Study: Women Have Worse Nightmares Than Men

Submitted by Dmitri Davydov on Tue, 2008-09-16 09:36.

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MIAMI (CBS) ? At a sleeping salon in New York City, Capucine Sokart and Michael Hazel were dreaming.

Michael explained his sleep was usually nightmare free. But in on one of Capucine's dreams, she said, "somebody was really sick", and she explained that she often has dreams that contain elements of fear.

Sickness, especially a loved one sick or dying is one of the most common nightmares, along with being chased or hunted, followed by being in weird new environments.

Recent evidence suggests men and women dream very differently. For instance, women are more likely to have intense nightmares, and more likely to remember their dreams. Now, a new study says it might all boil down to body temperature.

British researchers studied 170 volunteers and found only 19% of men had frequent nightmares, while 30% of women did. Women suffered a greater emotional impact upon awakening. They were more likely to occur near ovulation when a woman's body temperature slightly increases.

"When a woman's hormones are in a different balance, then her mood is going to be different, her physical symptoms will be different," explained psychologist Dr. Judy Kuriansky, adding it's possible women are just better at remembering their nightmares.

"They're much more sensitive to what they're thinking about," Dr. Kuriansky said, "and what they wake up in the morning thinking about."

Just why good dreams go bad in the first place remains a mystery, but some experts think nightmares may be training our brains to face our fears.