14 DAY TRIAL // University of Montreal investigators have recently released new data on the influence that nightmares, bad dreams and other types of disturbed sleep have on human psychology. The research was based on a collection of nearly 10,000 dream narratives, including 253 nightmare and 431 bad dreams.
One of the most interesting findings in the new study is that nightmares appear to have a deeper, more significant psychological impact than bad dreams, even though fear was determined to play only a marginal role in this. Usually, nightmares are more severe on the brain because more fear is involved, but the team found that the absence of fear still led to the same conclusion.
Statistically, around 33 percent of nightmares do not have a fear component; and the feeling is entirely absent from bad dreams. According to the study, both types of negative dreams most often lead to feelings such as disgust, confusion, sadness and guilt, PsychCentral reports.
“Physical aggression is the most frequently reported theme in nightmares. Moreover, nightmares become so intense they will wake you up. Bad dreams, on the other hand, are especially haunted by interpersonal conflicts,” explain psychology researchers Geneviève Robert and Dr. Antonio Zadra, the leaders of the new study. Details of the work appear in the latest issue of the journal Sleep.