You find yourself walking down a street in the middle of the city, a street packed with
people walking slowly, slightly bent over, coughing, wheezing, some of them just collapsing
in a heap on the floor.
A man next to you suddenly just starts coughing up blood, and he too drops to the floor.
Someone grabs your arm and utters in a pained tone, “Heeelp meee”.
You are startled when you realise that this man is your beloved uncle, a guy who only
yesterday messaged you on Facebook and seemed totally fine.
Even more strange is you see Ben Affleck crawling on the ground with one of his hands raised
in your direction.
You know there’s nothing you can do for him.
This apocalyptic scene is straight out of a zombie movie, it’s the Return of the Living
Dead in real life…except of course it’s not real life…it’s a dream.
We started having strange nightmares a few weeks ago, quite vivid dreams that were much
worse than the usual nightmares.
At the time we thought nothing of it but then lately we’ve started noticing other people
writing on the internet that they too had started having frightening nightmares all
of a sudden.
Why is it that so many people all over the world right now are having bad dreams?
“Anyone else having really horrid vivid dreams?” asked one of our friends on Facebook.
There were lots of replies and most of the people did indeed say they had all of a sudden
started having terrible nightmares.
Here are some of the replies: “I keep dreaming about velociraptors...usually
ends up with me gouging out their eyes with a scalpel whilst shielding the kids.”
“Yep, really strange, vivid & always quite anxious dreams.”
“Mine have been weird, disturbed and irregular.”
And so on; just about everyone said they were having bad dreams.
And it wasn’t limited to just one place in the world.
Friends in the U.S., in Europe, in Asia, were all suddenly talking about having nightmares.
What’s going on?
It’s not limited to just social media either.
You may have seen news articles with titles such as:
“The pandemic is giving people vivid, unusual dreams.”
“Coronavirus is giving us bad dreams.”
“Is coronavirus stress to blame for the rise in bizarre ‘lockdown dreams’?”
“Why Am I Having Weird Dreams Lately?”
In fact, just about all of the major media outlets are talking about a new pandemic - the
pandemic of scary, bizarre, vivid, dreams.
So, first we are going to tell you why this is happening, and later we are going to attempt
to help you out if you are having nightmares or can’t sleep at all during this pandemic.
Ok, so it’s real, it’s happening, and scientists have already begun doing studies
on coronavirus pandemic dreams.
It’s complicated, though, because some people have started having really awful and scary
dreams, while other people are reporting that they are just having really weird dreams.
A recent National Geographic story described a man who said he was in a store with the
deceased former President of the United States, one Ronald Reagan.
In that dream, Reagan stole a wallet and ran out of the store.
Is that what they mean by voodoo economics?
Why are people from the past coming back in dreams right now?
Why are the dead and buried being resurrected and starring in people’s dreams?
Well, one reason might just be the fact that a lot of people are staying home.
Our dreams are often a reaction to the daily stimuli of our busy lives, but without the
stress of work and all those interactions with the people who you regularly meet, a
hole has been left.
That’s because they are isolated in their houses.
As one commentator said, because we don’t have this stimuli we are bringing things back
from the past.
That might be why Reagan and other celebrities, presidents and non presidents alike, are coming
back to life in our dreams.
Many are also reporting that the celebrities are infected with the coronavirus in their
dreams, which could be from the reams and reams of news stories and scientific literature
about the virus that lots of us are consuming.
Especially if you’ve been the type of person to normally avoid too much content about current
events, then it is easy to be overwhelmed with news…news that can look like a horror
movie at times.
It can quickly evoke reactions like, “Aghhh, we are all gonna die!”
That’s because the news tends to focus on the most salacious stories and the worst case
scenarios.
The media doesn’t often report on people sitting at home watching Netflix who have
mild or no symptoms.
We are not condoning switching off the news altogether and ignoring the updates, but a
person has to be careful not to get too stressed by overwhelming their brains with too much
frightening information.
You must also remember that stress hormones, the things that fire during what we call “Fight
or Flight” mode, shouldn’t be firing 24/7.
You need a break at times to keep your body as healthy as possible.
That’s because ongoing stress is bad for your body and it actually weakens your immune
system…
Do you really want to have a weakened immune system and become infected because you spent
all day in front of the TV watching 24 hour news networks?
Change it up and read a book, meditate, exercise, or watch some comedy.
On the other end of the spectrum many people are saying that they are not getting much
sleep at all.
They are not getting those good deep sleeps and having those REM moments.
It is during REM sleep that we dream, and dreams, even bad ones, are a way to fight
off stress.
All that saved up emotional stress can be calmed in your sleep.
While much of your brain kind of turns off during sleep, a part of the brain called the
Limbic System is very active during the dreaming stage of sleep.
It’s like fireworks are going off in there.
This part of the brain, in very simple terms, deals with emotions and memory.
Dreaming is kind of like letting it all out, and the Limbic System is calming you down
during sleep…even if those dreams are nightmares.
Another thing is, a lot of people don’t remember their dreams because they don’t
wake up during REM sleep.
But, this has changed for a lot of people, because they are losing sleep because of the
stress of the virus.
They keep up throughout the night and so are remembering more dreams than usual.
A Study led by the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center said 35 percent of people it interviewed
reported remembering more dreams, and 15 percent said their nightmares had increased.
The Italian Association of Sleep Medicine also did a recent study on dreams, and concluded
that locked down people were having frightening nightmares and some people were showing symptoms
of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Think about it.
Some people are stressed from not having a job, but others are stressed because the news
all day is saying, ‘DEATH, DEATH, DEATH.”
We are also locked down, which feels kind of spooky.
Lately there have been memes about living inside a Black Mirror episode.
Even if we are not holed up in our rooms all day, when we do go out it's like living in
a dystopian world.
It really is Black Mirror-esque when everyone you see is wearing a mask and people are jumping
out of the way if you get too close to them.
Every surface we touch becomes a worry to us, which freaks us out for sure.
It’s utterly frightening for some more sensitive people, so it’s not surprising that our
minds are in a state of crisis.
A study at Harvard University undertaken in March said some American people were constantly
dreaming that they were getting very sick or dying from the virus in their dreams, but
others were dreaming of things that might be symbolic with death.
Those things might be zombies, or giant bugs, or murders and monsters.
The velociraptors that the woman dreamed of were likely COVID-19 related.
There’s not much more we can say about why people are having these vivid or terrible
dreams at the moment, but the experts all agree.
We are living in a time of mass panic; people are stressed; and many people’s daily stimuli
is watching or reading bad news.
So, how do we help ourselves?
Well, like we said, switch off the TV for a while or take a breather from reading COVID-19
news.
Maybe just give yourself some time now and again to read what the scientists are saying,
and then leave COVID-19 alone.
You are alive.
Breathe in, breathe out.
We are going to get through this.
Pick up a book and get lost in that for a while, or watch some stand-up comedy or a
movie that has always made you laugh.
Do some of those home exercises we have talked about and eat well to strengthen your immune
system.
Another thing that helps is to write your dreams down and so maybe you can analyze them.
Don’t just lock them away.
Share your dreams, too.
There’s actually a website you can go to right now called idreamofcovid.com.
Sharing your worries and your dreams can help with stress.
Hey, why not talk about your dreams in the comments below this video.
A memory researcher that was recently interviewed said she had studied people’s dreams after
9/11.
What was quite surprising is that she found that if people watched a lot of TV post 9/11,
they tended to dream about it.
BUT, if they talked to family or friends about 9/11, then they dreamed about it less.
“I have a suspicion that it was the visual nature of the television,” the researcher
said in an interview.
So, yes, please tell people about your dreams and let the world know what you have experienced.
Since we started reading about this bad dream pandemic we’ve realized it's actually bigger
than we thought.
There are now thousands of Twitter posts with #pandemicdreams and #covidnightmares.
It’s a big deal for sure.
One person right now researching dreams and stress agrees with that.
She said in an interview, “I can’t think of another universal stressor experience like
this….Can you?”
Remember, it was just a dream, and it was likely good for you.
What happened in that dream isn’t going to happen to you, or it is very unlikely it
will.
Your dreams are pure madness because the part of your brain that does all the rational thinking,
the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, is turned off during dreaming.
Your thoughts in dreams tend to jump the shark, but remember this, your brain is just trying
to help you when you sleep.
Ok, now for some quick tips that might help you.
Exercise is key to having a healthy mind.
Exercise itself can produce positive emotions and reduce stress.
We’ve done an entire episode of the home workout, so check that out.
You should also get some fresh air.
If you have a garden, go and look at nature.
See how the birds and the bees are still going about their lives as normal.
You can also meditate, and no, you don’t need to be a Buddhist monk to do this.
Just close your eyes and be in the moment…just concentrate on your breathing.
Lose yourself in the present, and when you stop meditating don’t go straight back to
TV news showing you pictures on people hooked up to machines to help them breathe.
They are not you.
The science is confusing right now, but it’s very unlikely that this will ever be you.
If you do want to know more about the virus then read some scientific studies.
The U.S National Institutes of Health is a good place to start, or you can look at the
BMJ, the British Medical Journal.
This virus is a work in progress and it can be confounding, but why not learn something
about viruses themselves.
We should say this, though, don’t make virus reading or watching TV news the last thing
you do before you go to bed.
You should take your mind as far away from that virus as you can when it’s almost time
to sleep.
Pick up a book before bedtime, or if you are going to watch some visual content, then watch
something pleasant.
As one sleep expert put it, “It’s probably not helpful to be checking the news, reading
about how bad the situation is, and then putting your head on the pillow and trying to fall
asleep.”
You can influence your dreams by doing something relaxing and positive before bedtime.
If you are stuck at home and have nothing to do, see how you might earn money online.
If you don’t need to earn, then maybe get creative.
Write something down…maybe even think of an Infographics Show that you’d like to
see, something that we have never covered before and send it to us!
If we make the episode we’ll give you the credit for coming up with the idea.
Now go watch “Everything You Know About Sleep & Dreaming Is Wrong, Tips And Tricks
To Sleep and Dream Better” Or go watch, “Work From Home Jobs You Can Get Right Now.”