By: Kassandra Lora
Have you ever wondered if dreams are a reflection of our subconscious trying to send a message or if they are just meaningless? What do these specific dreams tell us about our mental health?
One type of dreaming, besides the occasional nightmares, is lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is when the dreamer is aware they are dreaming but, without waking up, they can control what they do in the dream as well as the outcome of the dream. Some people lucid dream regularly while others rarely and some cannot lucid dream at all. So, what does lucid dreaming show us about our mental health? In an article written in the PsychologyToday magazine, they discussed an observation conducted with a group of undergraduate students who participated in a sleep study. The results stated how, “Intense lucid dreamers had, on average, lower levels of psychological distress.” It was explained that individuals who have more intense lucid dreams had less depression, stress, and anxiety than individuals who had less intense lucid dreams. However, those who don’t lucid dream at all had no difference in psychological wellbeing when compared to those who have very intense lucid dreams. It is interesting to see how something like lucid dreaming can have such a perspective on psychological health.
Besides measuring psychological distress, according to the Psych Central website, dreams have many mental health benefits as well. Some benefits of dreams include:
- Helping you learn: Dreams allow your brain to make sense of new information that has been learned.
- Being therapeutic to a person: dreams can help a person heal real-life emotions through dreams.
- Helping you overcome your fear: lucid dreaming can allow you to practice facing and overcoming what you are afraid to do in real life.
If you or someone you know needs help regarding sleep and dreams, please contact our psychotherapy offices in New York or New Jersey to talk to one of our licensed professional psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, or psychotherapists at Arista Counseling & Psychotherapy. Contact our Paramus, NJ or Manhattan, NY offices respectively, at (201) 368-3700 or (212) 722-1920 to set up an appointment. For more information, please visit http://www.counselingpsychotherapynjny.com/.
https://psychcentral.com/blog/brain-and-mental-health-benefits-of-dreaming#2
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