If you or a loved one suffers from nightmares, or if you’re just curious about things that go bump in the night, here is some basic information about nightmares. You’ll find out where they come from, what they mean and how to stop them. What is a nightmare? Nightmares, or bad dreams, are a type of dream that causes you to feel anxiety, fear or terror. Typically, a person will wake up during or just after having a nightmare and he or she will be able to remember all or part of the bad dream clearly. Both nightmares and dreams occur during the REM (rapid eye movement) cycle of sleep. People spend about 2 hours dreaming every night. Nightmares usually occur in the latter part of the REM cycle. Sometimes, nightmares can be more than just a bad dream. Nightmare disorder is a condition in which people experience chronic, intense nightmares over a prolonged period of time. The nightmares are so intense that they cause the person great distress and may interfere with the subject’s work or social life. Unlike standard nightmares, it can be difficult to wake up a person who is experiencing night terrors. When they do wake up, typically they will not remember much about their dream. Who gets nightmares? Nightmares are most common in children. Typically, children start having nightmares before the age of 10. Some may start having bad dreams as young as 3 or 4 years old. Bad dreams are a perfectly normal occurrence unless they begin to disturb the child’s sleep pattern and/or interfere with his or her psychological and social development. Adults can also have nightmares, although they do not usually have them as often as children. About 50 percent of all adults claim to have bad dreams on occasion. Interestingly, women experience nightmares more often than men. Scientists know very little about nightmares and dreams. However, there are many different theories about what causes a nightmare. One theory has to do with the anatomy and physiology of the brain. REM sleep stimulates regions in the brain that are used for learning. During REM sleep, the brain fires various different signals at random. The cortex (the part of the brain that interprets and organizes information) attempts to make sense of these random signals by turning them into a “story” or dream. If this theory is correct, then nightmares and dreams have no deeper meaning. They are simply a side effect of deep sleep. Some psychologists, including Sigmund Freud, believe that dreams come from a person’s unconscious mind and represent his or her secret fears and desires. Only during sleep, when the conscious mind is silent, do these repressed emotions come to the surface and manifest themselves as nightmares and dreams. This theory implies that all dreams are significant and that they all have some sort of underlying meaning. To find out what that meaning is, you must interpret your dream. Examples of physical trauma include surgery, a car accident or a history of physical abuse. Emotional trauma can include the loss of a loved one, assault, neglect, sexual or emotional abuse. There have been many reported cases of people who repress memories of childhood abuse. They have no recollection of the abuse, but after many years, they begin to have nightmares. When they seek counseling because of the nightmares, their repressed memories start to come to the surface. War veterans’ nightmares can also be attributed to post-traumatic stress disorder. Similarly, stress and anxiety are a common cause of bad dreams. More than half of all nightmares occur around the time of a major life event, such as starting at a new school, changing careers or having a child. Other common causes of nightmares are entirely physical. They are simply part of the body’s response to certain physiological conditions, such as:

  • Fever
  • Side effect or adverse reaction to a medication
  • Alcohol or drug withdrawal
  • Breathing disorder during sleep (such as sleep apnea) What are some common symbols in nightmares? Some people believe that nightmares and dreams have a deeper meaning and that they can symbolize your subconscious emotions. Everyone’s dreams are different, and only you can truly understand the meaning of your own bad dreams. However, some elements commonly occur in all people’s dreams at one time or another. Dream interpreters suggest that these elements symbolize something specific. Some symbols are self-explanatory. A bad dream about falling means you feel powerless or out of control, or that you are afraid of failing at something. A nightmare about drowning means you feel overwhelmed by your emotions. Dreaming about war or a fight could mean that you need to be more assertive in a real-life confrontation. Also, monsters and other nightmare creatures represent some aspect of your life that has gotten out of control. The most common type of nightmare is that of being chased. Adults commonly find themselves being chased by a stranger (usually male); children are more often chased by some type of animal, monster or other nightmare creature. Dream interpreters say that being chased in a nightmare represents feeling that you are being pressured or inhibited in some way. For example, death in nightmares and dreams symbolizes a new beginning. If you dream that you are dying, perhaps you are going through an important personal change in your real life. How can you get rid of nightmares? Bad dreams may simply be a symptom of not getting adequate sleep. You might need to reevaluate your sleeping habits and overall lifestyle. For example, you may need to make any or all of the following changes:
  • Cut down your intake of caffeine and alcohol, especially before bed.
  • Increase your exercise routine and include more aerobic exercise (swimming, jogging, tennis, step class, etc.).
  • Try relaxation techniques just before bed, such as yoga, aromatherapy or meditation.
  • Don’t eat anything before going to bed. Eating increases brain activity and raises the body’s metabolism, which can cause nightmares and dreams.
  • Keep a regular sleep schedule. Try to go to bed around the same time each night and wake up around the same time each morning. If you recently began having nightmares and you just started taking some kind of medication, contact your doctor. Your doctor may be able to prescribe a different, but equally effective medicine that won’t cause such unwanted side effects. You should also talk to your doctor if you experience bad dreams more than once a week or if they keep you from getting adequate sleep for a prolonged period of time. You may need to get a physical, neurological or psychological exam to determine the underlying cause. If you experience especially intense or recurring nightmares, you may benefit by talking about it with a counselor or psychologist. Sometimes just talking through your nightmares can be enough to dispel them. In other cases, bad dreams could be a subconscious manifestation of some emotional or psychological problem that you need to sort out. We know so much about the human body, yet nightmares and dreams continue to remain a mystery. Perhaps that is why they hold such a power over us. You may believe that nightmares are a side effect of normal physiological processes, a message from a higher power or your subconscious mind’s way of communicating with you. Whatever the case, just know that your nightmares are only as powerful as you make them.