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 inescapable situation, that may be due to the stress you are undergoing during that period. If you have undergone 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 If you have recently withdrawn from certain drugs like sleeping pills, you may get bad dreams.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 inward 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!