DREAMS & NIGHTMARES - 10 Common Nightmares

by the Editors of Publications International, Ltd. and Victoria Plummer

Unpleasant as they may be, nightmares are an essential part of dreaming. While our more enjoyable dreams are spurred by wishes and desires, nightmares are a manifestation of other common feelings like stress and anxiety. However, like many dreams, nightmares are not as straight forward as they seem.

Within the hazy realm of nightmares, a cigar is never a cigar. Dreams are categorically symbolic, and the images within them should never be accepted for their face value. If you interpret them as such, you're likely to miss the important issues your subconscious may be trying to convey.

Having a dream about natural disaster or particularly exasperating car trouble doesn't necessarily represent a fear of these events actually taking place. More often than not, these nightmares reflect your inner feelings toward a pressing predicament in your waking-life. So read on for more info on 10 common nightmares we experience, and simple ways to address the frightening feelings that are vividly iterated within your dreams.

10  Feeling Lost or Trapped

Unlike most of the nightmares on this list, this dream is very direct and simple to analyze. Feeling trapped or lost in a dream indicates a concern of being lost or trapped into a certain situation or position in your waking life. Are others pressuring you into doing something? Do you feel as though you've been lost in the shuffle of things, or you've run out of options?

Realize this dream is a direct warning to your internal concerns, and it should be a cue to consciously address these feelings before it's too late. Otherwise, you may start having this next type of nightmare.

9  Falling or Drowning

Do you feel like you're in over your head? Maybe you're caving under the pressure of a certain task or duty. These anxious feelings will most likely result in a dream of you falling or drowning. Dreams revolving around a continuous fall or drowning demonstrate an internalized anxiety about a situation or task at hand. The emotions they evoke can range from loss of control to exhilaration. Your specific reaction in this nightmare will likely mirror your reaction to certain circumstances in reality.

This is also a perfect opportunity to engage in lucid dreaming. If you know you have this dream often, you can resolve these falling and drowning anxieties by realizing it's all a dream, and then willing yourself to control it. Instead of falling or drowning, tell yourself to fly or swim. After all, it is your dream, and within it you can do whatever you please.

8  Machine or Phone Malfunction

Did you call someone in your dream, only to have it ring endlessly without anyone to answer? Did your computer's hard drive crash while you were in the middle of writing a paper? While these are not particularly terrifying nightmares, to some, a crashed hard drive can be just as devastating as crashed car.

Malfunctions with technology, especially communicative technologies, may mean you are failing to reach out to someone on an emotional level. Have you lost touch with a good friend? Is there a disconnect or barrier forming between yourself and a loved one? If this is a common nightmare of yours, take the time to evaluate your relationships and identify key areas that need to be mended.

7  Being Naked or Inappropriately Dressed in Public

Dreams of appearing naked in public are invariably one of the most common nightmares shared by people of all ages. These dreams tend to act as reliable measurements of your self-esteem. Within them your clothes function as a method of concealment, enabling you to hide things about yourself that you don't want others to see.

If you are comfortable being nude within your dream, you are secure about exposing your feelings and have nothing to hide. Embarrassment about nudity implies vulnerability, guilt or shame, while being oblivious to your nudity can mean a lack of self-awareness.

If you've been hiding something from others, or are afraid that people can see through a façade you've established, be prepared to have this common nudie nightmare.

6   Natural or Manmade Disasters

Whether experienced in reality or in dreams, being caught in the midst of a natural disaster is an unquestionably horrific experience. Significantly disturbing dreams, like this one, will always contain substantial meanings, and nightmares of disaster speak volumes about your current state of mind.

Usually, a catastrophe dream alludes to feelings of disaster looming in your waking life. You might feel as though you cannot survive whatever turmoil or dilemma you're currently challenged with, and instead are lost in the cataclysmic wreckage left in the wake your dream-disaster. If you tend to have a disaster dream, examine what exactly you are feeling overwhelmed or defeated about, and rationally address the issue.

5  Poor Test Performance

Even if you've been long removed from the day-to-day realities of class schedules, college ruled notebooks and the quadratic formula, you still might have midnight hauntings of pop-quizzes and impossible exams. Subconscious test anxiety is actually quite common among dreamers, and the grade you receive on your exam is fascinatingly revealing.

Failing an exam in your dreams reflects your waking life concerns about how deserving you are for the things you have achieved in life. If you were to go back and receive an evaluation of all your past deeds, would you be satisfied with the results? If you would be satisfied, but you feel the grade you received on your dream-exam was unfounded or incorrect, your dream might be suggesting your feelings of doubted or denied recognition for something you've accomplished.

4  House or Property Loss or Damage

If you've had an intense dream about your house, don't panic. It's not because you've been watching too many Bob Vila marathons. You're actually having a very normal dream. When a house appears in your dreams, it usually symbolizes the self. The façade of the house represents your self-image, while the interior symbolizes your inner-self.

If your home, or a possession within your home, has been damaged in your dream, the nightmare may reflect inward feelings of being broken or mishandled. Along the same plane as the damage dream, dreams of lost or stolen possessions also reveal tumultuous inner feelings about the self. If you've lost an important item or had something stolen from your home, you may feel as though you are susceptible to deceit, or you feel that something valuable to you is at risk.

3  Car Trouble

Having problems with your car is already a nightmarish experience, but in dreams vehicular mishaps signify much more than a looming oil change or balding tire. Vehicles often represent the physical body, yet they can carry emotional implications as well. Like dreams of a home, the appearance of the car represents your outward perceptions, and your inner feelings are represented by what's under the hood.

You might be driving a wonderfully looking car, only to realize the inside is a mess, or it doesn't function properly. This situation might parallel your internal feelings towards yourself. Sometimes in dreams about cars, you're seated behind the wheel and heading straight for a crash, this could signify feelings of powerlessness or a lack of control.

2  Suffering an Injury, Illness or Death

Dreams of serious illness or death are very distressing, especially when we're reminded of that chilling old rumor that claims "if you die in your dreams, you will also die in your sleep." Don't worry, plenty of people have had these dreams and have lived to tell the tale. While dwelling on death can seem very morbid, in dreams, it can actually signify a change or new beginning. Death can represent the end of a certain stage in life -- you know, like the end of your flannel and overalls hobo-chic stage -- which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

But not all dreams about death have a silver lining. Sometimes they represent the ominous raincloud they seem to be. Dreams of injury, illness and death can signify feelings of emotional hurt, or fear of being hurt. If a loved one is the one who is ill or dying, it may mean that the part of yourself you see in that person feels as if it were lost or dead. If you dream you are dying suggests you are no longer able to cope with a troubling situation, and should seek the help or advice of others.

Dreams involving illness and death can be extremely frightening, but don't take them too literally because you could be oversimplifying their true meanings.

1  Being Chased or Attacked

To be chased or attacked by something or someone is a ubiquitous nightmare shared by all dreamers. The scenery and assailant might change figure or form, but the act of being chased in a dream always signals to our body's fight-or-flight response. The chase dream is remarkably prevalent because the fight-or-flight response is a primal reaction embedded in every single human being, arising when faced with dangers or fears.

Sigmund Freud characterized these dreams as "the manifest dream content of persons suffering from anxiety." This anxiety reflected in a chase dream could stem from a various number of concerns, from menial worries about getting stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, to substantial fears of getting into a full-on collision. As these genuine fears are embodied in a phantasmal pursuit, the actions you take to escape this hounding danger parallel how you would react to the stresses, fears and pressures of reality.

Adapted from 500 Dreams Interpreted, © 2009 Publications International, Ltd.

Source: http://health.howstuffworks.com/

DREAMS & NIGHTMARES - Common Questions About Nightmares

What is a nightmare?

A nightmare is a very distressing dream which usually forces at least partial awakening. The dreamer may feel any number of disturbing emotions in a nightmare, such as anger, guilt, sadness or depression, but the most common feelings are fear and anxiety. 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.


Who has nightmares?

Just about everyone has them at one time or another. The majority of children have nightmares between the ages of three or four and seven or eight. These nightmares appear to be a part of normal development, and do not generally signal unusual problems. Nightmares are less common in adults, though studies have shown that they too may have nightmares from time to time. About 5-lO% have nightmares once a month or more frequently.


That causes nightmares?

There are a number of possibilities. Some nightmares can be caused by certain drugs or medications, or by rapid withdrawal from them, or by physical conditions such as illness and fever. The nightmares of early childhood likely reflect the struggle to learn to deal with normal childhood fears and problems. 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 nightmares of combat veterans fall into this category. 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. Finally, some people experience frequent nightmares that seem unrelated to their waking lives. These people tend to be more creative, sensitive, trusting and emotional than average.


What can be done about nightmares?

It really depends on the source of the nightmare. To rule out drugs, medications or illness as a cause, discussion with a physician is recommended. It is useful to encourage young children to discuss their nightmares with their parents or other adults, but they generally do not need treatment. If a child is suffering from recurrent or very disturbing nightmares, the aid of a therapist may be required. The therapist may have the child draw the nightmare, talk with the frightening characters, or fantasize changes in the nightmare, in order help the child feel safer and less frightened .

The nightmares which repeat a traumatic event reflect a normal psychic healing process, and will diminish in frequency and intensity if recovery is progressing. If after several weeks no change is noted, consultation with a therapist is advisable.

Adults' nightmares offer the same opportunity as other dreams for self-exploration and understanding. With practice, the dreamer can often learn to decode the visual and symbolic language of the dream and to see relationships between the dream and waking life. The nightmare by nature is distressing, however, and the dreamer may need to reduce the distress before looking more closely at the meaning of the dream. Some techniques for reducing the distress of the nightmare include writing it down, drawing or painting it, talking in fantasy to the characters, imaging a more pleasant ending, or simply reciting it over several times. The more relaxed the dreamer can be while using these techniques the better. A number of good books are available for learning how to understand dreams. Alternately, the dreamer may wish to ask a therapist for assistance.

Sometimes nightmares are related to intense stress or emotional conflict that is best dealt with in consultation with a therapist. One should not hesitate to consult a therapist when in doubt.

It may be surprising to learn that many people are not really disturbed by their nightmares, even though the experiences themselves are distressing. Research has shown that about half of people who have quite frequent nightmares regard them as fascinating and creative acts of their minds, and either view them as very interesting or dismiss them as "just dreams". This illustrates the fact that one's attitude toward nightmares is quite important.


What about night terrors?

Night terrors are something quite different. Nightmares tend to occur after several hours of sleep, screaming or moving about is very uncommon, the dream is usually elaborate and intense, and the dreamer realizes soon after wakening that he or she has had a dream. Night terrors, on the other hand, occur during the first hour or two of sleep, 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. Nightmares and night terrors arise from different physiological stages of sleep. Children who have night terrors also may have a tendency to sleepwalk and/or urinate in bed. The causes of night terrors are not well understood. Children usually stop having them by puberty. They may be associated with stress in adults. A consultation with a physician may be useful if the night terrors are frequent or especially disturbing.

Source: http://www.asdreams.org/

DREAMS & NIGHTMARES - Nightmare disorder

By Mayo Clinic Staff

Definition

A nightmare is a disturbing dream associated with negative feelings, such as anxiety or fear. Nightmares are common, and occasional nightmares usually are nothing to worry about. However, they may become a problem if you have them often and they disrupt your sleep or cause you to fear going to sleep. A diagnosis of nightmare disorder is only made if nightmares cause ongoing distress or problems with daytime functioning.

Nightmares may begin in children between 3 and 6 years old and tend to decrease after about age 10. Until age 13, boys and girls appear to have nightmares in equal numbers. At age 13, nightmares seem to be more prevalent in girls than boys. Some people have them as teens or adults or throughout their lives.

Symptoms

Nightmare disorder is referred to by doctors as a parasomnia — a type of sleep disorder that involves undesirable experiences that occur while you're falling asleep, during sleep or when you're waking up. Nightmares usually occur during the stage of sleep known as rapid eye movement (REM).

You normally go through four to six sleep cycles a night, cycling through the sleep stages in about 90 minutes. Your REM stage lengthens with each cycle, from several minutes in the first cycle to up to an hour in the last. You're more likely to have a nightmare in the second half to the last third of your night.

A nightmare may involve these features:

• Your dream seems vivid and real, often becoming more disturbing as the dream unfolds
• Your dream storyline is usually related to threats to your safety or survival
• Your dream wakes you
• You feel scared, anxious, angry, sad or disgusted as a result of your dream
• You feel sweaty or have a pounding heartbeat, but do not leave the bed
• You can think clearly upon awakening and can recall details of your dream
• Your dream occurs near the end of your sleep time
• Your dream keeps you from falling back to sleep easily

You may have nightmare disorder if, in addition to the above:

• The sleep disturbance causes significant distress or problems with functioning during the day
• Medications or physical or mental disorders do not adequately explain the fact that you have nightmares

Children's nightmare content varies with age, typically becoming more complex. While a young child might dream of monsters, an older child might have nightmares about school or difficulties at home.

When to see a doctor

Occasional nightmares aren't usually a cause for concern. If your child has nightmares, you can simply mention them at a routine well-child exam.

Talk to your doctor sooner if nightmares:

• Occur frequently and persist over time
• Routinely disrupt sleep
• Cause fear of going to sleep
• Cause daytime behavior problems

Causes

Nightmares are only considered a disorder if disturbing dreams cause you distress or keep you from getting enough sleep. Nightmares can be triggered by many factors, including:

• Stress. Sometimes the ordinary stresses of daily life, such as a problem at home or school, trigger nightmares. A major change, such as a move or the death of a loved one, can have the same effect.
• Trauma. Nightmares are common after an accident, injury or other traumatic event. Nightmares are prominent in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• Sleep deprivation. Changes in your schedule that cause irregular sleeping and waking times or that interrupt or reduce the amount of sleep can increase your risk of having nightmares.
• Medications. Some drugs — including certain antidepressants, blood pressure medications, beta blockers, and drugs used to treat Parkinson's disease or to help you stop smoking — can trigger nightmares.
• Substance abuse. Alcohol and illegal drug use or withdrawal can trigger nightmares.
• Scary books and movies. Reading scary books or watching scary movies, especially before bed, can be associated with nightmares.
• Other disorders. Some medical conditions and mental health disorders as well as other sleep disorders can be associated with having nightmares. For instance, anxiety can be associated with a higher likelihood of recurrent nightmares.

Complications

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, if the anxiety from the dream continues to bother you
• Resistance to going to bed or to sleep for fear you'll have another bad dream

Preparing for your appointment

For children, nightmares tend to decrease by the time they're teenagers. However, if you have concerns about safety or underlying conditions, you may want to see your doctor. Your doctor may refer you to a sleep specialist.

It's a good idea to prepare for your appointment. Here's some information to help you.

What you can do

• Keep a sleep diary for two weeks before your appointment to help your doctor understand your or your child's sleeping pattern. In the morning, record as much as you know of the bedtime ritual, quality of sleep and so on. At the end of the day, record behaviors that may affect sleep, such as caffeine consumption or medications taken.
• List all medications, vitamins or other supplements you're taking and the dosages.
• List any symptoms you're experiencing, including any that may seem unrelated to the reason for the appointment.
• Note key personal information, including any major stresses or recent life changes.
• Bring a family member or friend along, if possible, to help you remember what the doctor says.
• List questions to ask your doctor to make the most of your time together.

Some basic questions to ask your doctor include:

• What is likely causing my symptoms or condition?
• What are other possible causes?
• What kinds of tests do I need?
• Is my condition likely temporary or chronic?
• What is the best course of action?
• What are the alternatives to the primary approach you're suggesting?
• Are there any restrictions that I need to follow?
• Should I see a specialist?
• Are there any brochures or other printed material that I can have? What websites do you recommend?

Don't hesitate to ask other questions that occur to you.

What to expect from your doctor

Your doctor is likely to ask you several questions, including:

• When did you begin experiencing symptoms?
• How often do the nightmares occur, and what are they about?
• What do you usually do before bedtime?
• Have you had sleep problems in the past?
• Does anyone else in your family have sleep problems?

Tests and diagnosis

There are no tests routinely done to diagnose nightmare disorder. Recurrent nightmares can sometimes indicate underlying anxiety. If that's likely, the doctor may refer the child to a psychologist for assessment and management.

Nightmare disorder should be distinguished from:

• Sleep terrors, a different parasomnia in which you're likely to sit up, scream, talk, thrash and kick
• REM sleep behavior disorder, which involves acting out dreams, shouting, punching or kicking

Occasionally, if your sleep is severely disturbed, your doctor may recommend an overnight sleep study to help determine if the nightmares are connected to another sleep disorder.

Sleep studies

A sleep study (polysomnography) is a test used to diagnose sleep disorders and typically requires that you spend the night in a sleep lab. During the test, sensors are placed on your head and body to record your brain waves, the oxygen level in your blood, heart rate and breathing, as well as eye and leg movements. In some studies, a video camera will record your sleep.

Your doctor will review the information to determine whether you have any sleep disorders.

Treatments and drugs

Treatment for nightmares isn't usually necessary. If the nightmares are causing you distress and interfering with your daytime functioning, talk to your doctor. The cause of the nightmare disorder helps determine treatment.

• Medical condition treatment. If the nightmares are associated with an underlying medical or mental health condition, treatment is aimed at the underlying problem.
• Stress or anxiety treatment. If stress or anxiety seems to be contributing to the nightmares, your doctor may suggest stress-reduction techniques, counseling or therapy.
• Medication. Medication is rarely used to treat nightmares. However, medications that reduce REM sleep or reduce awakenings during sleep may be recommended if you have severe sleep disturbance.
• Imagery rehearsal therapy. Often used with people who have nightmares as a result of PTSD, imagery rehearsal therapy involves changing the ending to your remembered nightmare while awake so that it's no longer threatening. You then rehearse the new ending in your mind. This approach may decrease the frequency of nightmares.

Lifestyle and home remedies

If you're having nightmares, try some relaxation techniques before bedtime. Take a warm bath, meditate or practice deep breathing. A consistent bedtime routine is important. If your child is struggling with nightmares, be patient, calm and reassuring. Sometimes a little creativity helps, too.

• Offering comfort. After your child awakens from a nightmare, respond quickly and soothe your child at the bedside. This may prevent future nightmares.
• Talk about the dream. Ask your child to describe the nightmare. What happened? Who was in the dream? What made it scary? Then remind your child that nightmares aren't real and can't hurt you.
• Put stress in its place. If your child seems anxious or stressed, talk about what's bothering him or her. Practice some simple stress-relief activities, such as deep breathing.
• Rewrite the ending. As in imagery rehearsal therapy, help your child imagine a happy ending for the nightmare. Encourage your child to draw a picture of the nightmare, "talk" to the characters in the nightmare or write about the nightmare in a journal.
• Provide company. Your child might feel more secure if he or she sleeps with a favorite stuffed animal, blanket or other comfort object.
• Brighten up. Use a night light in your child's room. If your child wakes up during the night, the light might be reassuring.
• Open the doors. Leave your child's door open at night so that he or she won't feel alone. Leave your door open, too, in case your child needs comfort during the night.

Source: http://www.mayoclinic.org/

FREAKY DREAMS - What Do They Mean?

Whether it’s falling off a cliff or public nudity, find out what may be causing those vivid, crazy dreams.

Consider this freaky dream. You're at a black-tie gala in a fancy hotel banquet room with lots of other people. You're all having a good time eating dinner, dancing, and talking. When it's time to go, you look for your purse, but it's gone. As you anxiously search for it, a fast-moving river appears out of nowhere, bisecting the room. Your purse is floating on the river, but you can't reach it. It is moving too swiftly. When you awaken, you're filled with a sense of panic.

Now if you plugged the dream into an online dream analyzer, such as you might find at Freakydreams.com, you'd learn that a purse is a symbol for wealth and resources, a hotel represents transition, and a river connotes emotion. Since you have been living through a kitchen remodeling -- with its attendant financial stresses and upheavals -- this dream echoes and amplifies what's going on in your waking life.

What Are Dreams?

Human beings dream, and so do, scientists believe, most mammals and some birds. On the most basic level, a dream is the experience you have of envisioned images, sounds, or other sensations while you sleep. They are an internal mental process. But dreams are actually much more than that.

Sigmund Freud's theory was that your dreams are an expression of what you're repressing during the time you are awake. And Carl Jung believed that dreams provide messages about "lost" or "neglected" parts of our selves that need to be reintegrated. Many dreams simply come from a preoccupation with the day's activities. But some offer rich, symbolic expressions -- an interface between the conscious and the unconscious that can fill in the gaps of our self-knowledge and provide information and insight.

In his book The Three "Only" Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence, and Imagination, Robert Moss writes, "Dreams are open vistas of possibility that take us beyond our everyday self-limiting beliefs and behaviors. Before we dismiss our dream lover, our dream home or our dream job as unattainable -- 'only a dream' -- we want to examine carefully whether there are clues in the dream that could help us to manifest that juicy vision."

Why Do We Dream?

Everyone dreams every night -- even if we don't remember our dreams.

Tom Scammell, MD, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, says no one knows why we dream. "There is a strong movement in the research community to research how sleep improves memory and learning," Scammell says. "One speculative possibility is that dreaming allows you the opportunity to practice things you may or may not ever have to do, like running away or fighting off a predator."

Three or four times a night, you have a period of sleep that lasts approximately 90 minutes called REM -- rapid eye movement -- sleep. It is during REM sleep that your brain is more active. And according to Scammell, it's then that conditions are right for "story-like" dreams that are rich in action, complexity, and emotion.

"You are most likely to recall dreams if you wake at the end of a REM episode," says Scammell. "Americans, who are chronically sleep-deprived, probably miss out on some REM sleep. This builds up pressure for REM sleep. So when you're catching up on your sleep, you may have more REM sleep with more intense dreams."

Source: http://www.webmd.com/

DREAMS & NIGHTMARES - The Fascinating Difference Between Men's and Women's Nightmares

NIGHTMARES

The Fascinating Difference Between Men's and Women's Nightmares

Find out what's keeping you both up at night—and why it isn't the same thing

PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY 5, 2014  |  BY KATE MORIARTY

Whatever has you tossing and turning at night may depend on your gender. Bad dreams and nightmares differ between men and women, according to a recent study published in the journal Sleep. 

Researchers at the University of Montréal analyzed the dream journals of 331 adults, noting any bad dreams or nightmares. That's right—it turns out the two are actually different. While both are defined as disturbing dreams, nightmares are unpleasant enough to wake the dreamer up, while bad dreams are the ones you remember after your alarm clock goes off. 

Surprisingly, the dream journals revealed that men and women aren't suffering from the same scary, subconscious thoughts. Men's nightmares were more likely than women's to contain themes of disaster and calamity, including everything from fires and floods to war and the end of the world. Yeah, we definitely don't envy them. Themes of interpersonal conflict—like fighting with a friend or being betrayed by a spouse—occurred in about 34 percent of bad dreams for both men and women. However, these weretwice as common in women's nightmares than in men's (23 percent for women, 11 percent for men). 

Why are tricky relationship situations keeping more women up at night? The study authors suggest that our emotions probably play a role. For instance, dreams of social conflict may elicit a more intense emotional response in women, leading to a greater proportion of those dreams having a nightmare ending. But even though you're dreaming about accidentally hitting reply all, while he's dreaming of the zombie apocalypse, they're both pretty terrifying in their own right. 

So whatever's keeping you up at night, check out our tips for sleeping soundly both solo and next to your partner—because those end-of-the-world dreams will probably involve some middle-of-the-night thrashing.

Source: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/

DREAMS & NIGHTMARES - What Are Nightmares?

You have had a nightmare or two at various parts in your lives. They are quite normal. But what exactly are nightmares and why do you have them?

Nightmares are a subcategory of dreams. The distinction of a nightmare is its frightening and/or emotional content. You tend to wake up in fear in the midst of a nightmare. Because of its frightening nature, you are more likely to remember your nightmares and the vivid details. 

They have a bigger impact upon your waking mind. 

Its images stay with you throughout the day.

Some studies show that people who are more sensitive, intuitive, creative, or imaginative are more prone to have nightmares. This may be because they are more empathetic and more in tune with their surroundings.

One reason for nightmares may be a way for your unconscious to get your attention about a situation or problem that you have been avoiding. It is time to take notice and confront the issue! Sometimes nightmares serve to warn you about your health or an accident. 

However, often times nightmares stem from a deeper level indicating that something is troubling you from within your subconscious.  Discussing, analyzing, and understanding your nightmares can lead to a solution to some problem, internal conflict or personal difficulty.  

Source: http://www.dreammoods.com/

DREAMS & NIGHTMARES - New Canadian Study Analyzes Nightmares and Bad Dreams

Posted January 31st, 2014

Nightmares are disturbing dreams that actually wake you up and the awakening is directly tied into what was
going on in the nightmare. (Alysa L. Miller via Flickr/Creative Commons)

Waking up in the morning after having a bad dream at night might not be the best way to start the day, but, a terrifying nightmare can rock you awake from a sound sleep, leaving you scared and confused.

A new study released by psychology researchers Geneviève Robert and Antonio Zadra at the University of Montreal has revealed that nightmares indeed pack a much bigger emotional punch than simply having a bad dream.

Yes there is a difference between nightmares and bad dreams.  Zadra sums up the difference between the two in terms of intensity.

Nightmares, according to Zadra are disturbing dreams that actually wake you up and the awakening is directly tied into what was going on in the nightmare.  Having a bad dream can also be disturbing, but you continue to sleep and wake up as you normally would.  You may also remember the content of the bad dream as soon as you wake up or perhaps later in the day but, “there’s no temporal relationship between the content of the (bad) dream and us waking up from it,” said Zadra.

Zadra adds that nightmares end up giving rise to much more emotional distress than bad dreams do.  The researchers asked their volunteer test subjects to rate the intensity of the emotions they experience within their dreams.  After analyzing what the volunteers had written the researchers found that nightmares came out to be much more emotionally intense than bad dreams overall.

Fear is a common emotion that drives a nightmare or bad dream (Kris Krug via Flickr/Creative Commons)

And, while most people tend to link fear to nightmares and bad dreams, believe it or not it isn’t always the driving factor.  While fear does drive a majority of nightmares and bad dreams, Zadra says that about 35% of the nightmares and 50% of the bad dreams of the 10,000 they studied contained other primary emotions such as sadness, confusion, guilt, anger, disgust, and others.  As a result, nightmares can intensify a wide range of negative emotions.

So did the researchers find a common theme with nightmares and bad dreams?  Zadra said that the most frequently reported themes involved physical aggression or interpersonal conflicts, such as one where the dreamer is having an intense argument or is being humiliated by either a co-worker or family member.  Other themes related to helplessness, failure or health related concerns such as being told that you’re about to die since you have cancer or learning of someone else’s death.

Zadra said that being chased, the theme commonly used for nightmares in a number of books and movies, is actually quite rare, occurring in only about 10% of the nightmares and 5% of the bad dreams that were studied.

There are theme differences in the nightmares of men and of women.  Robert and Zadra report that nightmares in men were more likely to contain themes of disasters and calamities such as floods, earthquakes, wars and the end of the world, while women were twice more likely than men to have nightmares that contained themes involving interpersonal conflicts with a spouse, co-workers or family member.

Women tend to have nightmares that contain themes involving interpersonal conflicts such as having an arguement with a loved one (Stuart Anthony via Flickr/Creative Commons)

While most dreams are visual or a kind of a “cinema of the mind” Zadra says other senses can manifest themselves in nightmares and bad dreams.  Dreams can be auditory in nature, Zadra said that for example we can hear people scream or talk to us, hear sirens wailing or a dog barking. On rare occasions Zadra said that we can also feel pain, feel the cold or warmth around us, and sometimes we can also taste or smell things in our dreams.

While an old saying says that eating a heavy meal before bedtime will bring on a bad dream or nightmare, “I think we can probably put to rest the idea that having the pepperoni pizza before going to bed induces nightmares,” said Zadra.  While eating a heavy meal at before bedtime can give us indigestion or wake us up during the night, by and large nightmares tend to occur in periods when people are under stress or self-doubt.

Having recurring nightmares may also be linked to a traumatic event. Soldiers returning from war sometimes, dream of the traumatizing events that occurred to them. The researchers also pointed out that the consumption or withdrawal of alcohol or psychotropic drugs could also explain the frequency or intensity of nightmares.

Men are more likely to have nightmares about disasters and calamities such as floods, earthquakes, wars and the end of the world (Frankincensebarbados Plasticfoods via Flicker/Creative Commons)

“Nightmares are not a disease in themselves but can be a problem for the individual who anticipates them or who is greatly distressed by their nightmares. People who have frequent nightmares may fear falling asleep – and being plunged into their worst dreams. Some nightmares are repeated every night. People who are awakened by their nightmares cannot get back to sleep, which creates artificial insomnia,” said Zadra.

While they are incredibly disturbing, having frequent nightmares can be treated, according to the researchers.  Zadra said that one way to treat recurring nightmares is by using visualization techniques, such when the dreamer learns to change the scenario of his dream and visualize it in his mind by using a mental imagery technique.

A study based on the research conducted by Robert and Zadra was recently published in the journal “Sleep”.

Dr. Zadra joins us on this week’s radio edition of “Science World” to talk about the research he and his colleague Geneviève Robert conducted on bad dreams and nightmares. 

Source: http://blogs.voanews.com/

DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES - What is the difference between Dreams and Nightmares?

Dreams

When analyzing dreams it is important to try and determine what has instigated the dream. Dreams can result from a variety of factors. For instance in some circumstances eating something difficult to digest before bed can cause dream's to be revealed as meaningless images.

In other instances the flu can cause dreams to become fragmented visions caused from a sick body trying to heal itself. Although these pictures mean nothing to us logically, there is likely some pattern there that is applicable to the body. In still other instances dreams can reveal emotional struggles.

Although dreams can result from a variety of different factors, more often than not, the dreams we recall can be understood. We can recreate the story line, which we can later write down and analyze. These dreams can give us great insights into what we're dealing with in our lives at a particular moment in time.

They can depict both minor and major emotional struggles. They can also depict problems you have within yourself. These depictions can be some of the most profound life changing messages you will ever receive.

In his book on Edgar Cayce, Henry Reed talks about a higher self or 'the witness', which watches everything we do, say, feel and think. Our higher self never goes to sleep, it is always awake, watching, processing and seeing things from an objective perspective as we struggle through our lives.

Our higher self is aware of and connected with the creative energy of the universe. It uses this energy to get our lives back on track by sending us messages through our dreams.

It is because of this higher self that there is no one better than you for analyzing your own dreams. Only you can understand what you need?

A therapist can look at your life and see from the outside what appears to be the problem, but only you can see yourself from the inside, having full knowledge of all of your personal history and all of your secrets.

No therapist can help you if you leave out what could be the most important information of all when trying to deal with a symptom you may be experiencing. You are the only one who knows the full story.

Our higher self can create images in our dreams in an instant. It can embed symbols inside of dramatic stories, which from beginning to end can have profound meaning for us.

In her recent book, Debbie Ford talks about the holographic model of the universe. This theory describes every living thing as being a small part of the whole universe.

The best way to describe this theory is to think of the universe as a large mirror. When a mirror breaks, each piece becomes a mirror in and of itself but at the same time is a piece of the whole. Similarly a drop of water out of the ocean contains all of the same elements of the whole ocean. In other words we are all unique and yet exactly alike and by recognizing patterns in our self, we can relate the patterns to others.

Dreams have also been described as prophetic or precognitive, actually depicting an event, which has not yet occurred in our time. Skeptics of prophecy have been shocked into belief when they themselves have suddenly experienced a personal precognitive dream.

These types of dreams can occur to warn of impending illness or accidents. Sometimes they occur to prepare people for an inevitable death about to occur in the family.

For instance, I dreamt of the death of my young dog. I loved this dog like it was my child. In the dream I experienced gut wrenching grief and endless tears. A year later I was forced to put my dog to sleep as she had severe epilepsy, seizuring up to 10 times a day.

It was when I was experiencing the grief in real life that I suddenly remembered the dream. In it, a spirit had stood before me with outstretched arms and took my beautiful puppy from me. It comforted me knowing he was taking her and looking after her for me. That memory, which occurred in the dream, comforted me a great deal in real life.

So dreams can be many things for us. They are a gift from the universe. We can go through life ignoring them, or we can use them, pay attention to them, take advantage of them and learn from them. The answers are there for us; all we have to do is look.

Nightmares

Nightmares can cause terror in children and adults. In some cases the same scene occurs over and over never giving the dreamer any relief or a chance to rest.

Many children go through times in their development when nightmares can become a real problem. Sometimes, even for adults, nightmares become so intense they believe they are interacting with evil from outside themselves.

The most important thing is to never discount anyone's experiences with nightmares because there is so much about the universe that cannot be explained.

Edgar Cayce believed that evil thoughts are actually material things manifested by us. In other words by believing in raw evil you can actually create it.

The best advice to give someone struggling with nightmares is to tell them to get a hold of their thoughts! Fear and panic are the worst enemies in dealing with nightmares.

The more an individual panics, the bigger the evil will become. When it gets out of control, it doesn't matter whether or not the evil originated within someone's own thoughts. The problem is that it now has a life of it's own and will destroy the individual if they let it.

There are different ways of dealing with nightmares when they are occurring. It is important for the individual to become conscious of the fact that they are dreaming. If the person can calm themselves down enough, they can become conscious of the fact that they are dreaming. At this point if they are religious they can pray to God for guidance. If not they can think of pleasant peaceful thoughts.

It is often easier for individuals who meditate or pray on a regular basis because a peaceful connection can be made quickly in their dreams.

If you are religious develop a prayer that really helps you get connected to God in your heart. Develop that feeling of being connected so that all you have to do is say the prayer and that feeling of pure love, peace and safety will wash over you instantly. It takes practice but it is possible.

If you aren't religious, try meditating using a relaxation tape that helps you create a peaceful feeling. Once you have that feeling instilled in your subconscious you can reach out to it when you need it.

Nightmares can also signify deeply rooted psychological problems. Individuals who have been abused as children will suppress memories at the time of the abuse only to dream of them years later.

When individuals begin dreaming of the trauma of the past, it is usually an indicator that there conscious mind is getting ready to remember it.

In cases like these individuals should try to seek counselling to help them get through the trauma. If this isn't possible, they should try reading books on child abuse to give them an insight into their situation.

This is also indicative of individuals suffering from other forms of post traumatic stress disorder. It is common for them to be haunted by nightmares as they relive the traumatic event.

It is advisable for individuals suffering from these kinds of nightmares to get counselling to help them work through the trauma.

Children have a difficult time with nightmares because they have trouble differentiating between dreams and reality. With children it is necessary to sometimes be creative in helping them to deal with their nightmares.

The "dream catcher" is an excellent concept that originated in North American Native culture. It is a circular structure made of flexible wood, leather, feathers and beads.

Children hang it in their windows at night and it catches all of their bad dreams before the bad dreams can get to them. If these types of distraction methods don't work, one is forced to try to help the child deal with the dream itself.

A friend of mine taught his daughter to try not to wake up from her nightmare until she had started to fly. With this suggestion from her father, the young girl remembered the next time she was having her nightmare and she was able to stay in it until she had started to fly.

Once she began to fly she was able to destroy whatever had been bothering her in the dream and she was free to glide freely and happily. After that she was so excited she ran to wake up her father to tell him.

Children have been taught to try to control nightmares in other ways. In another instance a child was told to try to turn and face the monster and tell it to go away.

Helping a child deal with a nightmare is difficult and it needs consistent support from the child's parents. If a child is fortunate enough to have parents who will take the time to help them work it out, they are half way there and will eventually find a way to slay their dragon.

For some children the root of the nightmare could be caused by a tragedy occurring in their real lives. This could be as a result of abuse or neglect. If parents cannot find a way to help their child, professional help should be sought.

Source: http://www.dreamsnightmares.com/