If You Have Frequent Nightmares, Don't Worry, It Will All Be Over Soon
Newser – Nightmares may do more than disrupt your sleep—they could be linked to a higher risk of early death, according to new research connecting frequent bad dreams with accelerated cellular aging. Researchers from Imperial College London tracked over 183,000 adults and 2,400 children for up to 19 years, asking how often they experienced bad dreams, per the Times of London. Adults with weekly nightmares had a threefold risk of dying before age 70 compared to those with fewer nightmares, according to findings presented Monday at the European Academy of Neurology Congress in Helsinki.
Those who reported weekly nightmares were found to have shorter telomeres—structures at the end of chromosomes tied to the aging process. Shorter telomeres are associated with faster cellular aging. The study's lead author, Abidemi Otaiku, noted that even in children, frequent nightmares correlated with shorter telomeres. He suggested that the stress response triggered by nightmares, similar to the fight-or-flight response during the day, may contribute to faster aging. The release of stress hormones like cortisol and disrupted sleep could also be factors, though nightmares could also be a symptom of other underlying conditions or side effects of medication, per New Scientist. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
Right before I turned 30, my dreams got real terrifying all of the sudden. Started out with a stretch night terrors that'd have me wake up hollering in the middle of the night. It was right when I had started staying over at my then girlfriend, now fiancee's apartment. At the time I took it as a positive sign, because if she was willing to deal with a relatively random dude sleep shouting her awake a few times a week, that must mean we're a decent match. In hindsight I suppose that could have been a message from God that I needed to run as far away from the relationship as humanly possible. Jury is still out on that one I guess.
But after a long string of night terrors, that's when I started getting the sleep paralysis dreams. My sleep paralysis demon was never that classic dark skinny figure who sits on your chest as your lay there seemingly wide awake and paralyzed. The one that people across the world all mysteriously describe in the exact same way.
Shutterstock Images.The only real specific sleep paralysis demon I can remember was on old black woman who sat on a rocking chair next to my bed. She looked the way Harriet Tubman was drawn in my high school textbooks. I'm pretty sure sleep paralysis demon was Harriet Tubman. She was knitting a scarf and calling me "chile". But she was super nice about her haunting. She kept assuring me that everything was going to be ok. It took a good 30 seconds of being comforted by Underground Railroad abolitionist Harriet Tubman before I was finally able to shake myself awake.
Photos.com. Getty Images.But then all of the sudden, soon after I moved to New York, the dreams stopped. I haven't caught a fright like that in a good three years or so. It was real spooky stuff though. Based on this article, I'm afraid Harriet Tubman shaved years off my life. Thank god she decided to move on before she had completely siphoned all of my telomeres. Looking back, that was probably around the time she was promised to get her face on the $20, so maybe she got distracted by that. Or maybe she saw the black square I posted on my LinkedIn back in 2020 and decided to spare me. Either way, I can hardly remember the last time I had anything more than your run-of-the-mill, "the world is ending I'm not wearing any pants and I can't find my dog" type of nightmare.
Apologies for the personal recounting of my dreams. I know there's nothing worse than someone who wants to tell you a long-winded dream story. I mean, what you even supposed to do with that information? Usually when someone is telling me a dream story, it's because I was prominently featured in it. I can never tell if they're trying to hold me accountable for my dream actions, if they're looking for an apology, or are somehow expecting me to provide a satisfying explanation for why dream John would have ditched them for the hot stranger at the bar on the moon. I don't fucking know. Were you nagging me? Did the hot moon girl have rockin' cans? It was probably one of those.
Anyways, it's nice to know when you wake up from a terrifying nightmare that it wasn't all for nothing. It simply means you're not long for this world. I'll be sure to tell that to my future children when they wake me up in the middle of the night from a scary dream. "Don't worry pal, Mr. Jerry can't hurt you. But the more you have these dreams, the more likely you are to die for other reasons." Come to think of it, that's probably a pretty awesome way to make sure your child stops waking you up in the middle of the night. Guarantee John Jr. stops interrupting my sleep if every time he does so he's reminded of his own mortality.
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While I'm on the subject of nightmares, I also read a story (i.e. saw a tweet) claiming that eating cheese actually increases your chances of having them.
Dexerto – A new study has confirmed the theory that eating cheese before sleep could increase the chances of having nightmares.
Published in Frontiers in Psychology, the research surveyed over 1,000 participants to explore how different foods, food sensitivities, and sleep quality relate to dream content.
The findings showed that dairy products, including cheese, were associated with a higher likelihood of disturbing dreams. Approximately 25 percent of participants who reported food-related dreams identified dairy consumption as a possible cause.
By the transitive property, that means eating cheese increases your chances of dying young. Which I guess makes sense. If you're smothering every meal you eat in blue cheese and queso, eventually your body is going to give up. But apparently studies show that en route to dying of high cholesterol, you will also face an onslaught of bad dreams where all of the sudden you're back in college and remember that you haven't attended a class in weeks, you're about to get straight F's, and all of your teeth are falling out.
Just something to think about for all the frequent nightmare havers out there. It may be time to re-think your finances. Maybe it's time to think about eating that tax penalty and withdrawing your 401k a little early. You can't take it with you when you die young.