Your brain is in a semi-awake/semi-asleep state: Part of it is still in rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep—the deep stage of sleep where our brain is more active, allowing for intense dreams. As you begin to rouse, the dream-like imagery of REM sleep intrudes into your waking state.
"If you wake from a nightmare and have difficulty falling back asleep, get out of bed, do something soothing like a few yoga poses or find a place to sit, close your eyes, and try a breathing technique or relaxation exercise."
Indeed, studies suggest that nightmares are often linked to unmet psychological needs and/or frustration with life experiences. Yet those links aren't always easy to make—except in cases of trauma (discussed below), our nightmares tend to reflect our troubles through metaphor rather than literal representation.
In particular, nightmares can be an indicator of mental health problems, such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
Dream experts believe the answer is yes, nightmares do serve a purpose. And though there's no single, united theory as to what that purpose might be, research is increasingly showing that nightmares could help people better navigate their waking lives.
1. Being chased. Being chased is one of the most common nightmares. If you dream that you're being chased by something, whether it's an 8-foot-tall rabbit or a shrouded figure, then it's an indicator that you're running away from something or someone in real life.
In a way, chronic nightmares can be a warning about your physical or mental health. If chronic nightmares are disturbing your sleep, it's worth bringing it up to a doctor or therapist. They'll be able to help you create a plan for more peaceful sleep.
Nightmares can arise for a number of reasons—stress, anxiety, irregular sleep, medications, mental health disorders—but perhaps the most studied cause is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Impact of nightmares
Trauma-related nightmares generally occur during REM sleep, which is when we tend to have vivid dreams. When you wake up from these nightmares, you may experience fear, anxiety, panic, distress, frustration, or sadness. You can also wake up soaked in sweat and with your heart pounding.
You Risk Letting Yourself Down
If you've already told everyone what your plans are, the last thing you want is other people criticizing you for changing your mind. You might even feel like you've let yourself down. Telling everyone about something great feels almost the same as accomplishing something great.
Although some continue to believe nightmares reduce psychological tensions by letting the brain act out its fears, recent research suggests that nocturnal torments are more likely to increase anxiety in waking life.
Having frequent nightmares that cause major distress, anxiety around sleeping, fatigue, and problems concentrating during the day can indicate nightmare disorder, which is when your bad dreams are happening often or severely enough to affect your life.
This is why it's important to “reclaim sleep” after a nightmare and work on decreasing nightmares overall. Research shows that high-stress levels can contribute to high frequencies of nightmares, which is why relaxation is recommended.
Sleep terrors differ from nightmares. The dreamer of a nightmare wakes up from the dream and may remember details, but a person who has a sleep terror episode remains asleep. Children usually don't remember anything about their sleep terrors in the morning.
No. You may think you're rescuing your bedmate from misery, but rousing someone simply means he'll need several frustrating minutes (or longer) to calm down and get back to sleep. The truth is, nightmares are normal.
Many different factors can contribute to a higher risk of nightmares: Stress and anxiety: Sad, traumatic, or worrisome situations that induce stress and fear may provoke nightmares. People with chronic stress and anxiety may be more likely to develop nightmare disorder.
But nightmares, while scary, aren't always a bad thing. In many cases, they may help the dreamer ameliorate some of their daytime anxieties. Research has found that nightmares can help some people learn to better manage stress.
Nightmares are vividly realistic, disturbing dreams that rattle you awake from a deep sleep. They often set your heart pounding from fear. Nightmares tend to occur most often during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when most dreaming takes place.
The Oxford English Dictionary traces the first used of “nightmare” in English to around 1300, as “a female spirit or monster supposed to settle on and produce a feeling of suffocation in a sleeping person or animal.”
A night terror is a sleep disruption that seems similar to a nightmare, but is far more dramatic. Though night terrors can be alarming for parents who witness them, they're not usually cause for concern or a sign of a deeper medical issue.
Nightmares are scary dreams that often happen during the second half of the night when dreaming is most intense. Children may start having nightmares as young as 6 months of age. They tend to peak between 3 and 12 years old. Children may wake up crying or feeling afraid and may have trouble falling back to sleep.
Some general causes of nightmares and anxiety dreams include: fear or stress. recent life changes, especially ones that provoke uncertainty or other distress. traumatic events.
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.