[PsychNitrous]

My boyfriend brought up an interesting thought this morning, and I wondered what others thought. I've been having nightmares that are mostly related to anxiety. I'm usually anywhere from having panic attacks to being absolutely terrified in my dreams, so it's all related to anxiety. My boyfriend's idea was that maybe my nightmares are related to my anxiety being high. But since I'm asleep, there's nowhere for my anxiety to go, so it plays out in my dreams. Has anyone ever talked about this or considered it? What do you think?

[marvin_pa]

Anxiety will tend to find it's way into your dreams, especially once you get concerns about it. I find that if I listen to self help recordings, or chilled music while drifting off, this tends to reduce the likelihood of anxieties coming up in my dreams.

[mote.of.soul]

Yes. As someone prone to nightmares and sleep paralysis and also as someone who has an anxiety disorder, I've wondered if there was a possible link as well. And after giving it a lot of thought over the years, I believe, yes, they're related in the same way as your boyfriend thought.

Sometimes after a day of anxiety triggers I will also have a nightmare or an outburst in my sleep. Or if I allow myself to overheat, become too hot in my sleep, causing discomfort and more anxiety, it will inevitably trigger a sleep paralysis episode. So that's a bit of evidence, to me, that tells me there is a link.