Dreams have always been a source of great debate among people. Some people swear by them and believe they can predict the future while some are completely indifferent to them. Well the truth is that everyone dreams, even those who claim they don’t. We generally dream for two hours each night and these dreams are most vivid during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep.

There are good dreams and then there are bad dreams, or as we call them nightmares. The latter has a direct impact on the quality of our sleep. A person who sees repeated nightmares will not only find it difficult to fall back asleep again if awoken in the middle of the night but may also feel agitated and cranky in the following morning. Nightmares accompanied with sleep disorders, like sleep paralysis, can make people anxious and avoid going to sleep altogether. 

A few people are of the opinion that sleeping seven to nine hours and having a consistent sleeping schedule will lead to good dreams and hence, will improve the quality of sleep. However, no research has backed up this claim so far.

One thing that is proven is that whatever occupies our mind and whatever emotions that we feel in the day are depicted in the night, in our dreams. So for instance if you are in a stage in your life where you are content and satisfied, then you will see happy dreams. On the contrary, if you have suffered from a trauma recently then your chances of seeing nightmares increases.

A good quality of sleep does not lie in how many hours we sleep as adults who sleep for more than nine hours feel fatigued and unmotivated. A person witnesses a sleep with high quality if s/he wakes up fresh and energetic the morning ahead. While we can’t promise any procedures to increase happy dreams and reduce nightmares, but by being conscious of our emotions we can increase our quality of sleep. 

Next Article: Do We Sleep Less When We Age?