Many women report experiencing clearer and more vivid dreams during menopause but it’s generally not talked about or seen as important.

I’m in the opposite camp. I see dreams as our subconscious guiding us, letting us know what’s really concerning us but that perhaps isn’t obvious to our conscious mind.

I used to be someone who never remembered my dreams. I knew I had them, because everyone dreams at night, but I simply didn’t remember anything at all unless I was woken right in the middle of the dream.

Now it’s different. Now I have very vivid, lucid dreams and I can remember a great level of detail on waking. I’ve got into the habit of recording my dreams in an effort to understand what my subconscious is trying to tell me. It can be a powerful tool to understanding ourselves.

Why do we dream more vividly?

This phase of life often involves significant hormonal changes, particularly a decline in oestrogen levels, which can affect brain function and alter sleeping patterns.

As oestrogen levels fall, we tend to sleep more lightly. We wake more easily and often a lot quicker, and then struggle to get back to sleep. We spend more time in REM sleep which is when we dream, and less time in deep sleep because of the drops in oestrogen and progesterone.

Dreams can be more intense and meaningful, and they can cover the whole range from happy, fun dreams to nightmares and everything in between.

I find myself dreaming about the oddest things, or weird combinations that make absolutely no sense on waking. I often think it’s a ‘nonsense’ dream until I analyse it. It’s only then that I begin to understand what my subconscious is trying to tell me.

Reflection

As women going through midlife and menopause we are often more reflective at this time in our lives. We are transitioning to a new phase and wondering what this might mean for us. We tend to review our lives and consider whether this is how we want to continue going forward, and if not, we start considering what needs to change.

We are also very self aware. We’ve had quite a few decades to get to know ourselves, and as we go through the menopause transition, we tend to make more conscious choices about what is right for us as opposed to sacrificing our needs and wants for others.

This reflection and awareness, along with the lighter sleep may be leading to more vivid dreams.

Dreams are not literal

The thing to remember about dreams is that they are not literal. They are a representation of your subconscious which is using imagery to get the message across. Harnessing the information in dreams can help you to explore thoughts, emotions, and desires.

If you have had a dream that was uncomfortable or made you fearful, my advice would be to have a sense of curiosity about your dream and investigate the meaning. As I said before, it’s not literal, so dreams of death and destruction for instance, may just be an indicator that you want something to end.

Flooding my house dream

I recently had a dream about a a brand new house I’d moved into which wasn’t yet complete. In the dream, when I woke in the morning, there was flood water right up to the sill of the doors but not inside. Analysing this dream suggested that it was urging me to confront and process my emotions as I embark on a new phase in life. It was a call to acknowledge any uncertainties while also recognising that I have the strength to handle them.

It’s easy to disregard dreams as nothing, or mere nonsense, but I’ve often found the most useful information come from those dreams.

Having better dreams

Stress and anxiety are likely to provide more intense, uncomfortable dreams. There are a few things you can do to relax your mind and body before bed which may help to reduce night wakings and uncomfortable dreams.

• Avoid stimulants such as caffeine and alcohol
  These will simply jazz up your system before bedtime rather than soothing and calming it.

• Have a relaxing bedtime routine
  Again, it’s about soothing and calming the mind and body, allowing our nervous system to relax so that we get the best possible sleep and have lovely dreams. Watching horror movies in bed probably isn’t going to achieve this. Reading a gentle novel may be better. Writing gratitudes for the day just before you turn out your light will leave you remembering all the good things of the day, so will be more likely to provide you with happy dreams.

• Avoid exercising and eating late at night
  Exercising late at night increases our cortisol levels just when our melatonin is supposed to be kicking in, so instead of telling your body to go to sleep, you are effectively telling it to wake up and be active. Eating late at night puts more stress on our liver. If you are finding you are waking between 1.00-3.00 am it may be because your liver is overloaded. Drop your exercise back to the daytime and finish any meals well before 9.00 pm.

• Take magnesium
  As well as helping your body absorb calcium and a myriad of other wonderful things, magnesium helps us to calm and have a better sleep.

• Try flower essences or essential oils
  These are both wonderful ways of calming and soothing our minds. There are special blends for sleep in both the flower essences and essential oils, with lavender being a favourite for aiding in sleep.

Analysing your dreams

In the ‘olden days’ (i.e. a few years ago!) we had to rely on books and then websites to help us understand the significance of our dreams.

These days we have AI. I admit, I was quite skeptical at first, but I’m now a fan. It’s fast and amazingly accurate. My favourite AI tool for anaylsing dreams is DreamyBot.com. In just a few seconds an interesting interpretation will be provided, and if you want to answer the questions it asks at the end of the summary, you can go quite deep and get a lot of help on whatever came up.

Dream on

Personally I find dreams fascinating and full of remarkable information. I hope the above helps you discover this fascinating and often overlooked part of ourselves that can be rich in information and guidance.

I’d love to know whether you experience vivid and interesting dreams more now than you did before. Let me know in the comments below.

Happy dreams everyone.

Kàren