Are Vivid Dreams a Symptom of Menopause?

Yep, they're a thing. So buckle up, buttercup, before you close your eyes tonight.

by Amanda Weber | Aug 4, 2022 | Mindset

Wild ride: You might experience some vivid dreams during menopause.

If you haven’t been sleeping as well as you used to, and you’re waking up more often because of over-the-top dreams, it might be comforting to know that menopause and vivid dreams go hand in hand.

From as early as your late 30s your body can move into the perimenopausal state, experiencing shifting levels of the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone. These fluctuations can cause dozens of symptoms such as hot flashes and mood swings, weight gain and dry skin. But you might also experience something that isn’t found in most menopause literature: the increasing occurrence of over-the-top dreams.

These vivid dreams can be the high-energy kind where you’re running, dancing, or even jumping out of a plane like the star of your own action flick. They can be super vivid, allowing you to observe small details of a room or the people in it. The dreams can be erratic, cutting from scene to scene, or blending faces, places and scenarios from seemingly different parts of your life into a zany nighttime mélange. (If you’ve ever watched David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, you get the picture.) These dreams can be exciting, anxiety-provoking, erotic, disturbing or scary. The not-so-fun ones can cause nightmares, night terrors, or even sleep paralysis, which is your body’s way of preventing you from acting out what you’re experiencing in your dream.

These dreams can have you waking up in a cold sweat, clutching your chest, or thinking, “What the f— just happened?!”

Over the past year I’ve awakened a few times during a vivid dream. One memorable one had me climbing an endless flight of stairs, passing people and places I’d known along the way, then running a marathon. In another dream, I found myself touring my childhood home while taking in Technicolor details like the wallpaper in the living room, the tchotchkes on the coffee table, and food on the kitchen table. It felt like that scene in Titanic when old-lady Rose revisited the ship the way it was before it sank, taking Leo’s hand and ascending the majestic staircase where all the details came to life. (OK, Rose was dying, not dreaming, but you get the point.) Toward the end of my dream I bumped into a healthy, younger version of my mother and clung to her, sobbing and telling her I loved her. I woke up crying, covered in sweat, and exhausted.

If you’ve ever had a dream like this, chances are you woke up tired too, as if you’d actually climbed that mountain, jumped out of that plane, or had an emotional reunion with someone from your past. After my marathon dream, it felt like I’d burned 400 calories, even though I’d never left my bed. After that dream about my childhood home and mom, I felt sad and nostalgic for hours.

Why Do Vivid Dreams and Menopause Go Hand in Hand?

Scientists have various theories about why we dream. Some think that dreams are a way for our brains to declutter or process information, helping us to solve problems in our life. Others believe dreams can reveal our subconscious thoughts and feelings.

During the course of one night, we go through four to six 90-minute sleep cycles, each of which has four stages. While dreams can happen at any time during sleep, the most vivid ones tend to occur during the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) phase, when our brains are most active. Lucid dreaming is a brain state between REM sleep and being awake, and it comes with a boost of activity in parts of the brain that are restful during sleep.

One reason you may be suddenly recalling your dreams is that you’re waking up more frequently throughout the night, sometimes at points in the sleep cycle in which you wouldn’t naturally awaken. If you wake up while in the full throes of an REM dream, you’re more likely to remember it in vivid detail.

There are many reasons you might be experiencing interrupted sleep, including sleep apnea, alcohol consumption and some medications. But at this life stage, two significant disruptors commonly come into play: hormones and stress.

While stress can happen any time during your life, it may suddenly hit hard in midlife. This is a time when you might be dealing with a lot: teenagers, aging parents, career and relationship transitions, money and health issues, fears about aging and more. Chances are, you’re juggling more than your share of these stressors.

When you’re stressed, your body responds by releasing the hormones cortisol, which raises your blood sugar and blood pressure, and adrenaline, which prepares your body for fight or flight. Stress also stops the hormone melatonin from doing its job preparing you for a good night’s sleep. Without enough melatonin before bedtime, your blood pressure and brain activity may stay elevated, preventing you from falling or staying asleep.

During perimenopause and menopause, you’re also contending with shifting hormones that may cause sleep disturbances. Decreasing estrogen can cause hot flashes, night sweats and other discomforts that may affect sleep. Progesterone, which has a natural anti-anxiety element and is essential for helping you nod off, is also in decline; as levels fall, broken sleep and vivid dreams may ensue.

Of course, all of this can spur a vicious cycle. Sleep deprivation can increase insulin resistance, which in turn spikes blood sugar levels, shifting your body into a lighter sleep during the night. Combined with our anxieties, dreams can also evolve into nightmares, which can raise your heartbeat, increase adrenaline, and even trigger a night sweat. In addition, a bad night’s sleep can leave you feeling sluggish, anxious or emotional the next day, leading to more bad sleep.

Looking back, I realize that my dream about my childhood home was likely triggered by the recent real-life trauma of my mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis and the sale of our childhood home. And the one about running up those stairs? Probably related to work stress. I’m sure the hormone fluctuations I’ve been experiencing lately also played a role. (If you want to dive into interpreting your dreams, this is a great book.)

Dreamweaver, Get Me Through the Night!

It’s perfectly normal to experience more vivid dreams and nightmares during perimenopause and beyond. If you feel you’re getting enough sleep and your dreams are more interesting or thrilling than anxiety-provoking, just enjoy them. Heck, you may even want to keep a journal next to your bed to jot down details from your evening escapades. As a writer, I can think of no better source of inspiration!

However, if your dreams are scary or disturbing, or if they’re causing daytime anxiety, mood disturbances or problems concentrating, you probably want to get them under control. Here are some things you can do to get better sleep and avoid bad dreams:

Avoid alcohol and caffeine before bedtime. Both can stress your nervous system and interrupt sleep.
Don’t eat too late. Filling your stomach right before bedtime puts a lot of pressure on your digestive system, which can keep you up at night. Eat dinner early, or consume a light meal if you must dine late.
Don’t exercise before bed. Regular exercise is essential to good sleep, but running on the treadmill an hour before bedtime is counterproductive. Spiked cortisol is a recipe for a sleepless night.
Turn down the heat. Keeping the temperature in your bedroom around 68 degree or less promotes better sleep, especially if you suffer from hot flashes and night sweats.
Ban personal devices from the bedroom. Blue light emitted from phone and computer screens has been proven to lower the production of melatonin in the body, meaning you’ll have a harder time nodding off and staying asleep. If possible, stop using these devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime.
Set the mood. Having a bedtime ritual is a great way to ease into a good night’s sleep. Put on some comforting background music, take a bath, or spray lavender oil on your pillow. You can read a few pages of your favorite book, but skip the thrillers, which can amp up your nervous system.
Get in a good head space. If you’re still feeling anxious, meditate or do some deep breathing to help yourself relax. You can also try some of these additional methods. However, if you’re having frequent nightmares or think you’re suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, see a doctor.
Try supplements. Consider supplements such as magnesium, which can help you calm down and sleep longer; melatonin, which can regulate sleep patterns, or Vitamin D, which may boost melatonin production. Some women swear by over-the-counter magnesium oil body spray or fruit-flavored gummies.
Talk to your doctor about HRT. In some cases, hormone replacement therapy can help to balance your hormones and reduce symptoms that are interfering with your sleep.