A new ‘repository of dreams’ is offering science a new way to understand what we dream, and why

FLEEING zombies? Falling from heights? Fearing the unknown? Researchers are investigating the stuff of nightmares — and their tips on how to survive them may surprise you.

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FLEEING from zombies? Falling from heights? Fearing the unknown? The stuff of nightmares is undergoing intense scientific scrutiny, and how to survive them may surprise you.

Everyone has them. We all fear them.

Yet fear is not what they are all about.

As our rational selves relax, many feel our minds are using our sleep to exercise our suppressed imaginations.

But recent research from the University of Montreal has been exploring which parts of our brain are active during night terrors, and recording their emotional impact. To do so, they tallied more than 10,000 dreams from 572 volunteers in this first large-scale study of the topic.

The experiences of these dreamers are now part of a “dream repository”, a database of their journal writings made available by the university for ongoing research.

It shows fear is not always the defining factor. In fact, it’s not there in one out of every three frightful sleeps.

Instead many emotions commonly force their way up from our deepest minds. These include anxiety, sadness, trepidation, confusion, guilt and disgust.

And men and women dream differently.

Fright night ... Nightmares are, by definition, when we are woken by a dream’s intense emotions. Source: ThinkStock

What is a nightmare anyway?

The word is from Old English, combining the obvious “night” with “mare” — a demon which torments people as they sleep.

Nowadays the definition is somewhat more scientific. It applies to any frightful dream which causes you to wake from your sleep. Those that simply leave lingering emotions as you awake naturally are classified as “bad dreams” — though most of us still think of them as “nightmares”.

Why they exist is still not known, says Professor Antonio Zadra, who has studied sleep disorders for 20 years. One idea is that dreams are a release valve for the pent-up pressures of daily life; another is that they reflect a disruption of the brain’s nervous system.

What we know is ‘night terrors’ start in childhood. They grow in number and intensity until they peak among young adults. After this, the older you get, the less dreams you generally have.

We also know women have more nightmares than men.

Behind closed doors ... Are your nightmares “normal”? It would seem so. Source: ThinkStock

Dare to dream?

“People who have frequent nightmares may fear falling asleep and being plunged into their worst dreams,” Professor Zadra says.

It’s understandable given the results of his study into what we see in the dark.

Physical aggression is the most frequently reported shocker. It’s among the most common subject to actually wake someone up. Intense emotional conflicts, on the other hand, are more likely to remain just a bad dream.

“Death, health concerns and threats are common themes in nightmares,” says Geneviève Robert, co-author of the study. “But it would be wrong to think that they characterise all nightmares. Sometimes, it is the feeling of a threat or an ominous atmosphere that causes the person to awaken. I’m thinking of one narrative, in which the person saw an owl on a branch and was absolutely terrified.”

Men dream of disasters such as floods, fire, earthquake and war. Fighting was twice as likely to feature in their mind’s eye than a woman’s.

Women tend to dream more of security and self-esteem, but still often feature traumatic events such as falling or being trapped.

Corridors of the mind ... Dreams involve the non-rational regions of the mind that remain awake after our logic centres switch off. Source: ThinkStock

State of mind

Nightmares generally fire up when the brain enters a relaxed state called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. It’s a state of mind in which the part of the brain responsible for processing visual information remains active as the more rational regions — the prefrontal cortex — slip into oblivion. This is why dreams tend to be very visual experiences.

But another part of the brain is also quietly ticking away: The amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex. These control things such as heart rate and blood pressure, as well as contribute towards memory, anticipation, decision-making and emotional reactions.

Thus the often frightfully visual outcome.

Most dreamers forget their dreams immediately. Others, roughly five to six per cent of the population, experience them so intensely they get woken up.

Others experience the worst kind of night terror while in deep sleep — thrashing about and screaming in fear. When they wake, they usually have no recollection of why.

Demon haunted ... Confronting the subjects of recurring nightmares provides you with a pathway out while you sleep, researchers say. Source: ThinkStock

Confront your worst nightmare

The University of Montreal researchers say the good news is that sufferers of chronic nightmares can be treated. But you have to confront your fears, and rehearse your way out of them.

“Through visualisation techniques, patients learn to change the scenario of one or more of their dreams and repeat the new scenario using a mental imagery technique,” their report says. “It can be through a lifesaving act (the dreamer confronts the attacker) or a supernatural intervention (Superman comes to the rescue). All in mid-dream!”