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 chasedÂ
- 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 DisorderÂ
- Unconscious fearsÂ
- Unresolved past experiences
- Medication or withdrawalÂ
- Anxiety and depression
- Late night snack or poor diet
- StressÂ
- AlcoholÂ
- Sleep ApneaÂ
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. Â 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. Â 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 Â 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 ideosyncracies. 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. Â The types of nightmares contain images or bizarre events, the typical “monster or ghosts“ theme. Â 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. Â 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. Â 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.
I was looking for something under a bed everything I stretched for something it pushed at me with aggression when I looked a bit more there was a face looking back at first I was shocked and woke wondering what I just dreamt then a couple of weeks pasted same dream but this I woke shouting my sisters name who has been dead since 2012.
The nightmare made me wake up with a headache. I was just at home. The lights were off, but I could still see. I have a plastic box on the floor, and I noticed that it had used kitty litter pieces, which was odd because the last time my cats were here was over a month ago. Well, I just brushed it off and sat down to drink something, but I accidentally spilled it. But when I looked down, the spill was only coffee grounds on the floor. And the floor had turned into grey tiling. That’s when I realised… Read more »
So I was sleeping last night then I was watching creepy slideshows before I sleep. Then I dreamed of the most traumatic dream I’ve ever experienced so there was this girl she has dark brown hair or whatever she looked like her mother was a witch no offensively but she looked creepy she didn’t knew how to talk and then a few days later (in the dream) she was vomiting everywhere and I sit next to her she was about to bite me like was the bitting necessary also I remembered my sorroundings was the same as my house but… Read more »
I had a nightmare and it was the oldest thing, I have dreams sometimes that are more stories than dreams (most of the time they are pretty vivid) this one started out in a pizza place’s kitchen area? Well anyways I was a kind of spectator to everything happening, the character that all the stuff was happening too was being chased by bloody demonic figures after burning their hand in fire (entire hand) so they were running and then they ran into a void like area that morphed into a hallway and a cold feminine voice appeared narrating about the… Read more »
I need help. I just woke up from 3 nightmares in a row. First, I was in the mirror hysterical taking out my hair which took awhile (I had long dreads which isn’t true) and removing my makeup then running to show a person who is unknown to waking up realizing I was dreaming, looking at my kitten think about how I liked the dreads to realizing when the kitten got up to move because my grip was getting tight (he moved in my dream and was already moved in real life thank God) that I couldn’t open my grip… Read more »
I just woke up from the most disturbing dream of my life. Me and my mom were in a convertible for some reason, but I’m not too worried about that. We were driving down a road but there was a road block that looked like a really big wheel. We went into the other lane and saw the most graphic, bone-chilling thing a child should never witness. This was the road to my school and there was a pool right next to it. There was a blonde girl who looked at least 17, wearing a lifeguard swimsuit curled up with… Read more »
I had a bad dream that I noticed brown recluse spiders all around In the corners and on the walls of a place my family and I were at, when I pointed it out to my family they acted like it wasn’t a big deal really and I tried telling them these things if they bite you they can kill you , they are poisonous and they didn’t listen and my uncle was bit on the back of his neck. I watched the spider drop down onto him and didn’t say anything though. The spiders are the most prominent part… Read more »
I’m being weaned off a medication, so anxiety levels are high. Last night i dreamed my BFF had a mental break and I went to visit her at an instiution. But everyone from the doctor to patients to even missing mentioned patients were all me. The most dreadful nightmare I’ve ever had.
I have had night terrors all the time since the ripe age of 4. I wake up screaming and crying, waking up the entire house. however, I began to learn how to lucid dream and even wake myself up, if I recognize a situation is a dream (which i rarely do recognize). I have noticed some recurring theme; I lose/am losing a loved one and there is nothing I can do to help. But there are some very personal undertones to the nightmares, some severe past traumas (abusive relationships, childhood trauma, spousal abuse). A recent one had me giving myself… Read more »
I had this dream where pennywise was killling me and my friends so i had to kill him with the bat infront of me but he impaled my entire Ribs and went through my body and that was the weirdest feeling i had ever felt it felt painful ticklish and numbed. So i end up waking up with not even abit of fear but a sore feeling in my back
My dream started out in school I had just got back to school and was heading to my class and the class room was packed I warned my teacher I was going to have a anxiety attack and asked to got to my locker to get my Chrome book I go bad in the hall and pass by as teachers and a little girl I felt pity for the girl for her disability and was talking about it then all the sudden I see some familiar people come in the school two friends and a boy I saw one friend… Read more »
I have a reccurring dream, for as long as I can remember. I’ll have this dream, always like an out of body experience. I’m just there but just watching. It’s usually me going from scene to scene to scene. Random places I’ve never seen before and mean nothing to me. One being this specific building that I’ve been dreaming about for years. It’s small on the outside but very complex on the inside. A lot of different rooms, of different styles. Some modern and sleek, some 70s style, some just completely abandoned and rusty. Like they’ve been there for years.… Read more »
I have no idea what my dream meant it was a large grey room and there was poisonous smoke in the air we had to wear masks to breathe and I couldn’t find mine I was staring to cough but I finally got one then large boa constrictors started to bite people on the neck two people I’ve never seen before and one being my boyfriend then it flashed to a second room and it was my mom sister and stepdad talking about going to swim in the pool she handed me a bathing suit it was orange and black… Read more »
I recently started dreaming of my husband that passed 6byrs ago. He is leaving me behind in one dream,and I’m struggling to get home and get to him ,and hollering for him. Then the next one 2 days later ,I was cleaning,and moving it seemed,and it’s like I knew he was there…all of a sudden spiders, big spiders start coming from beside the fridge into my pile of trash. Then again I start screaming for him . Both times waking myself up calling/ screaming his name. What does this mean ?
Hi.. I just had an incredibly disturbing nightmare and I could really use an explanation as to why. I just woke up and I’m pretty shaken up. My dream was a long one, and in the beginning it was v normal and calm. because of this i don’t remember a lot about the beginning other than that i was just spending time with my parents and then they were driving me to my college campus bc i can’t drive. usually, my mom is the one to drive me by the way but this time my dad was there and he… Read more »
I was inside my home in my childhood bedroom and the attic was open and I went inside my attic and I all of a sudden woke up in the basement and walked up the stairs to look for my mom and she wasn’t in her bed so i went looking for her and I found her freaking out in the dining room and she was fighting someone but she was obviously asleep and I woke her up and she looked outside and started to panic and kept saying red cat red car and I looked outside and there was… Read more »
My 13 year old has a reaccuring dream just a few minutes into when he falls asleep, that people are yelling and screaming at him and he can’t hear them. It wakes him up and he can’t fall back asleep, cause he keeps having these visions.
He wants to go see a councillor to talk about this. Just have to get the ball rolling.
[TW: gore] I dreamt I was on a school trip and we were around exercise equipment. A kid wearing a cast on one leg wasn’t going to be able to participate so he went to play around but ended up falling and getting sucked up into a machine. In the dream, it was really clear on the sounds even when I turned away, covered my ears and shut my eyes. When he finally fell out, he wasn’t covered in blood but I distinctly remember a sharp bone sticking out above his knee on the non-cast leg. The whole class that… Read more »
I dream of signing autographs for lala lopsy dolls but this certain doll stared at me weird so I tried to run but all the dolls took their heads off and became that same doll then stabbed me with a knife. It felt real
Dreamed my son was asking me to play with him but I had to get ready for work. I heard something then ran to find his older self holding his younger self under water in the bathtub and laughing. I pushed the older ones head under to break his hold on the younger child but he continued to laugh even as he choked on the water coming up and kept pushing the younger under. The I woke up screaming don’t you even ..