Too Much Sleep Can Cause Nightmares

If you have found yourself having nightmares lately, too much sleep could be the reason. It might be time to cut your sleep to under 9 hours a night.

According to Newscientist.com, sleeping for more than 9 hours could be the reason you are having scary dreams. The rapid eye movement (REM) phase is when nightmares are most likely to occur.

So, the longer you sleep, the longer you are in REM sleep. Yet, length of time spent asleep is not linked to nightmare severity.

More worrying: hallucinations and paranoia are associated with both nightmare frequency and extremity. But it may be that nightmares cause disturbed sleep, which will make pre-existing worries more severe. It's almost like a vicious circle.