nightmares
The 7 most common nightmares and what they mean
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I guess everyone has nightmares. But what if they perform almost every night? Here we explain how typical causes of nightmares and what can help.
When nightmares fuel anxiety about sleeping
Probably everyone has had one or the other nightmare in their life. Bad dreams often cause us to wake up with a start and feel completely anxious the first moment we wake up. Depending on how bad the nightmare was, we may have a hard time getting back to sleep afterwards – it can even develop a real fear of sleeping. Nightmares are among the so-called parasomnias that interrupt sleep.
It is estimated that about five percent of all adults suffer from frequent nightmares that they find distressing. Children often have such nightmares too. If nightmares occur regularly and thus disturb the important sleep, you should look for the possible causes with professional help and eliminate them.
Why do we dream at all?
Researchers have differing opinions as to why we actually dream. Neuroscientists assume that we process sensory impressions and information from everyday life through every dream. Psychologists often assume that a dream is something like an endogenous therapy: In dreams, we are practically forced to deal with the emotions we have been confronted with during the day, even if we would rather not do so. According to this, the nightmares can be traced back to unresolved conflicts, for example, and can disappear again when this conflict is resolved.
Still other people assume that a dream or nightmare is intended to prepare us for possible terrifying future scenarios: the brain practically reenacts different situations that we might encounter so that we can instinctively react to them in the right way. Some sleep researchers, on the other hand, consider the nightmare to be merely a side effect of sleep, Spiritually inclined people often see a dream or nightmare as a portent of things to come.
And why do we have nightmares?
Nightmares are usually dreams that trigger strong negative feelings in us. These can be feelings such as sadness, disgust, fear, grief or even panic. Depending on how disturbing the nightmare is, it may take the sufferer some time to shake it off and go back to sleep. There are different types of nightmares:
- Unpleasant dreams (dysphoric dreams)
- Bad dreams you don’t wake up from
- Nightmares that lead to awakening
- Post-traumatic nightmares and so-called flashbacks (re-experiencing the dream in the mind) that occur after trauma, such as war
What causes nightmares?
The exact causes of nightmares are not clear to this day – however, there are some risk factors that increase the likelihood of frequent nightmares. These include:
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTBSD)
- Certain medications (e.g. blood pressure medicines, ironically also some sleeping pills)
- stimulants such as alcohol
- drugs
- chronic stress
- genetic factors
- snoring
- sleep disorders
- sleep apnea
- Mental illnesses, e.g. B. Anxiety disorders or depression
- Physical illnesses, e.g. B. Cardiovascular diseases
When do nightmares occur?
Every night we go through various so-called sleep phases, which together form a sleep cycle. It is important for our health that we go through this sleep cycle about four to six times every night. Contrary to what is often assumed, we can have a dream in every sleep phase – but we dream particularly intensively in the so-called REM phase. There are the following sleep phases:
- sleep phase: When falling asleep, pulse and breathing calm down, the body relaxes. Slight disturbances, such as light or noise, quickly wake us up again.
- light sleep phase: Now we really sleep, with hardly any muscle or eye movements. We spend most of our nightly sleep time in the light sleep phase.
- deep sleep phase: In the deep sleep phase, our brain begins to process what it has experienced and store it in long-term memory. In addition, the body cells regenerate and the immune system is improved.
- REM phase: REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement and owes its name to the fact that our eyes move back and forth quickly under closed eyelids during this sleep phase. Certain areas in our brain now show activity similar to when we are awake. In addition, dreams or even nightmares occur most frequently in the REM phase.
How should I interpret my nightmare?
There are some common nightmares for which the so-called dream interpretation different causes are defined, which often have to do with fears. These include, among other things:
- fall: Falling from great heights is one of the most basic human fears and occurs in many nightmares. This can mean, for example, that you have actually achieved a great goal and are now afraid of losing what you have achieved. Or you have general fears of loss, for example you fear a separation or losing your job.
- paralysis: Anyone who is paralyzed in the dream or can only move slowly from the spot could, for example, be afraid of losing control in real life or feel a strong dependence on other people.
- forgetfulness: If one forgets something specific in the dream or is generally forgetful, this can indicate that one unconsciously wants to break up or generally want to distance oneself from someone or something.
- Death or disappearance of important people: Surprisingly, losing loved ones in a dream could mean that feelings for that person are waning or that there are conflicts that should be resolved. But there can also be real fear of loss behind it, because the person concerned z. B. is ill or in danger.
- persecution: If one is pursued in a dream by something or someone, this can often be explained by problems from the past that have been dealt with badly or not at all.
- Come too late: In psychology, nightmares in which one is late are suspected to be due to deep-seated fears of not being able to complete tasks or not getting certain things done on time.
- Test: A dream about an exam anyone can mean that one does not feel prepared for an upcoming situation in life.
You can learn more about dream interpretation here.
What helps against nightmares?
Anyone who has a nightmare more than once a week and suffers from it (e.g. in the form of a fear of falling asleep or a general lack of sleep) should talk to their doctor about it and look for possible causes. If you know the cause of your nightmares, you can tackle them and, at best, greatly reduce the occurrence of bad dreams or even stop it altogether. If diseases are behind the nightmares, they must be treated. If medication is the trigger, you can possibly use another preparation in consultation with the doctor.
In the case of fears or even an anxiety disorder, psychotherapy should be used to try to find out the causes. Then one can work to change the perception of a dreamto make it less threatening.
Help from a dream diary
Even nightmares can quickly fade after waking up, so that after a short time we can no longer remember them. A dream diary helps here, in which you write down all the details of the dream immediately after waking up, which can then be discussed later with the doctor or in therapy.
reading tips: Find out everything about restless legs syndrome and night terrors here. We also reveal our best tips for falling asleep, how morning grouches get out of bed and what helps with sleep apnea. You can find out how you can sleep better here.