A nightmare, also called a bad dream, is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong emotional response from the mind, typically fear but also despair, anxiety and great sadness.
A nightmare is a dream occurring during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep that results in feelings of inescapable terror, fear or extreme anxiety. This phenomenon tends to occur in the latter part of the night and oftentimes awakens the sleeper, who is likely to recall the content of the dream. Nightmares can have physical causes such as sleeping in an uncomfortable or awkward position, having a fever, or psychological causes such as stress, anxiety, and as a side effect of various drugs.
Causes of nightmare:
- Anxiety or stress is the most common: In 60 percent of cases, a major life event precedes the onset of nightmares
- Illness with a fever
- Death of a loved one (bereavement)
- Adverse reaction to or side effect of a drug
- Recent withdrawal from a drug such as sleeping pills
- Effect of alcohol or excessive alcohol consumption
- Abrupt alcohol withdrawal
- Breathing disorder in sleep (sleep apnea)
- Sleep disorders (narcolepsy, sleep terror disorder)
- Inherited tendency toward nightmares
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