WASHINGTON — It鈥檚 hard to get a good night鈥檚 sleep and wake up refreshed when you’re plagued by nightmares. But don’t blame what you ate last night for those bad dreams: The answer may lie in your state of mind.
Researchers in Finland say people with聽depression or insomnia appear to be at high risk for frequent nightmares.
They crunched data on聽13,922 Finnish聽adults between the ages of 25 and 74 who took part in two national surveys and detected聽a clear connection between mood and sleep disorders and constant bad dreams.
Reporting in the journal , the researchers emphasize that they’re not sure whether the nightmares cause depression, or the other way around. But they say the results of their study are significant, and raise all sorts of possibilities for treatment.
The says nightmares tend to focus on imminent physical danger or other distressing themes and often evoke emotions of anxiety, fear or terror.
