The Nightmare

A nightmare is a dream that involves something frightening or unpleasant. Most commonly, a nightmare is a dream that involves somekind of pain, the feeling of falling and sometimes even death. Everyone gets nightmares every now and again but these are most common when the person is sick, is sleeping in a certain position, has eaten right before bed or has some kind of sleeping discomfort. People usually wake up during a nightmare, usually at the climax of it. While everyone gets nightmares, people constantly get nightmares should seek medical or psychological advice.

Studies of nightmares and dreams have shown that most things that people dream about are not positive. Other studies of nightmares have shown that nightmares are more prevalent in kids above the age of five. Nightmares are said to peak at young adulthood, possibly due to hormones and then lessen in occurrences as the person grows older. People who are generally anxious are more likely to have nightmares.

People who seek treatment for nightmares typically receive a similar treatment as those who are trying to recover from various stress disorders after experiencing something traumatic. This treatment is referred to as "imagery rehearsal". Other specialists believe that "lucid dreaming" is the best way to recovery from recurring nightmares that are stemmed by traumatic events. Lucid dreaming is a form of sleep where the person is aware that he is dreaming. Lucid dreamers can sometimes even affect the dream and make conscious choices and decisions while dreaming. The two kinds of lucid dreaming are "the dream-initiated lucid dream," where the sleeper realizes that he is only dreaming at some point in the dream and "wake-initiated lucid dream" where the sleeper begins to dream as soon as they fall asleep.