The Who, What, When and Why's of Nightmares

All of us at one point in our lives have woken up shaking, crying, and or scared to death. You had just dreamed that someone was chasing you in a dark alley, or a monster came out from under your bed to attack you, or you just watched a scary movie and Freddy invaded your sleep, or even you had dreamed that someone close to you had died and you witnessed the incident. All of these and more are categorized under the horrific state of having a nightmare.

But what exactly are nightmares? Why do they happen? How can I stop them from happening?

I too have been a sufferer of nightmares over the last month and am very interested in these answers myself.

There are nightmares and night terrors. A nightmare is a dream occurring during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep that brings out feelings of strong, inescapable fear, terror, distress, anger, guilt, sadness, depression, or extreme anxiety. They typically occur in the latter part of the night and usually awaken the sleeper, who is able to recall the content of the dream. While you sleep, your brain goes through several sleep stages, during REM sleep, your eyes move back and forth under your closed eyelids and about every 90 minutes your brain switches between non-REM sleep and REM sleep. The longest periods of REM sleep occur towards morning. If you wake during this REM stage, it is easier for you to remember what you were dreaming about. That's why your most vivid dreams - and nightmares - occur in the early morning hours.

Night terrors occur during deep sleep in the first half of the night. Loud screaming and thrashing about are common, the sleeper is hard to awaken and usually remembers no more than an overwhelming feeling or a single scene, if anything. During night terrors people wake up sweating heavily. They are unaware of their surroundings and unresponsive to attempts to comfort them. They may not calm down for 10 or 15 minutes, although they return to sleep quickly once the episode ends. Generally they do not remember what scared them, but rarely a person will retain a vague image of something terrifying.

Nightmares occur from time to time in many children, but they are most common in preschoolers because this is the age at which normal fears develop and a child's imagination is very active.

Nightmare themes may vary widely from person to person and from time to time for any one person. Probably the most common theme is being chased. Adults are commonly chased by an unknown male figure whereas children are commonly chased by an animal or some fantasy figure. A child may dream about danger or a scary situation. Nightmares may involve disturbing themes, images, or figures such as monsters, ghosts, animals, or bad people.

Some of the most common themes of nightmares are:
A chase or an attack, falling dream, car out of control, unprepared, late or failing an exam, stuck in slow motion, unable to move or make any noise, embarrassed to be nude or naked in public, personal injury, dismemberment, being trapped or locked in, drowning, and feeling abandoned.

So what causes these horrific dreams?
In children, nightmares can be related to the child's stage of development and could be related to events such as starting school, moving to a new neighborhood, or living through a divorce or remarriage. Some genetic and psychological factors can also lead to nightmares. About 7% of children who have nightmares have a family history of nightmares. Nightmares are more common in some children, including those with mental retardation, depression, and certain diseases that affect the brain. Nightmares may also be associated with fevers. Some medicines can cause frightening dreams; either during treatment or after the treatment has stopped. Conflicts and stress that happen during the day can affect a child's sleep and lead to nightmares. Nightmares can also occur after a trauma. These nightmares may indicate post-traumatic stress disorder.

The causes do not change much from children to adulthood. Many people experience nightmares after they have suffered a traumatic event, such as surgery, the loss of a loved one, an assault or a severe accident. The content of these nightmares is typically directly related to the traumatic event and the nightmares often occur over and over. Other people experience nightmares when they are undergoing stress in their waking lives, such as difficulty or change on the job or with a loved one, moving, pregnancy, financial concerns, etc. Recent withdrawal from a drug such as sleeping pills can cause nightmares as well as excessive alcohol consumption or abrupt alcohol withdrawal.

Many people believe that dreams reflect our current path in life and can tell the future or tell us what we need to do in order to assist us with our everyday problems. Here are some examples:

The dream that you had where you were being chased or attacked: Chase dreams often stem from feelings of anxiety in your waking life. The way we respond to anxiety and pressure in real life is typically manifested as a chase dream. Running is an instinctive response to physical threats in our environment. Often in these dream scenarios, you are being pursued by some attacker, who wants to hurt or possibly kill you. You are running away, hiding, or trying to outwit your pursuer. Chase dreams may represent your way of coping with fears, stress or various situations in your waking life. Instead of confronting the situation, you are running away and avoiding it. Ask yourself who is the one chasing you and you may gain some understanding and insight on the source of your fears and pressure.

The pursuer or attacker who is chasing you in your dream may also represent a part of yourself. Your own feelings of anger, jealousy, fear, and possibly love, can assume the appearance of threatening figure. You may be projecting these feelings onto the unknown chaser. Next time you have a chase dream, turn around and confront your pursuer. Ask them why they are chasing you.

The dream that you had where you felt like you were falling: Contrary to a popular myth, you will not actually die if you do not wake up before your hit the ground during a fall.

As with most common dream themes, falling is an indication of insecurities, instabilities, and anxieties. You are feeling overwhelmed and out of control in some situation in your waking life. Falling dreams typically occur during the first stage of sleep. Dreams in this stage are often accompanied by muscle spasms of the arms, legs, and the whole body. Sometimes when we have these falling dreams, we feel our whole body jerk or twitch and we awaken from this jerk.

Although nightmares and night terrors are considered normal developmental events in children, disappearing by adolescence, frequent episodes at any age warrant professional evaluation. Crisis intervention techniques can be very effective in dealing with the trauma. Some people have significant psychological problems that are causing bad dreams. It is important to consider psychotherapy to pinpoint major life stressors, past traumatic events and depression that might be causing bad dreams.

A lot of times, seeking medical attention is extreme; there are a lot of ways to prevent bad dreams.

Establish a bedtime routine that starts at the same time every evening. Make bedtime a safe and comfortable time by giving your child a stuffed toy or favorite blanket, reading to your child or for us adults, grab a good book. For children, try using a night light or sing a lullaby. For adults, I have found it helpful to listen to calming music or perhaps a CD dedicated to the sounds of rain or water. And always, watching scary movies before bedtime is not a good idea for children or adults.

If none of these tactics are assisting you in preventing nightmares, please do not be afraid to seek medical assistance.

Good Luck and sweet dreams!