All our dreams have something to do with our emotions, fears, longings, wishes, needs and memories. But something on the ‘outside’ may influence what we dream. If a person is hungry, tired, or cold, his dreams may well include these feelings. If the covers have slipped off your bed, you may dream you are on an iceberg. There are people called psychoanalysts who have made a special study of why people dream. They believe that dreams are expressions of wishes that didn’t come true. In other words, a dream is a way of having your wish fulfilled. During sleep, according to this theory, our inhibition are also asleep.
Dreams that help you deal productively with emotions, memories, and other information may seem very helpful. The occasional nightmare is considered a dream that’s simply more frightening or upsetting. Nightmares tend to be caused by stress, anxiety, or sometimes as a reaction to certain medications. However, if you have nightmares frequently, you could have a sleeping disorder. Regularly occurring scary dreams can be labeled a sleeping disorder if the nightmares:
- Cause you to be anxious about going to sleep
- Lead to frequent disruptions of your sleep
- Bring about other sleeping or psychological problems
