Can Video Games Cause Nightmares?

Can Video Games Cause Nightmares? (Helpful Content!)

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Video games have been shown to influence our dreaming minds in some ways. Video games may lead to nightmares in a number of specific scenarios, especially in children. They are highly stimulating and this can lead to increased brain activity at night, which in turn can cause nightmares. So, the relationship is largely indirect.

 

The simple answer to the question is yes, they can, but in specifics, it is a lot more complex than that.

Video games can cause nightmares in the same way that any excessive stimulation can, especially if you play them a lot and late at night.

Let’s find out more.

Can Video Games Cause Nightmares?

 

Do video games give you nightmares?

Video games do not give you nightmares in all cases, of course, but there are naturally many ways in which they might.

I’ll get into the broader question of how nightmares are triggered shortly, so for now, let’s look at exactly how and why video games might cause these effects.

Perhaps the biggest factor in relating nightmares to video games is their stimulating effects.

Perhaps more so than other activities like reading or watching TV, video games keep you highly engaged.

Your mind remains stimulated and, if you want to play the game “properly,” your attention isn’t going to be able to drift all that much.

This kind of stimulation can definitely carry over into your sleep, and you’ll find that your mind is simply more active.

You may even have more trouble getting to sleep in the first place, which will lead to higher memory retention of dreams.

The question of nightmares is somewhat different, though, as nightmares are quite often related to a specific fear or anxiety in your waking life.

But video games can equally stimulate these nightmares as well as more general dreams.

Because of their stimulating and attention-grabbing nature, video games can also keep people engaged for many hours at a time.

This singular focus can of course lead to increased dreams, and depending on the kind of game, it could cause nightmares.

Playing video games for very long hours, finally, can be the thing that really influences our dreams.

Our mind is so singularly focused on the activity, and for so long, that the effects easily carry over into our dreams.

Again, whether this will cause vivid dreams or outright nightmares is a question reliant on even more factors.

What, then, tends to trigger nightmares?

 

What are nightmares triggered by?

Nightmares specifically are usually triggered by some kind of external, waking anxiety we have in our ordinary lives.

Different triggers can work for different people, and what might cause nightmares for one person may have no effect at all on another.

The broader point is, though, that nightmares are usually not something that happens out of a void.

They can, of course, but this is usually not the case.

But at the same time, we all have some form of waking anxiety and yet we don’t all suffer from nightmares, so the question is a bit more complex still.

Sleeping involves a number of different cycles each night.

The deepest cycle of all is called REM sleep, and this is where the vast majority of dreaming takes place.

How deeply and soundly we sleep is the biggest factor influencing our dreams.

As you may know, we do dream most nights, it’s just a question of how well we remember them.

The more aware we are during REM sleep, the more we will feel we have dreamt.

So, nightmares are triggered by anxiety, but we will be more aware of them if our sleep is more restless.

Equally, they can be more intense if our sleep is deeper.

 

Can playing video games cause sleep problems?

Playing horror video games and scary games can certainly lead to sleep problems in certain people.

It is a question of the person specifically, though.

Naturally, the people most likely to be affected in this way are children.

There’s a fascination which can keep children playing scary video games despite being very scared, which can then lead to sleep problems.

For very young children, it’s important to monitor them playing scary games if you are going to allow it.

Many children may have no issue with it at all. Excessive gore and violence in video games alone can be enough to cause minor trauma in children.

 

Can scary games cause nightmares?

The simple answer is that scary games can cause nightmares.

If the game really affects you deeply then whether you are an adult or a child, it can lead to nightmares.

Seeing things in games can have just as deep an impact on impressionable people as can seeing it in real life.

Again, though, it really all depends on the person, the game, how much you play it, and when you play it.

Don’t push yourself too far, and don’t let a child play beyond the point that they have really scared themselves.

If it causes nightmares, avoid it in future until they are old enough.

 

So, again, the simple answer is that video games do have a direct relationship to nightmares.

However, on the other hand, there are many other factors at play which need to be considered.

The age of the person playing, the kind of game they are playing, the frequency with which they play, and perhaps most importantly the time of day that they play.

When video game consumption is well-regulated, nightmares should not be a problem.

 

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