Causes of Bad Dreams ( nightmares )

Subject: Causes of Bad Dreams ( nightmares ) Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:39 am

Bad dreams relate
largelyto one's state
of mind. Find out more
on the causes of bad
dreams.

Do you remember
getting up in the middle
of a night, horrified? Do
you remember getting
up from bed frightened
and recollecting to have seen something terribly
bad? It was possibly a
bad dream!

Bad dreams
occur during rapid eye
movement sleep. They
arouse feelings of intense terror or
distress. Bad dreams
are often lengthy and
occur during the latter
part of the night.
During a bad dream, the sleeper usually comes
upon a threat to life or
safety.

Bad dreams are
common among children
and their frequency of
occurrence decreases, as one grows older.

Bad dreams are often
linked with your
emotional state. In
times of great mental
stress and pressures,
one often has bad dreams.

Bad dreams are
often attributed to
death of a loved one in
near past. If you dream
of failing an exam or of
being held up in an in escapable situation,
that may be due to the
stress you are
under going during that
period. If you have
under gone a trauma in recent times, that
mental state of yours
might reflect in your
dreams.

Bad dreams are caused
due to certain
medicines. Medicines like
beta-blockers,
tranquillizers and anti-
depressants may become a reason for
bad dreams. If you have
recently withdrawn
from certain drugs like
sleeping pills, you may
get bad dreams.

Bad dreams can result as a
side effect of certain
drugs. Drugs that are
administered for
Parkinson’s disease often become causes of
nightmares.

Bad dreams
may be an indication
that dopamine levels in
the brain are low. You
can make up for the low dopamine levels by
increasing the intake of
vitamin B.

Your food intake just
before you sleep is also
a determining factor for
your bad dreams.
Consuming spicy food,
chocolates or fatty foods just before you
go to sleep can cause
bad dreams.

Studies
show that Atkins diet
increases the number of
dreams, most of which are unpleasant. Atkins
dieters are supposed to
have protein rich, high
fat and low
carbohydrate food. This
is believed to increase metabolism and thus
load the brain with
greater work, causing
nightmares. Consumption
of caffeine and other
stimulants just before going to bed increases
your chances of getting
bad dreams. Alcoholism
or sudden withdrawal
from alcohol may cause
bad dreams.

Ross Levin, a therapist,
treating nightmare
disorders and insomnia,
describes people having
nightmares as being
‘ thin boundaried’ . He has observed that such
people are vulnerable to
fantasies, more in ward
looking and they often
think negatively. People
having high imaginative powers are at a
greater risk of having
nightmares. Most bad
dreams can be traced
back to trauma. Crime
victims and rape survivors are often
observed to have
nightmares. Seeing
horror movies may
cause nightmares in
children. Some physical factors
also contribute to bad
dreams. Illnesses
accompanied by fever
cause bad dreams. Sleep
apnea, a breathing disorder in sleep and
other sleep disorders
like Narcolepsy cause
bad dreams.

Sometimes,
nightmares occur during
pregnancy. Nightmares should not
be confused with night
terrors. Night terrors
often occur during the
non-rapid eye
movement sleep and the subjects often do
not remember what
they have seen in their
dream. The subject is
temporarily unable to
gain full consciousness after a night terror. In
case of a night terror,
an emotion of dread is
felt but there is no
event dreamt. This
differentiates night terrors from nightmares
or bad dreams.

Moreover, bad dreams
are connected to
traumatic incidents and
feelings of dilemma.
They reflect your
inabilities, your problems. Your mental
and physical health
largely dictates your
dreams. Thus it is
important to
understand your dreams. They might be
suggesting something… . So, on knowing the
causes of your bad
dreams, act effectively
towards bringing in a
positive change into
your life!

- adopted to Manali Oak