What Causes Vivid & Weird Dreams?

6 Min Read | By Nicholas Barber

Last Modified 13 February 2025   First Added 31 October 2022

This article was written and reviewed in line with our editorial policy.

Vivid dreams can be so lifelike that you wake up questioning whether they actually happened. In this article, we explore expert insights into why vivid dreams occur and what they might reveal about your mind and body.

What are vivid dreams?

Vivid dreams are highly detailed and lifelike experiences that feel incredibly real to the dreamer. Unlike typical dreams, which can be hazy or fragmented, vivid dreams are often intense, featuring clear visuals, strong emotions, and a heightened sense of realism that can make them hard to distinguish from waking life. You may experience sensations such as touch, taste, smell, and sound with striking intensity. The imagery is exceptionally clear, and dream scenarios may unfold in a way that closely mirrors real-life events.

As with all dreams, vivid dreams happen during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. These cycles start about an hour and a half after you fall asleep, and they tend to be longer and deeper toward morning. That’s why you may be more likely to experience vivid dreams just before your alarm rings—and why we’re more likely to remember them.

What do vivid dreams mean?

Although we don’t completely understand the specific function of dreams, it’s believed that they’re a natural part of our emotional processing and memory formation. This is especially believed to be the case for vivid dreams, which are thought to point to unresolved feelings of stress or intense emotions that need addressing in your waking life.

Spiritually, vivid dreams are sometimes seen as messages from your higher self or the universe. They may symbolise personal growth, transformation, or insights guiding you toward a deeper understanding.

The meaning of a vivid dream depends on its content—whether it was positive or negative, who was in it, and what you were doing and feeling. To uncover what your vivid dream might mean, read our article on the most common dreams and their meanings.

What causes vivid dreams?

Vivid dreams feel incredibly lifelike, intense, and emotionally charged. But what do they mean? These dreams can be linked to various factors, from stress and sleep deprivation to emotional or physiological changes. They may reflect your mental state, physical health, or even lifestyle habits.

Have you been experiencing prolonged sleep deprivation? Gone through a major emotional event, like a breakup or a stressful life change? Have you started a new medication, or are you dealing with hormonal shifts? These factors, among others, can contribute to vivid dreams.

Let’s explore some of the most common causes of vivid dreams and what they might mean.

1. You're feeling stressed

If you’re experiencing stress, emotional trauma or a mental illness like anxiety or depression, you may be more prone to vivid bad dreams. Evidence suggests that if you suffer anxiety symptoms during the day, you’ll be more likely to experience vivid and upsetting dreams at night.

2. Your medication is interfering with your dreams

Some prescription drugs can affect the vividness of dreams. For example, SSRIs (a category of antidepressant) can decrease how often patients remember their dreams, according to one study that also suggested the drugs increase the vividness of dreams.

3. You're sleep deprived

Vivid dreams may be upsetting or disturbing and may even stop you from getting enough good quality sleep. A study found that participants deprived of REM sleep one night then went through longer periods of REM sleep with higher dream intensity the next evening.

Nightmares are vivid dreams that are frightening or unsettling and can lead to nightmare disorder. This sleep disorder prevents you from getting enough sleep. If you’re experiencing sleep deprivation due to chronic nightmares, it’s time to speak to your doctor.

4. You wake up a lot during the night

Because vivid dreams usually happen during REM sleep, waking up during or right after REM sleep increases the chances that you will remember your dream more vividly.

5. You have a sleep disorder

Sleeping disorders that cause you to have a lack of sleep, such as insomnia, can increase your chances of having vivid dreams. If you suffer from narcolepsy, you’re likely to experience vivid and bizarre dreams.

6. You're pregnant

Physical and hormonal changes during pregnancy can cause insomnia and sleep disturbances. A research study found that women in the third trimester of pregnancy experienced more upsetting dream imagery compared with non-pregnant women. So, if you’re expecting, hormonal changes or the stress of growing and eventually delivering a tiny human could cause your vivid dreams.

7. You've changed your sleep schedule

Shifting your sleep routine, whether you’re getting less sleep or heading to bed a bit later, can trigger stress and emotional reactions that may make vivid dreams more intense and frequent. Plus, disruptions like sleep deprivation or fragmented sleep can lower sleep quality, leading to even more weird dreams.

8. You've had one too many drinks

Studies show that alcohol can interfere with the deeper stages of sleep, especially REM sleep when dreaming happens. This interruption leads to more disrupted rest, and as the alcohol wears off through the night, you may wake up more often—making your dreams feel even more vivid, restless, or unsettling. Learn more about the effects of alcohol on sleep.

9. You're grieving

Dreams play a key role in helping us process emotions, which is why they can become more frequent and vivid during emotionally intense times, like grieving.

Studies show that when someone is grieving, their dreams often feel more realistic, with the deceased appearing frequently. These dreams may help reorganise the strong emotions tied to loss, acting as a natural coping mechanism to ease the grieving process.

How to stop vivid dreams

Unlike most dreams, sometimes vivid dreams can feel so intense that they may harm your mental health and well-being. Vivid dreams will usually eventually go away on their own, but there are some ways you can reduce your chances of having them. These include:

  • Practising good sleep hygiene: Give yourself a regular bedtime and wake time (and stick to your schedule).
  • Avoiding drugs and alcohol, which can interfere with your ability to rest. Talk to your doctor if you need support or have questions about cutting back.
  • Nurture your peace of mind. Research suggests that people with higher scores on measures of peace of mind are more likely to have positive dream content.
  • Managing stress and anxiety can also help to get rid of unpleasant dreams.

What is the difference between lucid and vivid dreams?

A vivid dream is defined as being very similar to waking life; you often don’t realise that you are dreaming when the dream is happening, and unfortunately, there’s not always a guarantee that you’ll remember once you wake up.

Whereas, a lucid dream can be scary, as you know you are dreaming but can potentially become paralyzed. Even if you want to wake up, it can be difficult to do anything to remove yourself from the situation except wait it out.

While vivid dreams can be startling or unsettling, they’re usually harmless and simply a sign that you wake up during REM sleep. They can even highlight areas of your life to focus on, like mental health or your sleep routine. However, if these dreams start affecting your daily life, it might be worth speaking with a doctor to uncover the cause and find ways to put them to rest.

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