While everyone has nightmares, some are more traumatic and vivid than others. They’re not only where you see monsters and ghosts, but also where you see occurrences from the past, or even the future. Depending on experiences and memories, they can become reoccurring and make us anxious about potential dangers.
Diedre barrett, a psychologist at Harvard university says that a nightmare acts as a reminder that there is an issue to be addressed. Past studies also show that nightmares are aspects of events that will happen in the future.
One reoccurring nightmare I had as a child continued one for about two to three years. The scene every time would open up with me in a maze, running away from a Witch that was trying to kill my family. As a 7 year old, nightmares like that were pretty terrifying, especially when they don’t stop for two years.
Although the nightmares did not effect how I went about my day or made me fearful of going to sleep, for many people , such as those who suffer from Post traumatic Stress Disorder, it does. This most often happens to those who have served in the war and have seen both enemies and those they love die, leaving them with extreme anxiety.
A study by Elizabeth Mohkamsing-den Boer recorded the nightmares had by members of the Surinamese and Australian tribes. This study showed the correlation between the nightmares they had and events that were currently happening, or were waiting to happen in their lives.
What she concluded is that nightmares are “transitional dreams” and most often occur during a time when one is conflicted or unsure about something.
While nightmares only happen while we are asleep, there are still strategies we can use to train our subconscious and get a peaceful nights sleep.
One way, is to come up with an alternative ending and rehearse it before the dream occurs again. By doing this you are training the brain , telling it hat you want the nightmare to end how you want. If you do this before bed, it may be able to either end your nightmare differently, or make it not happen at all.
http://www.livescience.com/32730-why-do-we-have-nightmares.html
Dreams in general have always fascinated me and I have always been pretty good at remembering my own dreams. When I was younger I had such a strange reoccurring dream. Every so often I would dream that I was being chased by killer geese and when I tried to run away I would run super slow. This dream never really effected me at all, it was just an overall strange reoccurring nightmare. It is interesting how there is speculation that dreams can show aspects of something that will happen in the future. I have always told myself that I am going to start writing my dreams down every morning when I wake up but I never do. One strange thing that I have noticed when I’m having a nightmare is the fact that I know I’m in a dream and that consequently nothing bad will happen to me when I wake up.
I saw this cute wiki how and thought it was perfect for this blog. Heres a couple of ways to ensure that your fearful days come to an end. http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Having-Nightmares
I have always been fascinated with my dreams and nightmares and their possible meanings. It’s interesting that my nightmares are actually based off issues that are occurring in my life. I am fascinated at how these issues manifest themselves into different forms during nightmares, like the witch one you mentioned. I read an article that mentioned that children are more likely to experience nightmares than those that are older. This could be because children are more susceptible to fear and this can manifest in their nightmares. In addition women are more likely to experience nightmares. This doesn’t surprise me as women are known for being more thoughtful and sometimes this can continue into their dreams. It’s interesting that we have control over our nightmares and sometimes we are predisposed to more based on age and gender.
Here is a link to the alternate study: http://www.aafp.org/afp/2000/0401/p2037.html
I found this blog post very interesting, I frequently have nightmares but I’ve noticed that they’re more common for me after I drink something with a lot of caffeine. I was wondering if maybe your diet had anything to do with nightmares, and after some research I found that there is a correlation.