Nightmares are often a horrible experience. We all get them from time to time, from the very young to the old. They are often quite similar; running and not getting anywhere, screaming and no sound from our mouths, falling, crashing, missing an exam or important event, or losing all our teeth. Not to mention that old stand by of showing up somewhere...naked.
There are ways, however, to lessen our chances of having an nightmare. Nightmares happen during our REM sleep and we often remember them. Nightmares tend to occur towards dawn, rather than early in sleep.
We need to monitor our caffeine and alcohol usage. Coffee is a stimulant that can cause sleep deprivation, which in turn can cause nightmares that result from stress-induced fatigue. Chocolate is also a culprit for some. Alcohol is initially a stimulant but is actually a depressant. Drinking heavily may send a person to sleep quickly but it often causes them to wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to fall back to sleep. But the chemicals in alcohol can trigger nightmares. In fact, we should always avoid food or drink before bedtime because it triggers our metabolism and increases brain activity at a time when we should be decreasing it. Spicy foods late at night should be avoided, as well as sugary foods for children.
Smokers and those with sleep apnea tend to experience nightmares more than others.
Stress and emotional trauma are the main triggers for adults. Problems with work or relationships, an illness (which in itself can cause nightmares) or past abuse can lead to occasional nightmares for a lifetime. Therapy, meditation, yoga, a healthy diet, and a restful couple of hours before sleeping will help.
Establish a routine before bed. A warm bath, some easy reading, sex or your favorite show (that is hopefully not too violent!) will ease you into a relaxed routine for bed. No more than one glass of wine in the evening is recommended.
Some things we cannot help are nightmares when we are ill. Fevers tend to promote nightmares, in children as much as adults, and they leave once we feel better.
Tell Us
Do you get nightmares? Are they frequent? What do you think triggers them?
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Add a Comment51 Comments
Yes, all nightmares are caused by palpitations. Alcoho can cause nightmares beacuse alcohol intake can cause palpitations,
February 14, 2013 - 7:43amThis Comment
Hello Susan I'm 21 and I always have dreams of something holdin me down and I can hear scary noises coming closer to me I have no idea of wat to do but I do smoke a cigarette before I go to sleep and I always wake up so terrified and when I go back to bed my dreams get even scarier wat should I do
October 23, 2012 - 8:08pmThis Comment
lately i have been having scary dreams constantly , they make me wake up with a racing heart all the time wich make me wake up with a racing heart when that happens i feel tired n my headhurts i also wake up with paranoia, also it dosent let me get the enough sleep i need because once i wake up i cant go back to sleep . How do i make these nightmares stop? i dont watch anything with violence or scary films so why am i dreaming these things? im 18
August 10, 2012 - 6:37amThis Comment
not sure it helps i tried most of it but my dreams are always hella crazy
May 28, 2012 - 6:49amThis Comment
Hi, my girlfriend has been having really bad nightmares lately, almost every night. She's 20 and really happy with her life right now, but she had some issues with her mom when she was younger and mild depression. She's fine now though and her relationship with her mother is great.
Her nightmares are terrible, often of her being murdered. Sometimes its a pack of wolves, but sometimes its a group of her friends! What should she do?
September 20, 2011 - 10:34amThis Comment
Hi Susan, yes I agree, i think I have a sleep disorder. After posting my post, I stumbled across a sleep disorder on the internet called REM sleep behaviour disorder. It is when a person acts out their dreams. 'Normal' people when they go to sleep, their muscles kind of like paralyse where mine do not, so I respond to the dreams that I am seeing. This is all news to me. I am booked in for a sleep study next Saturday, so i will be interested to see if my self-diagnosis is correct. To answer your questions, my nightmares/episodes mostly occur within the first few hours of going to bed, but i have been known to have them at all hours. I remember exactly what I have dreamt, like it was actually real. I hope something can be done about them, because after nearly 20 years of these nightmares, I have had just about enough!!! Thank you for your post, Susan.
September 8, 2011 - 8:27pmLaura
This Comment
Lately I have been having rather overwhelming dreams - everything about it seems so real. The places, the faces, the detail. I create strangers with such detail it's as if I see them everyday! I used one of my rather dodgy relatives who I've never met in my dream and he murders people! It's almost as if I'm watching it as a movie however sometimes I am in the dream too. It's awful and I feel there's no escape, everything about it feels like it's actually happening. I will definitely take into account all of your solloutions as it seems they may be the cause of my nightmare, thank you:)
September 8, 2011 - 3:32pmThis Comment
And also, my eyes are wide open when I am having the bad dreams. I can actually see what i am imagining in my dream. The image slowly disappears as I am waking up and realise that I am dreaming. I'm losing it!! :)
September 1, 2011 - 5:41pmThis Comment
Hello, I'm 34 and have had dreams and nightmares for as long as I can remember, though they have got scarier as I have got older. My dreams normally revolve around snakes, spiders, mice crawling in my bed, or coming through the window, though the other night i dreamt someone was in my bedroom. There can be many other variations also though. The thing that makes them so scary is that I am actually reacting and standing up imagining that I am seeing these things. When i saw a man in my room the other night, I was out of the bed staring at the corner of my bedroom, petrified that I was really seeing someone. I have become so used to having these bad dreams that I normally wake up - or slowly realise that I am having a nightmare and that the image is not real. My husband tries to tell me that I am dreaming, but i have to wait for myself to realise that it is dream before i can go back to sleep. Last night i said to my husband, "are you seeing what i am seeing". So even in my dream state, i am so aware of my nightmares that I am questioning whether it is real or not. Sometimes i can wake up so afraid that I can feel my heart beating so fast, can feel it pumping on my hand. I have tried not eating chocolate before bed, my diet is ok, and I am fairly active. As for stress, I am a fairly calm person, not too much stress in our life. So I really can't pinpoint a reason for it. I really do wish i could figure it all out, as they scare me so much!!!
Laura
September 1, 2011 - 5:38pmThis Comment
Thats the thing , i dont wanna tell my parents.
August 29, 2011 - 5:55amThis Comment