A nightmare is a disturbing dream associated with negative feelings, such as anxiety or fear that awakens you. Nightmares are common in children but can happen at any age. Occasional nightmares usually are nothing to worry about.
Dreams are understood to be recent autobiographical episodes that become woven with past memories to create a new memory that can be referenced later, but nightmares are simply dreams that cause a strong but unpleasant emotional response.
Nightmares are vivid dreams that may be threatening, upsetting, bizarre, or otherwise bothersome. They occur more often during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the stage of sleep associated with intense dreaming.
There can be a number of psychological triggers that cause nightmares in adults. For example, anxiety and depression can cause adult nightmares. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) also commonly causes people to experience chronic, recurrent nightmares. Nightmares in adults can be caused by certain sleep disorders.
What are nightmares? Psychology Today defines nightmares as dreams that evoke “fear, anxiety, or sadness.” They occur during the “rapid eye movement” (REM) stage of sleep, often later in the night, and tend to awaken the sleeper; common themes include falling, losing one's teeth, and being unprepared for an exam.
Most experts believe that lucid dreams are the rarest type of dreams. While dreaming, you are conscious that you are dreaming but you keep on dreaming. According to researchers, 55 percent of people experience these types of dreams at least one time in their life.
In particular, nightmares can be an indicator of mental health problems, such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
Do quiet, calming activities — such as reading books, doing puzzles or soaking in a warm bath — before bed. Meditation, deep breathing or relaxation exercises may help, too. Also, make the bedroom comfortable and quiet for sleep.
Nightmare disorder may cause: Excessive daytime sleepiness, which can lead to difficulties at school or work, or problems with everyday tasks, such as driving and concentrating. Problems with mood, such as depression or anxiety from dreams that continue to bother you.
Nightmares are associated with disturbed sleep, low well-being and affect daytime mood and behavior. Nightmare disorder is a very common comorbidity in nearly all psychiatric conditions. In borderline personality disorder (BPD), for example, up to 50% are troubled by frequent nightmares [5-7].
Don't Wake Them Up
However, it's important not to wake them up and allow them to work through the episode. They're more likely to forget the dream if they can sleep through it. Waking them up in the middle of a nightmare can be jarring, making it difficult for them to forget the imagery or get back to sleep.
It's common for people experiencing nightmares to show bodily symptoms of panic, including higher perspiration and a racing heart. The area of the brain responsible for these symptoms is the amygdala, the brain's "fear center," which shows a lot of activity during nightmares.
Since all dreams including nightmares are a result of the brain's electrical activity during sleep, they do not signify or mean anything specific. The subjects of nightmares can vary from person to person. However, there are some common nightmares that many people experience.
How Long Do Nightmares Last? The average dream length of a nightmare can be 10-20 minutes while bouts of night terrors can be up to 45 minutes in length.
If you can realize you're in a nightmare, the simplest way to stop it is to make yourself wake up, Arthuro said. But some evidence suggests that it's possible to stay in the nightmare but eliminate your fear by knowing you aren't in physical danger, according to Arthuro.
"For many people, the adrenaline and excitement experienced upon realizing that they are dreaming is enough to wake them," Backe said. "However, if this is not the case and you are 'stuck' in a bad dream, doing something particularly jarring — for example, jumping off of a cliff in your dream should do the trick."
Because dream stages (including REM) cycle several times throughout a normal night's sleep, bad dreams can occur in one of the earlier REM stages of the night. When they cause a person to wake up, these waking episodes can interrupt sleep in the middle of the night and may make it hard to fall back asleep.
Night terrors and nightmares are different and happen at different stages of sleep. During a night terror you may talk and move about but are asleep. It's rare to remember having a night terror. Nightmares are bad dreams you wake up from and can remember.
Nightmares about falling were followed closely by dreams about being chased (more than 63 percent). Other distressing nightmares included death (roughly 55 percent), feeling lost (almost 54 percent), feeling trapped (52 percent), and being attacked (nearly 50 percent).
Falling. Falling is the most common recurring dream people have, according to a 2022 survey of 2,007 Americans conducted by mattress and sleep product company, Amerisleep.