Why You Can Trust CNET Heat Is the Source of Your Anxiety Dreams. Here's How to Beat Them
If you’ve been having strange dreams lately, here’s your free pass to blame them on the heat.
- Certified Sleep Science Coach, Certified Stress Management Coach
Everyone can relate to the feelings of sticky sheets or sweat glistening across your forehead as you try to sleep somewhere that's far too hot. You simply can't sleep well when your environment is too warm.
The record-breaking high temperatures we've been experiencing the past few weeks can make it harder to fall asleep, as well as interrupt the sleep you can manage. That's because our internal body temperature plays a significant role in our sleep cycles. It drops a few degrees to help us sleep and naturally rises when it's time to wake up. If your body temperature increases prematurely, you'll wake up.
There's another, lesser-known way that heat can interfere with your sleep. This may be surprising for those who haven't had strange dreams lately. Heat can cause your anxiety dreams to spike. Here's what you need to know.
What are anxiety dreams?
Dreams are an area that's being actively researched and expanded on. There's still a lot we don't know about why and how we do it. We know most dreaming primarily occurs during the REM cycle when the brain is the most active. We do dream in other stages, though not as often.
We forget most of the dreams we have each night. The ones that stick with us can range from truly bizarre to completely mundane. According to a review published in Sage Publications, around 65% of dreams are directly related to our waking life experiences. Understandably, the anxiety we have can bleed through to our dreams.
Anxiety dreams are any dream or nightmare that causes us stress or leaves us feeling anxious. The things we don't resolve in waking life can follow us while we sleep. Stress dreams are another way our brains are trying to process worry. These dreams can happen after significant life changes but can also be a byproduct of everyday stress.
The most common themes for anxiety dreams are your teeth falling out, being naked in public and being chased. My classic anxiety dream is finding out I've been enrolled in a math class I've never attended. Anxiety dreams are unpleasant and can leave you reeling for the rest of the day.
How can heat cause anxiety dreams?
Heat and sleep don't mix. If your environment is too hot while you're trying to sleep, your body can't progress through the sleep cycles, which depend on the body's temperature. This results in fragmented sleep. So even if you sleep for eight hours, you won't feel rested because you woke up several times at night.
Heat also affects how you dream. It does this in two main ways: releasing hormones and making dreams more vivid.
Most people assume that anxiety dreams come from stress in our life. While that's largely true, new evidence suggests that external factors like temperature matter too. Heat can make your body think you're anxious, even if you aren't.
It's all physiological. First, your heart rate and blood pressure increase. Then the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the brain is activated, which is responsible for the body's stress response of releasing cortisol. In extreme heat, your body responds as it would if you're anxious. That influences the dreams you have.
The second way that heat changes your dreams is by making them more intense. When it's hot, you're more likely to end up at the end of a REM cycle, which is when dreams are the most vivid. So you remember them, rather than completing the sleep cycle and forgetting them as usual.
4 ways to keep the heat from impacting your dreams
Sleeping in a room that's too hot, or living through record-breaking temperatures can cause vivid and sometimes distressing dreams. Try using these four simple techniques to quiet your anxiety and get some sleep.
1. Keep a worry journal
Heat makes anxiety symptoms more severe. Addressing your worries in a journal is one way to reduce your chances of having stressful dreams. Some people find it helpful to write down what's bothering them at night to work through it. We're never going to be free of worry. However, this is a constructive way to use your time to acknowledge what you're feeling and spitball solutions.
2. Try to wind down before bed
Having a nightly relaxation routine is essential on normal nights. When it's hot, it's even more critical to get to sleep at night. You should incorporate relaxing activities into the hours leading up to bed. That way, your body starts to wind down enough to fall asleep. This will look different for everyone. Some may choose to take a cool shower or read. Others may use breathing exercises or yoga to drop their heart rate and boost relaxation.
Read more: How to Create the Perfect Environment for Better Sleep
3. Set the right temperature
In the heat, it's particularly important to make sure your bedroom is at the right temperature for sleep. As we're about to fall asleep, our body temperature drops. It then increases when it's time to wake up. It's not a large temperature change, only a couple of degrees. It's a delicate shift; if interrupted, you compromise your sleep.
Experts say the ideal temperature is around 65 degrees Fahrenheit, though you have wiggle room depending on the type of bedding you use and your fan setup. You just want to be as close to that temperature as you can.
If you don't have air conditioning, you can get creative by freezing your bedding. Or strategically placing fans at night. Add a bowl of ice in front of the fan for extra chill.
Read more: Try These 12 Genius Hacks to Sleep Cooler
4. Invest in cooling products
If you're looking to take your sleeping experience to the next level, you may want to consider cooling bedding products. Nearly every area of bedding is available in cooling form. We're talking about everything from beds, toppers, pillows and even sheets.
One word of caution on cooling products: not all of them actually cool you. Most brands use cooling as part of their marketing strategy when their products are temperature neutral. Meaning they may keep you from overheating, but they don't actively cool you. There is merit in products that keep heat from collecting, but it's not the same as cooling. Ghostbed Luxe, Cocoon Chill and Brooklyn Bedding Aurora are cool-to-the-touch mattresses.
The heat may increase the chances of anxiety dreams, but there are things you can do about it.