Have you ever woken up shaking and convinced that a dream was real?
The false logic and strange images that appear in dreams can be disconcerting, but when they feel real it can be truly terrifying. But one of the hallmarks of pregnancy seems to be the onset of dreams that are intense and unnerving, with many women reporting greater recall of dreams during pregnancy.
I still vividly remember a dream where I was in labour and my teeth fell out, and many women I have scanned have reported bizarre dreams such as giving birth to a litter of puppies, or nightmares about labour and delivery.
Studies have found that pregnant women reported more nightmares and more intense dreams than non-pregnant women, and that women in the third trimester of their pregnancies described more frequent nightmares during that stage than during the earlier trimesters.
What is it about pregnancy that causes troubled dreaming?
Daytime fatigue is thought to play a part in the increase in dreams during pregnancy, with more opportunities for dreaming if expectant mothers take a nap during the day.
At night, an uptick in vivid dreams is likely to be all to do with disturbed sleep. Even in the earliest stage of pregnancy, just getting up to use the bathroom more frequently will interrupt a dream-filled cycle. Later on in pregnancy, you might have leg cramps, backache, find it difficult to find a comfortable sleeping position or simply be woken by the baby’s movements.
Why do we dream?
The human sleep cycle has five stages, one of which — rapid eye movement, or REM — makes up about 25 percent of sleeping and is the stage when most dreaming occurs.
When you fall asleep, you enter the first REM stage after about 70 to 90 minutes, and REM sleep occurs several times during the night as your sleep cycle repeats.
When you dream, your brain is actively sorting through recent experiences and emotions, and dreaming is thought to play a role in memory consolidation and processing new information.
What happens when sleep is disturbed?
But if your sleep cycle is broken and you wake up during a REM stage, you would be more likely to vividly recall what you are dreaming. Pregnant women often experience disturbed sleep at different pregnancy stages.
An increase in progesterone levels in the first trimester can trigger insomnia. This usually improves at approximately 12 to 16 weeks into the pregnancy, but the onset of the third trimester, which begins at 28 weeks, brings increasing physical discomfort that can disrupt night-time rest. Research has raised the possibility that higher levels of progesterone in late pregnancy could be associated with altered sleep patterns.
Quality of sleep is reduced as the third trimester progresses, when finding a comfortable sleeping position is more difficult, and you are more likely to snore. You might have heartburn when lying down. Restless legs is a disorder that causes an intense urge to move the legs, can also manifest during pregnancy and interrupt much-needed sleep. Frequent sleep disruption increases the likelihood of waking up during the REM stage of the sleep cycle, which makes dreams seem more immediate, intense and memorable.
The likelihood of remembering dreams is increased with lower sleep quality, shorter sleep duration and more interruptions during sleep.
Pregnant women also report more frequent nightmares, many of which have to do with childbirth or danger to the baby.
Pregnancy, particularly the third trimester, is a period of increased stress perhaps increased daytime worry for pregnant women could explain why nightmares are more frequent during pregnancy.
What can I do to help get a better night’s sleep?
Improving the quality of sleep may help to reduce the number of vivid dreams, so try to follow a regular and calm night-time regime, avoiding liquids a few hours before bedtime, not using your phone or other blue-light emitting screens when in bed and trying to sleep on your left side. Being physically active during the day is also a good idea which may help to minimise disruptions to your sleep.
Should I worry about pregnancy dreams?
Jotting down your pregnancy dreams in a journal is a great idea to reflect your emotional state and the rollercoaster on which you are riding.
Dreams are often based on things people might worry about on a day-to-day basis. A lot of the daytime fears tend to reveal themselves at night in a dream. Your subconscious mind is working through your anxieties, fears and hopes surrounding birth and your transition into motherhood. Dreams are simply giving you the opportunity to process, reflect and prepare for being a Mum.
Always seek support if you have feelings that you cannot cope or need help working through.