What Causes Nightmares

Learning what causes nightmares may help you to feel better about them, or at least to make some changes so you can avoid them. Nightmares in adults and children happen often. They can be minor dreams that leave you feeling stunned and in awe. They could be dreams you wake up screaming about. You always want to avoid them.

Scared Girl Awoken from Dream

Nightmares and night terrors are two very different types of night time experiences that can frighten you. One of the largest differences in them is they happen at different stages of sleep. Nightmares happen during REM sleep. Most often, they aren't remembered in detail. Night terrors happen in the other four stages of sleep. You remember these and they are very intense, often including yelling aloud and thrashing in bed.

Nightmares can scare you, but you are more likely to wake up feeling afraid without knowing why you feel that way. Most people remember having a bad dream, perhaps even some of it, but rarely remember the details associated with a dream. Nightmares are very similar to any other dream, they just have a negative or frightening theme to them. Still, they can be powerful enough to disturb sleep long term.

What is behind these dreams? The cause of dreams can be many things, no matter if they are good dreams or bad. There is no 100 percent accurate reason behind the occurrence of any form of dream. Researchers feel that some things can contribute to nightmares.

According to a report released by the United States National Library of Medicine], there are some factors that when present can increase the chances of having a nightmare:

• Food eaten prior to bed: Eating a meal just before going to bed can cause the brain to have an intense amount of energy. The brain is more active and this in itself leads to more dreams, sometimes nightmares.
• Sleep disorders: Some people who live with sleep disorders, especially narcolepsy are more prone to experiencing nightmares more often than those that do not. Those suffering from sleep apnea may also experience nightmares more often.
• Anxiety and stress: Going to sleep worrying can bring on nightmares. The hormones released during periods of anxiety and stress lead can lead to nightmares during sleep.
• Drug reactions: Some medications have been linked to nightmares, often caused by an allergy to the medication, as a side effect or even from withdrawal from the drug (some illegal drugs cause this, too.) Alcohol and alcohol withdrawal can lead to nightmares.
• Major life changes: Death, divorce, financial problems and other highly stressful life events can lead to nightmares in some individuals. This happens because dreams in general often have a direct relation to day-to-day life, even when they are not nightmares specifically.
• Illness: Some illnesses can cause high fevers, which can lead to nightmares and more intense dreams.

Nightmares are intense episodes of dreaming, but should never be thought of as insignificant. For many people, they are very intense and can leave them thinking, worrying and even obsessing over the meaning. There is no research available to suggest the nightmares have special meanings, just as there is no evidence that any dreams have specific meanings.

Many people do believe that dreams have meanings and nightmares are therefore a sign of what's to come. If you believe in this possibility, there are some resources available online to help you to decipher these dreams. Often times, the nightmare is a deeply rooted, subconscious occurrence, caused by ignored feelings or deep disturbances. In these situations, dream researchers believe that one can attribute nightmares to unexplored feelings:

• Fear
• Blame
• Embarrassment
• Past issues not dealt with
• Emotional problems
• Anger
• Frustration

Exploring your dreams, including nightmares, is important. Understanding what causes nightmares may help you to deal with special circumstances in your life or help you to move past these experiences. Some dream databases that may be able to help identify your dreams like DreamSleep.net. There is no way to know if they are accurate, but some people find them useful.

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