Can nightmares be deadly?

Are nightmares scaring you to death? A new UK Dementia Research Institute study suggests there may be a link between recurrent bad dreams and an early demise. Are these results really what they seem or the kind of thing only nightmares are made of?

The study analyzed 18 years of data from more than 4,000 adults aged 26 to 74. Participants self-reported their nightmare frequency to create a baseline. Researchers considered premature death as anyone who passed before the age of 75.

Those who reported having weekly nightmares were three times more likely to die before the age of 75 compared to those who did not have weekly nightmares. Those who suffered nightmares also showed signs of accelerated aging, suggesting stress and sleep disruption may negatively impact cellular aging.

Dr. Alex T. Farris, a sleep medicine physician at Advocate Health Care, reassures that nightmares themselves are not dangerous.

“Dreams are based on what is already in your brain, such as memories, cognitive loops, anxieties and physical sensations that your body is feeling right at that moment,” he explains. “If you have obstructive sleep apnea and you’re having an issue with breathing in your sleep, then that physical sensation can be reflected in the content of the dream, which can be a nightmare about drowning, suffocating or choking.”

You may also be at an increased risk of nightmares if there’s generally a lot of stress in your life, either physiologically from chronic illnesses or psychologically from mood disorders.

As for the study, Dr. Farris wants to put your fears to bed by reminding you of the study’s limitations. “This study was observational. It relied on self-reporting to create the baseline to begin with. But the stress biomarkers do imply that there can be higher mortality rates when you have more nightmares; however, correlation is not causation.”

What can you do if you struggle with nightmares?

While nightmares may not directly cause death, they can increase your anxiety and strain your body, creating a negative feedback loop that may hurt your overall health.

“To stop the loop, you need to find the trigger for the nightmares,” Dr. Farris says. “It may be decreasing the amount of time you spend watching scary movies or documentaries. Or if the trigger is more of a physical or psychological stress, addressing that stressor can definitely help.”

Cognitive behavioral therapy can also be beneficial as it effectively treats everything from mood disorders to insomnia, especially when influenced by nightmares directly.

“Another treatment option is image rehearsal therapy, in which a trained medical professional will help you rehearse the themes that come up in your recurrent nightmare and try to build an alternative story. If you consistently train your brain to have a different loop, or in other words a different story, it increases the chances that the alternative story will replace the nightmare.”

If you regularly have sleep disruptions, talk with your health care provider about individualized treatment options.

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