepare it for situations like attack, fear or even loss. Nightmares help regulate the negative emotions one may be facing. As such, they are very useful for the proper functioning of our brain capacities on a daily basis. Those who forbid themselves to express their feelings during stressful events during the day can see their emotions turn into nightmares at night. Nightmares are a kind of anti-stress valve in the face of an emotional overflow that is impossible to manage at the moment.

o How to go back to sleep?

During a nightmare, waking up is often brutal, so falling back to sleep quickly can be complicated. The body needs to find calm to promote sleep. The first thing is to rationalize his nightmares and come back to reality. Turn on the lights and drink a glass of water allow this inking. Second, relaxation techniques, especially breathing, can help calm the mind and body. Sometimes it can take half an hour for the body to regain a regular pulse and the emotional state to return to normal, which makes it possible to fall asleep again.

To minimize the occurrence of these disruptive events, Bdreams advises you to opt for a memory foam mattress. The shape memory foam of our Osmoz mattress called "Respirel" offers a welcome adapted to everyone's morphology and thus allows you to keep your body imprint to limit your movements while falling asleep and offer you a deeper sleep.