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Dakota murawa
Mrs. Sutton
Senior workshop
12/04/2014

What causes nightmares?

A nightmare is a disturbing dream associated with negative feelings, such as

anxiety or fear ("Nightmare Disorder"). Between two and eight percent of adults have
problems with nightmares (Adult Nightmares).

Nightmares along with other dreams

can only occur in the REM cycle of sleep. As the night goes on the periods of REM sleep
become longer which causes nightmares to occur in the early mornings (Adult
Nightmares). Nightmares can be cause by many factors like eating a late night snack,
drug use or alcohol, or a mental health issue (Adult Nightmares). Some people may
have a problem with night terrors and even though they sound frightening they are two
different problems.
Nightmares first begin when people are around three to six years old and tend to
become less frequent around the age ten, although at age thirteen girls seem to have more
nightmares than boys ("Nightmare Disorder"). There are many causes for nightmares and
one reason is eating before bed. Everyone loves their late night snack, myself included,
but for people with nightmares it could be the cause of their nightmares. Eating before
bed can cause a person to have a nightmare because eating food speeds up your
metabolism and sends a message to your brain signaling it to be move active(Adult

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Nightmares). so avoid a late night snack if experiencing Nightmares it could be the

cause of them occurring in the first place.
Another cause of nightmares is certain mental health issues such as Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can occur after a traumatic event such
as being in a war or being witness to a violent crime or a fender bender. Its common for
people with PTSD to have reoccurring nightmares that are closely associated to the
incident that triggered the PTSD (Nightmares). when people who have other mental
health issues and are taking medication for their disorder, the medication can cause
nightmares to occur because the medicine works on the chemicals in the brain (Adult
Nightmares).
A major cause of nightmares is drug and alcohol use, whether legal or illegal. a
2008 study published in the journal Psychopharmacology looked at ketamine, a drug
used in anesthesia and recreationally, and found that compared with a placebo, ketamine
use resulted in more dream unpleasantness and increased the incidence of bad dreams
("Cadman). Other drugs that work on the chemicals in the brain such as narcotics and
any other illegal drug will cause nightmares. ("Cadman).Alcohol will help boost the
strength of REM sleep which can increase the chance of the occurrence of nightmares.
Its not uncommon for alcoholics or people who consume a good amount of alcohol every
night to report having nightmares. Also people suffering from withdrawal from alcohol
often have nightmares (Cadman). Another common cause of nightmares can be stress.
Having problems at school or work can trigger nightmares as well as a big move or a loss

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of a loved one. For some people reading a scary book or watching a scary movie can
trigger nightmares (Nightmare disorders). In my opinion it happens more often with
children.
Theres a common misconception about nightmares and night terrors both occur
while asleep. They occur in different stages of sleep night terrors occur in Non Rem
sleep. Nightmares occur in REM sleep and are caused my many different reasons.
(Common questions). The difference between the two is that if a person has a night
terror it they will not be able be coherent but will speak, if a person has a nightmare they
will remember what occurred in the nightmare (How to Tell).
Most people experience nightmares from their youth to adulthood. Its a common
thing for someone to have a nightmare every once and awhile. Everyone has experienced
a nightmare in their lifetime but the cause of every persons nightmare cannot be
determined specifically. There are numerous potential causes; it all depends on the daily
life of the person having them and their day to day choices. If they choose to use illegal
drugs or drink alcohol or even eat a late night snack theres a lot of factors that can be
associated with causing nightmares. Its another one of those things that can be caused by
how a person lives and some people have to live with reoccurring nightmares, but its
funny that one of the causes of nightmares is a lack of sleep.

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Works Cited:

"Adult Nightmares: Causes and Treatments." WebMD. WebMD, 2014.

Web. 28 Nov. 2014.
Cadman, Brie. "Six Reasons We Have Bad Dreams." Divine Caroline.
N.p., 2014. Web. 01 Dec. 2014.
Common Questions About Nightmares - International Association for
the Study of Dreams." Common
"How to Tell the Difference Between Nightmares and Night Terrors."
WikiHow. N.p., 2014. Web. 05 Jan. 2015.
"Nightmares." Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a
Therapist. N.p., 2014. Web. 30 Nov. 2014.
Nightmare Disorder." Definition. N.p., 9 Aug. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
Questions About Nightmares - International Association for the Study
of Dreams. N.p., 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2014.