Do you find yourself tossing and turning at night, plagued by weird nightmares about stuff that's been worrying you?

You know, like a dream where you catch a disease that's been in the news, or where your boss is literally eating you alive.

Don't worry, those terrible visions are actually helping your mental health.

Research shows that the things that concern us most while we are awake, continue to mess with us when we sleep.

Your unconscious brain takes your abstract fears and turns them into stories in the form of nightmares.

When you experience a nightmare, you wake up, and remember it like something that really happened to you.

Even if it was totally unrealistic.

In other words, nightmares are sort of like factories that turn your fears into memories.

Here's where things get interesting.

Memories are easier for the human mind to deal with than vague anxieties about the world around us.

A memory might make you feel bad, but your brain thinks of it is something in the past.

And therefore, something you don't need to panic about in the present.

That's right, nightmares actually help distance you from your fears.

And don't let dread of bad dreams keep you from going to sleep, because that can land you in real trouble.

Researchers have found that sleep deprivation correlates strongly to the development of mental disorders.

You need bad dreams to help you process all the bad stuff in the world around you.

So, let's all take a moment to thank our evil nighttime visions.

Without them, waking life would be the real nightmare.