Why do nightmares happen?

We’ve all had them, those dreams in the middle of the night full of terrifying images that haunt us and flood us with feelings of fear, anxiety or sadness. It usually involves some kind of dangerous situation like falling or drowning, a scary object or animal like snakes or haunted houses, or even people we know or demon versions of them.

Sometimes nightmares can be mild and simple like falls, quickly waking us up. Other times, the nightmares seem so vivid and real that they literally scare us even after we wake up. We learned long ago as children that these bad dreams weren’t actually caused by the monsters in our closet, but why exactly do nightmares occur?

There are a variety of physical and psychological reasons why nightmares occur. For example, having a high fever can cause a variety of nightmares. Sleeping in a place such as very cramped quarters or low bunks or in a position where you are facing a wall or propped up on your pillow can often lead to dreams with a choking or drowning theme as you respond to your surroundings differently. subconscious. Eating just before going to sleep stimulates brain activity that can also cause a person to experience nightmares.

Stress is another important factor in nightmares. Just as stress can manifest in physical ways, your dreams are also affected by the stress levels in your life, often leading to nightmares. In particular, nightmares that have a sense of failure, of being chased by an enemy, of being unfairly captured or persecuted can be the result of stress. Some people believe that all of these things are manifestations of the anxieties that the stress they experience imposes on them psychologically.

Other reasons nightmares occur can be due to psychological issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder or stress from a recent disturbing experience where the person continues to deal with traumatic events while sleeping. Nightmares sometimes appear in people who have blocked traumatic events from their conscious memory, but because events from their past are always present in their subconscious, they can sometimes manifest in nightmares.

Whatever the underlying reason the nightmares occur; There are some things you can do to help minimize the occurrence of these negative dreams. Being calm and sleeping in a relaxing environment can help relieve any anxiety or stress you may experience throughout the day to help prevent stress from creeping into your sleep. Taking a relaxing bath before bed, spraying aromatherapy scents, and using natural sounds like soothing waves to help eliminate street noise can help you create a peaceful place to sleep.

If you have frequent, recurring nightmares that interfere with your quality of sleep or prevent you from getting enough sleep, talk to a health care provider to discuss other options.