As featured on Body & Soul
The mother-of-two suffers from extreme nightmares that leave her waking up "soaking wet". Here, a leading sleep expert reveals why they occur and the best ways to treat the problem.
Chrissy Teigen has a problem.
The 34-year-old revealed to her followers via her Instagram story that a recurring nightmare has been disturbing her sleep patterns for months.
“I know this sounds insane but I think I have some kind of ghost or evil spirit and I have the worst nightmares,” the ‘Lip Sync Battle’ host said. “I will go to bed super early and I will sleep so long and I will wake up soaking wet because I have just the most terrible nightmare. It’s always the same nightmare.”
Filming herself looking exhausted in bed, she continued: “I’m tired of it and it’s ruining my life, so sleeping in a different room tonight. We’ll see if it makes a difference.”Teigen added that she needs her sleep because she starts “working soon”.“I need to feel good and I can’t live this way anymore,” she added. “I cannot do this nightmare anymore. It’s driving me insane. It’s literally making me crazy. I have to stop. It has to stop.”Teigen also took to Twitter to post about her nightmares: “I’ve been having the same nightmare for months. If I wake up, i fall right back into it when I go back to sleep. And when I do officially wake up, I’m soaking wet and so sad all day. I’m tired!! Sleeping in a different room tonight.”
An expert weighs in
However, if you regularly experience nightmares like Teigen, simply sleeping in a different room might not be the solution to solving the problem. According to sleep expert Olivia Arezzolo, it could be a sign of one underlying problem you’re not addressing – stress.
“According to Sleep Health Foundation, there are no known causes for nightmares, however they can be triggered by high levels of stress, anxiety or emotional instability,” Arezzolo tells body+soul.
“During sleep your subconscious mind, rather than your conscious mind, dominates, and one of the functions of sleep itself is to process emotional trauma. If this trauma is intense, severe or difficult to process, it can contribute to these nightmares.”
And when it’s recurring like in the case of Teigen, it means this “stress is not being addressed”.
“Your subconscious mind is having trouble to process trauma, not only after one attempt, but multiple times.”
So, what can you do if nightmares are disrupting your sleep? It’s as simple as prioritising your mental health.
“This can be via a range of therapeutic approaches,” she explains. “From traditional psychotherapy to more contemporary approaches like hypnotherapy and meditation, it’s important to find what resonates with you.
“For those wanting to see improvements without extensive professional services, I recommend meditation - evidence shows it helps to lessen stress, anxiety and depression; often the key reasons behind nightmares in the first place.”
Like we always say, your mental health comes first.
