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July 29, 2016
Q. Why are our “bad” dreams considered to be “good” for us at times?
A. Once classified as a mental disorder, nightmares are now generally regarded as “any intense negative dream that awakens the dreamer and is vividly recalled on awakening,” most often characterized by fear or anger, says sleep and dream researcher Michelle Carr in New Scientist magazine. Now research is showing a possible upside to nightmares. In one of Carr's studies, 14 volunteers (with at least two nightmares a week) “got paid to nap,” and though none had a nightmare, all recalled a dream. Actually, “it turns out that people who have a lot of nightmares also have an unusually high number of good dreams,” including social dreams that “enhance feelings of closeness in the real world” and enable them to feel what others are feeling — essential in developing relationships.
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