What’s in a Nightmare?

“I woke up in my apartment in the middle of the night to a noise coming from the living room. Feeling fearless, I hop out of bed with the intention to investigate. The hallway seems longer than usual, and darker. I flip the light switch — the bulb seems to be burnt out. I venture forward into the darkness, and again try to turn on the lights when I make it to the living room. This time the lights turn on, only they no longer illuminate the entire room. In the far corner, shrouded in darkness, a figure sits still on the couch…”

What exactly is a nightmare?

50% of us know exactly what a nightmare feels like. By definition, a nightmare is a dream that results in feelings of extreme fear, horror, distress, or anxiety. Like dreaming, nightmares typically occur during REM sleep. A difference, however, is that nightmares often wake the sleeper from their REM sleep, making it more likely for them to remember the content of the dream.

A study in 2014 aimed to find the most common themes in nightmares found that physical aggression was the most prevalent, followed by death, health, and threats. Fear was a common emotion evoked by the nightmares, but sadness, confusion, fear, and disgust were equally as common.

Similarly, another study found that the five most common nightmares were falling, being chased, being paralyzed, being late, and death of family or friends.

Why do we have nightmares?

Like dreams, the evolutionary advantage of nightmares still isn’t known for sure. We talked briefly about threat-simulation theory in a previous post in this series: the theory that dreams allow us to practice threatening situations, so that we are prepared for if they happen while we are awake. Thus far, this is the most prevalent theory in what the purpose of nightmares may be. In 2005, a study found evidence supporting this theory: children living in more threatening situations were shown to have more threatening dreams, suggesting that they have a more active threat simulation system.

Anxiety, stress and depression are commonly linked to nightmares — in around 60% of cases, nightmares are preceded by a major life event. A recent study showed that 28% of participants with severe depression suffer from frequent nightmares, compared to 4% of controls. Chronic, reoccurring nightmares are also a common side effect of PTSD. This seems to match up quite well with the theory that we have nightmares to prepare us for traumatizing situations in real life; if you’re anxious, stressed, or depressed, your mind is preparing itself to deal with those feelings.

Nightmares are also much more common in children than adults. The nightmares our kids tell us about are often similar to their imaginary fears (such as monsters), or social humiliation (such as forgetting to wear pants to school). The world is a much more new and scary place for children than it is for adults, so it makes sense for their threat simulation to be much more active.

What is causing my nightmares?

If you aren’t stressed, depressed, anxious or feeling particularly threatened, there are a few other links that have been made to frequency of nightmares in adults:

· Eating before bed: this increases your metabolism and can signal the brain to be more active.

· Sleep disorders: some sleep disorders such as sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome have been linked to more frequent nightmares.

· Alcohol: excessive alcohol consumption and abrupt alcohol withdrawal have both been linked.

· Medications: nightmares are a common side-effect of psychological medications such as antidepressants and narcotics, as well as others such as some blood pressure medications.

· Migraines: migraine headaches may be linked to a higher occurrence of nightmares.

· Sleep deprivation: being deprived of sleep may lead to more nightmares, which becomes a huge problem because having nightmares can also cause a lack of sleep!

Practicing good hygiene and controlling your stress are the first steps you can take if you’re experiencing a sudden onset of unpleasant dreams at night. Follow us on instagram for tips to get a better sleep and new research being conducted in all things sleep, and tell us your craziest nightmare stories in the comments!