This morning I woke up late. As I scrambled to get dressed I remember thinking it was going to be a bad day. I barely remember the drive to school and time felt like it was going too fast. I got to school and for a while, I couldn't remember where my class was located. I ran down halls and up and down stairs and finally got to my class. I sat down at my desk, out of breath with my heart pounding so loud it felt like the whole class could hear it. I looked around and realized I had never been in this class once this whole semester, and as the instructor handed out the final tests, I panicked. I would for sure fail. Then I remembered, I graduated college six years ago! I sat at my desk and kept telling myself "wake up, Joanna, wake up!" And then, I woke up.

It sounds silly but that nightmare felt way too real. It also felt scarier than it sounds. I have that nightmare at least once a month, but this time, it felt so real, I could have sworn that I was really in that classroom. Lately, my dreams have been too vivid and I've had nightmares more often than usual. I know I'm not alone, according to TIME, lots of people have been having weird, vivid and specific dreams and nightmares as well.

Did anyone have "nightmares" for quarantine bingo? A professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School confirms that these vivid dreams people are having has increased as the virus became prominent in our lives. Studies show that events like this have a way of disrupting our lives and our dreams, just like a study showed that people experienced something similar after 9/11.

Because so much is still unknown about dreams, scientists don't have a theory as to why we're having vivid dreams and nightmares lately. One thing they do agree on is that the pandemic has led to an increase in anxiety and stress for tons of people, and they can confirm that stress and anxiety can have a negative effect on your dreams. With our lives disrupted, and some our sleep schedules out of wack, it's not wonder why our dreams are so freaky lately! So if your dreams are freaking you out, you're not alone.

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Here are some tips for self-care during the pandemic:

 

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