A nightmare tends to be extremely vivid dream that evokes feelings of helplessness, terror, anxiety and sorrow. Nightmares are common in children, but can happen during any age, between 2% and 8% of the adult population is plagued by nightmares. Nightmares are known to be vividly realistic, unsettling dreams that rattle you awake during the middle of the night.
Find out what your nightmares are trying to tell you. Interpret The Meaning Of Your Nightmare By A Dream Analyst.
Common Nightmares & Meanings
- Bitten by a snake
- Being chased
- Teeth dreams
- Death dreams
- Stuck in sleep
- Being Cheated On
- Bitten
- Test or exams
- Death dreams
- Natural disasters
What Might Be Causing Nightmares
Adult nightmares are often involuntary however they can be caused by a multiple of factors or underlying disorders. Studies have shown that half of the population experiences nightmares on a regular basis, though children tend to experience night terrors (ages of 3 to 12 years) reporting symptoms of anxiety, fear and intense crying while sleeping.
Nightmares can be very complex dreams that have many underlying causes and doesn’t necessary predict something bad to happen. In recent study from the University Of Switzerland they concluded nightmares improved the effectiveness of the brain reacting to an alarming or scary situations faced in our lives. Find Out Why Nightmares Are Good For You.
Prescriptions medications have been also known to increase dream vividness and nightmares or taking illegal drugs or alcoholic substances. This can also occur if the individual is coming off medication, or if an addiction wears off. If you are suffering from lack of sleep we recommend you to consult your doctor.
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Unconscious fears
- Unresolved past experiences
- Medication or withdrawal
- Anxiety and depression
- Late night snack or poor diet
- Stress
- Alcohol
- Sleep Apnea
Suffering From Any Sleep Disorder?
Constant disruptions in your sleep may also be attributed by sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome and REM sleep disorder. Furthermore, a Parasomnias is a disruptive sleep disorders that happens during (REM) that results in undesirable physical or verbal behaviors, such as walking or talking during sleep.
These disorders cause after effects as the individual will fear going back to bed to experience that same scenario. As a result one will be more likely to encounter a mild sleep deprivation, decreased mental clarity and depression.
This can also lead to insomnia. There hasn’t been a cure for nightmare disorders but there are many techniques to minimize them from occurring. Frequent yoga and mediation have been known to help reduce the cause as your body and mind to be in a more relaxed state.
Nightmare Disorders
Nightmare disorder or commonly referred to as a “dream anxiety disorder” considered a series of nightmares classified under the DSM -IV. These repeated awakenings during nightmares occur during the stages of REM sleep.
During the dream the individual will experience intense fear as if they are fighting for their life. Most of the time they will wake up instantly due to the terror they are experiencing thus having trouble going back to sleep.
The dreamer might experience speaking, moaning, screaming at random of the night. Though these symptoms may not always be present. When woken from the sleep state, the dreamer will often experience a feeling of anxiety as adrenaline is still pumping thought out their body.
Night Terror Vs Nightmare
There is a misconception that night terrors and nightmares are the same thing. They might mimic nightmares but though they are completely different in nature. Sleep terrors can be classified under a parasomnia disorder where the individual can physically act out in their sleep by screaming, thrashing, or even crying.
Occurrences of aggressive sleep walking have happened as the dreamer may even attack a family member. The dreamer may experience difficulty trying to snap out of the dream state. Sleep terrors usually occur with children under the age of nine, though, it can frequent adults who are under extreme stress, depression, or even bi polar disorder.
Generally the movement can last anywhere between 10 – 20 minutes, either the individual will go right back to REM without ever disrupting their sleep state. If they do wake up from this state they will often encounter confusion or anxiety. The majority of sleep disturbances, occur in the stage before deep sleep that decrease.
Spiritual Meaning Of Nightmares
In fact decoding your nightmares might be beneficial to you spiritually and mentally. Dreams contain metaphoric messages to warn the dreamer of ignored internal ideocracies’. Understanding the dream symbols might give the dreamer insight to what might be overlooked that could be causing distress. Nightmare occur as a warning to help you follow the right direction and path in life.
Other Possible Causes of Nightmares
- Experienced a death of a loved on or somebody close to you
- Quitting smoking, alcohol or going on the patch
- Consuming large amount of alcohol in blood stream
- Battling a illness or flu
- Having a Bad reaction to drugs or withdrawal
- Not dealing with an on going problems in your life
- High volumes of stress and anxiety
- Trauma from witnessing violence
Recurring Nightmares
Nightmares are fairly common in both men and women that can frequent as much as 2 times a month. Experiencing recurring nightmares on a regular basis might suggest their is an underlying issue.
Recurring nightmares are not your enemy but your friend trying to get your attention. They appear one way but mean another, painful experiences and emotions are stored away hidden in the dark part of the unconscious. As disturbing as the dream my present itself to be, the message is clear for you to shed light on what’s ignored.
Nightmares & Children
Believe it or not nightmares are more common with children than adults. Roughly around one quarter of children have at least one scary dream or nightmare a week. Scary dreams can start as early as 2 to 3 years of age for a children. At the age of 6 they may start to experience full on nightmares. Around the ages 10 and up, nightmares tend to subside and become less vivid.
Children’s nightmares typically involve frightening situations or events that revolve the people close to them. The types of nightmares contain images or bizarre events, the typical “monster or ghosts“ theme. Children are generally quite during their nightmare and hardly move around like most adults.
Child Nightmares Prevention
Unfortunately there is no cure to stop your child nightmares, though they can be prevented by using techniques that we provided below. Studies have shown that nightmares could be genetic as its passed down from either member of the family. Though there are ways you can help take control to comfort your child from nightmares.
- Play relaxing music for your child throughout the night
- Have them stay away from junk food and high sugar drinks
- Train them to control their dreams. Tell your child what to day to monsters in the nightmare.
- Read them a nice book and keep positive thoughts in their head before bed.
- Talk to your kids and ask them what are their greatest fears and tackle them.
Tips On How To Stop Nightmares
Understanding what underlining factors that might be causing your nightmares by examining your lifestyle. Has there been a build up of stress lately? Have you been taking any drugs that might be affecting your sleep? Analyzing what you nightmare means helps figure out what problems in your life you need to tackle.
Taking the time to relax before you go to bed is a start. You can practice each night 10 minutes of Yoga and breathing exercises right before bed. Listening to relaxing soothing music during sleep calms your whole mental being.
Reports state that playing video games and watching negative images before bed will cause an increase of nightmares. Practicing lucid dreaming has been quite beneficial when it comes to manipulating your dream settings. You can make the bad guy go away in a blink of an eye.
There is not much you can do when you just had a nightmare, though paying attention to the symbols in them will give you a better understanding on what your unconscious is hinting at. Keeping a dream journal helps you remember the dream in more detail.
Taking good care of your body goes a long way. Eating healthy has more benefits then just feeling well. You will experience peaceful sleeps and less snoring. See benefits of nightmares.
This had been a few days ago so i dont really remember it but ill try (oh and sorry for bad english im german) : normally i dont remember any dreams and if i remember any then its not an nightmare so i was suprised when i woke up to a nightmare one time. i was in my current school, just in an classroom in wich i was 2 years earlier in real life. it just was like… something like zombie-like things where there. originaly some people in my dream told me that there were people who lost their eyes… Read more »
Yesterday I dreamed that I was passing through a mountain pass at night with my mother and her friends on my scooter and it broke down in the middle at the peak,it wa ls really dark but there were a lot of people there and all of sudden, to my back, on the horizon there was a bright light..we thought it was nothing but then it happened again and I estimated it was an explosion of some sort and then slowly small blazing trails of red started appearing and I knew what it was, it was a meteor shower and… Read more »
I’ve had this nightmare every time I have been pregnant. A golden field open to the sky, me flying above. A tall strong young blonde male stands in the sunshine on a slight rise of the field. The field is circled by many different kinds & colors of trees. On the other end of the field stands a warped black dressed blonde younger male. In the middle of the field stands a beautiful blonde curly headed girl. The field looks peaceful, but a battle is raging. Noise, hate & rage are battering them all, even though they never move. The… Read more »
After my mother passed away, I’d had a dream where I was standing on the top of beautiful rolling hills. At the bottom was a Mausoleum. I’d found myself standing at the bottom, on a rich pile of earth, like a grave. I looked over to see a young boy walking into the building, and following him was a very serious tiger. I left the pile of earth thinking I could save this boy, and as I reached the door, I heard a very loud gunshot. Then I woke up.
I’ve had this same dream multiple times.I walk inside this house and put a baby on the fridge.the baby keeps falling off the fridge and break bones.but I keep putting it back on the fridge.
My husband was recently diagnosed with cancer and yesterday he bought a burial plot. He is being treated and is expected to live. We are both getting older and so we decided to start the process of getting ready. Last night I dreamed he had a big black serpent (snake) in his hand and was teasing me with it . not sure maybe he turned into it. then it lunged at me three times and the last time it vomited up clear fluid, then I screamed his name and woke my self up, I was terrified. ? I realize it… Read more »
I keep having a nightmare every time I sleep I’ve had it every night for a month my mother in law passed away in November and my nightmare starts off with me walking into a hospital and turning the corner and way down at the end of this long hallway I see a huge sign that says leukemia and then this boy that appears to be about 5 or 6 runs past me down this hallway and doctors and nurses are chasing him yelling stop you can’t go in there and then a woman walks by me but I didn’t… Read more »
My husband wakes screaming sometimes.
Usually he doesn’t remember the dream.
Last night He remembered he was being squished but doesn’t remember by what.
Does this simble what I think it might?
Does he take any medications?
Yes for cholesterol
What is the name of the meds he is taking?
Teva-Rosuvastatin
Nightmares seems to be one of the side effects from it. I am not sure if the dream has any sort of meaning. I would need a lot of information to pick it apart. Maybe you can ask his doctor the next time he visits to see what he can do.
I have chronic nightmares/anxiety-induced dreams. I have PTSD, depression and anxiety. I’m also transgender and most of my dreams surround my childhood in being raised female and in a religious and extremely conservative environment. I attended only Lutheran schools until college and now have come “out” and transitioned from female to male. My reoccurring anxiety dreams happen every time I sleep, even if it is a nap. They are usually centered around my gender dysphoria in my body and being naked in public. I have reoccurring anxiety dreams that consistently take place in my grade school and high school. The… Read more »
Sorry to hear about your current situation. I can tell by the context what you are going through is being projected in your dream. Have you spoken to anyone regarding how you feel?
I have had two dreams this week about my back garden. First there were rats (huge rats) out there. Then there was a stranger stood outside my locked back door, he wouldn’t go away and ignored me, he put a carrier bag over the door handle and started to try and light it on fire. I can’t find out what it means
Rats are bad omens and once its location is in your garden it tells you about something stopping your growth (see garden in the search bar).
The house is your mind and you have locked something out; a stranger remains unconscious to you. The bag is something you carry around with you as the fire destroys this threat. You are making progress to kill whatever this is to transform. See fire & rats
I have a recurring dream/nightmare that seems to be related to my previous work. In my dream, I am frantically trying to get to the next meeting room in a multi-level building. I can’t remember where to go. I pass many recognizable people along the way..many people. Everyone is rushing to get to their own class room. The building is very difficult tho navigate. I am not using traditional methods to get around like stairs or elevators. I am climbing up the sides of stair cases and ledges. It is a very difficult terrain to traverse! In last nights dream,… Read more »
If your dream is recurring it tells you about some sort of trauma, emotional pain, repressed feelings that happened in the past. You can usually pinpoint the occurrence when the dream started to occur. Buildings in our dream are symbolic in the sense they appear to be related to things we metaphorically build in our lives; a sub construct (mind/psyche) relating to principles, relationships, beliefs (see building dreams in the search bar). Many clues emerge that might hint at being related to your old work or perhaps something else. You need to ask yourself what aspect in your life you… Read more »
I had the weirdest nightmare. I think I was in LA and a woman with a terrible attitude came up to me and started talking about this other woman she hates. She kept saying she was really stupid and that she talked her into getting plastic surgery but the ‘stupid b**** had so much of it, she burnt her skin off’. And then she shows me the woman she was talking about who slowly walks behind her and I kid you not, she looks like an actual zombie, only her skin isn’t decomposed, it’s all red and a lot of… Read more »
It’s quite possible the women with the terrible attitude is you, or what might be unconscious to you. Usually when aspects are hidden from us in our lives it appears in our dreams; Jung called this the human shadow that likes to appear in dreams in the manner. See shadow in search bar. If she is unable to move her mouth it tells you about a lack on communication or expression – something that was once beautiful is now dying off. This can metaphorically reflect many things in your life. Alternatively, the zombie, LA, plastic surgery might be related to… Read more »
Interesting interpretation! Thank you very much! To be honest, I could relate a lot more to the botched-up girl than the terrible attitude one, although I’m not a woman (but maybe the female gender has something to do with the anima?). Botched Up kept smiling even though she was in a terrible state…. I will say that I did recognize some parts of my self in Terrible Attitude [TA] (namely the way she just really hated that woman, there’s some people I really dislike myself). I don’t know if this is of significance, but TA had a very Nicki Minaj… Read more »
Welcome. If you can relate more to the TA than it is time to make whatever is unconscous conscious to you. Nicki Manaj is is more plastic than a barbie, i guess that barbie image is a projection to say the least.
i had a nightmare last night that my mother and father died from a disease that slowly eats their organs up and turns it into little styrofoam balls until they die and when they fully died my siblings and i mourned their deaths and i tried to get them back by traveling to someplace called the end. on the way there i broke into someone’s house and was walking in midair in their garage as they just escaped prison and were fleeing after getting some basic stuff like food and personal hygiene stuff. also coins stuck to my feet like… Read more »
Death is not such a bad dream, however based off of the contexts it suggests something might be metaphorically eating them up. The prison can be aspects of our mind or things that trap or confined us. I think an important part of the dream is the fact that you tried to get them back. What does that mean to you? Houses are also part of the dreams psyche/mind – the garage might be something stored that would be connected with your drive (car).
Okay so I can’t seem to find something relevant here so I’ll explain. I haven’t had a nightmare in a while now but did use to have night terrors as a child. As an adult they are rare. I do have experiences of recurrent apocalypse dreams however. I dreamt of an apocalypse scenario but for the entirety of the dream I was never actually myself, I just saw other people or characters that I was forced to watch. Like a TV series such as the Walking Dead that I could not look away from and was inside of. There were… Read more »
I think the dream could be hinting at a couple of things. First, the zombies and apocalypse could be related to unconscious negative thoughts about society or relates to your mood (depression). See zombie dreams in search bar.
The second way I think you can look at it would be related to the feminine unconsciousness or what Jung would call the anima. The purpose would be to find balance within the opposite in you, sort of like the yin and yang (masculine & feminine). See anima in search bar.
Interesting. Thanks for the response. I do have conscious negative thoughts about society so maybe subconscious too. I looked up Jung’s anima theory and it seems more likely the correct interpretation. The last time I had recurring apocalypse dreams was when I was in the second stage of the anima development (most likely). Now I have found Buddhism and believe I’m in the third stage of anima development. But in my early-mid twenties. Perhaps there’s a link between accelerated anima development in younger men and night terrors/nightmares.
You are most welcome. The more that we are aware of these negative thoughts is half the battle. “Perhaps there’s a link between accelerated anima development in younger men and night”.. Hard to say really. Nightmares may occur for many different reasons, though its not a bad guess. The anima is a very complex idea that even baffles me to this day.
Ok so my dream was I saw someone had warts on their leg but I did see the same person and warts in the same spot before the dream
Warts are negative symbols that are attached to your skin or what is known in dreams your image/identity. Both the skin and legs together seem to be related to your inner world expressing in society. See leg and skin dreams to find the answer.
When I was around 6 I kept having the same sort of dream over and over again. I had go to the bathroom and when I got out of bed a shadow monster would try to get me. They usually were faceless but occasionally they looked like family members or other people in my life. They usually came from the closet so one night I decided to close the closet. The night after I had a weird good dream about them. It started like it always did but this time it continued after they caught me. They told me they… Read more »
i had a dream that a lovecraftian entity summoned itself along with me and some random people into the abyss of the deep sea, and it was warping reality to keep us alive down there, and it threatened to destroy the universe, it pretended to fight us and started hurting people just to scare us, and we somehow found a way to fight back (dont remember how) and it was either shocked or injured, and it tried to swim away when suddenly a huge swarm of hagfish appeared from the abyss and ate it alive while it screamed and struggled,… Read more »
To me it sounds like you entered the emotional unconscious part of your psyche. It seems as if this massive animal that should be on the ground and not in the water relates to something unconscious with you. Now pigs are known to be negative symbols of greed or having no refinement. The fact you are fighting tells you that you might be challenging this aspect of yourself or others around you. The hagfish connects with the SPIRAL which points towards transformation.
I had a dream about a mouse or rat was trying to get into my panties. I was crying and trying to get it out. What could this mean?
It might have to do with trouble some thoughts, sexual urges that remain unconscious with you.
As a child, I had a reoccurring nightmare. The night mare from what I remember, I’m locked in a dark house with a pale, muscled, man. Im chained to the ground, and he comes into the room and bashes my skull in. I wake up, unable to die in this dream, and somehow manage to escape my chains. I walk into the next room and find what appears to be a morgue of at least 30 bodies. The bodies have sheets over them. The man finds me, and I run onto the roof. I jump, and I find myself right… Read more »
It might be tying in with the snake biting your kid. What was your relationship like with your mom and dad? Remember your wrist and your kids hand were affected. So it might contain some repressed or unconscious elements. So you have to figure out what were you trying to escape. Who put the metaphorical chains on you? Blood can be traced back to life force.
I’m in a white room with no windows or doors. The roof opens up like a toy box and I’m catapulted into the sky looking down on the earth. It’s all white, everything on the earth is white, not eggshell or tan, plain white. After a while of looking at earth in horror because the beautiful world you knew is gone, it explodes and then sucks everything into its core and I spend the rest of the dream in a geometric nightmare like is the future episode in spongebob or the Abstract Thought room in Inside Out. all of the… Read more »
The room with no windows or doors might represent your mind, or feelings of being stuck. You have to look at houses as a part of the psyche – the roof might have to do with thoughts (opening up) as you go to the sky. What are your thoughts about the world?