{"id":252510,"date":"2025-10-31T14:55:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T14:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/252510\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T14:55:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T14:55:09","slug":"why-some-love-horror-and-others-have-nightmares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/252510\/","title":{"rendered":"Why some love horror and others have nightmares"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Do you love to scream<\/a> at Halloween? Or are you, like me, a certified scaredy-cat<\/a> who avoids haunted houses and scary movies because my sleep depends on it?\n <\/p>\n

\n How you react to terror may lie in how you engage the world, according to Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center<\/a> in Newport Beach, California, which conducts research to promote the use of media for positive social change.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cSensation-seeking individuals often enjoy horror because it provides safe thrills and novelty,\u201d Rutledge said in an email. She is also a professor emerita of media psychology at Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California, who authored \u201cExploring Positive Psychology<\/a>: The Science of Happiness and Well-Being.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cEmpathetic people tend to absorb the feelings, so they are likely feeling emotional distress on the part of the characters,\u201d Rutledge added. \u201cThis is somewhat different from someone who is anxiety prone who will react to the stress more than the emotion of fear or angst. Both are unpleasant.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Such distress can affect your sleep \u2014 even to the point of nightmares, said sleep specialist Jennifer Mundt, a clinical associate professor of family and preventive medicine at the University of Utah\u2019s Sleep Wake Center.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cOur brains process emotions and memories when we\u2019re dreaming,\u201d Mundt said. \u201cIf you\u2019ve had crazy, scary images in your brain that day, it\u2019s going to try to process those while you sleep. While that doesn\u2019t necessarily lead to a nightmare, it definitely can.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s not just movies \u2014 listening to scary tales, reading disturbing books or visiting haunted houses at Halloween can impact sleep, experts say, especially in people who have been traumatized or who have vivid imaginations.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhen they\u2019re reading a story or hearing a story, they really vividly picture it in their mind,\u201d Mundt said. \u201cEven if they know it was just a story or haunted house, it\u2019s still very intense.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Scary events can also exacerbate parasomnias<\/a> \u2014 abnormal sleep behaviors such as sleep walking, sleep talking<\/a>, night terrors, sleep paralysis or sleep-related hallucinations<\/a>, she said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cParasomnias tend to be exacerbated by stress,\u201d Mundt said. \u201cA good scare is probably not going to cause a parasomnia in those who\u2019ve never experienced one. If you have experienced one and went to a haunted house or watched a scary movie, it might trigger an episode.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The first time I saw \u201cThe Exorcist,\u201d the pea-spitting soup scene<\/a> made me laugh. The shower scene<\/a> in Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s \u201cPsycho,\u201d however, haunted my teenage sleep so vividly that I left my lights on (and a rock just inside my bedroom door) for three consecutive nights.\n <\/p>\n

\n What was it about \u201cPsycho\u201d that made it more intense for me?\n <\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

\n \u201cSurprise,\u201d said Michael Grabowski, a professor in the department of communication, sound, and media arts at Manhattan University in Riverdale, New York, who studies neurocinematics \u2014 the study of how watching movie scenes affects the brain.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHorror movies function as much on surprise as they do on fear,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018Aliens<\/a>\u2019 is a great example of a movie that sneaks up on you \u2014 you go in expecting a sci-fi movie, and then you\u2019re hit with the alien ripping the stomach open and the creature\u2019s drool falling down like rain.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n When you\u2019re surprised with a jump scare, Grabowski added, you tend to stay on guard looking for danger \u2014 and the ability to be vigilant, of course, requires you to be awake.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn order to fall asleep, you want to feel like you\u2019re in a safe spot so that you can put your defenses down and go to sleep,\u201d he said. \u201cYet you might have some parts of your brain reminding you that this was great fun and a piece of entertainment, but other parts of your brain are still excited from the perceptions of fear.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n I\u2019m a person who gets intensely immersed in the characters in dramatic plots. Oddly, this investment in the show\u2019s personalities may contribute to my fear of scary scenes, Grabowski said.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s based on an ancient survival instinct psychologists call \u201cembodied simulation\u201d \u2014 while watching another person your brain instinctively simulates their behavior to predict what will happen next.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIs this person approaching me going to attack me? Are they going to help me? Scary movies really tap into our evolved ability to understand and predict the actions of other people,\u201d Grabowski said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI would argue that it\u2019s always good to embrace your inner scaredy-cat. The ability to recognize threatening situations and avoid them is a good thing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Millions of people, of course, have no issue with sleeping after a good scare \u2014 in fact, they embrace it. There are scientific reasons why.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cScary movies trigger adrenaline and cortisol which keeps your body on high alert. The resolution can feel satisfying when your parasympathetic nervous system kicks in, heart rate slows, and releasing dopamine and endorphins, creating the classic post-horror \u2018rush,\u2019\u201d Rutledge said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cExperiencing and recovering from fear may alleviate stress and strengthen coping mechanisms,\u201d she added. \u201cA scary movie can boost confidence and feelings of control because we have survived an existential threat \u2014 watching horror in groups fosters bonding and collective excitement.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"It's<\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s unlikely that horror movie fans experience sleep issues after watching the genre, but for anyone who does, experts have some tips.\n <\/p>\n

\n Try to schedule your scare: If you feel like seeing a frightening movie, try to go to a matinee earlier in the day so you\u2019ll have time for more pleasant experiences before bed.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cOr let\u2019s say you go to a haunted house and you\u2019re feeling really wound up \u2014 do something to shift your mood and feel lighter, happier and relaxed, such as watching a funny movie or exercising to get rid of that anxious energy,\u201d Mundt said. \u201cOur daytime mood can really color our dreams.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Put your thinking cap on. Use the executive decision-making parts of your brain to remind yourself you were watching a fun bit of entertainment or how much you enjoyed hanging out with friends, Grabowski said. \u201cThat can lessen the impact of the scary movie.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Create good dreams: Not only can you schedule pleasant experiences after a scare \u2014 you can also create bedtime routines that will encourage a more positive dream state.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf you\u2019re feeling anxious, frustrated or fearful when you go to sleep, your brain is going to try to make a story around that emotion and you\u2019ll have a dream where the theme is frustration and anxiety,\u201d Mundt said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWind down<\/a> doing guided relaxation, yoga, calming music, a pleasant book to get yourself into a calm, relaxed state \u2014 that\u2019s the mood which will carry into your dreams.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n You come first: Finally, if you know you don\u2019t react well to horror flicks and Halloween haunts, don\u2019t let group dynamics override your sense of self, Rutledge said. \u201cThe important thing is to recognize what makes you feel good and do more of that, and less of what doesn\u2019t.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Sign up for CNN\u2019s Sleep, But Better newsletter series<\/a>. Our seven-part guide has helpful hints to achieve better sleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Do you love to scream at Halloween? Or are you, like me, a certified scaredy-cat who avoids haunted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-252510","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}