Nightmareshave numerous causes including stress, fever, and psychologicalcauses like emotional trauma, depression, guilt, and fearfulness inwaking life. For example, a child’ssleep can be disturbed by a nightmare that is caused by an emotionaltrauma, such as overhearing a loud quarrel between the parents. Heavydrinking is also associated with nightmares. Some prescription drugslike beta blockers and reserpine can also provoke nightmares. Anotherreason that has been put forward as a cause of nightmares is eating“heavy”foods like cheese justbefore going to bed.

Mostnightmares are disturbing because they tap into the fears of theperson having them. Nightmares often involve the sensations ofintense fear, terror, extreme pain, or danger, like falling,drowning, or even imminent death. Some people believe that if youhave a nightmare in which you die in your dream, you will soon die inreality as well. However, there is no evidence of this.

Theword “nightmare”comes from a combination of the words “night”and “mare.”The latter was a word for a demon in Old English. In centuries past,people believed that a nightmare was the result of a demon sitting onthe chest of a sleeper. making the sleeper dream terrible things andthus wake up with a feeling of terror or difficulty in breathing.

egularnightmares can affect your health, leaving you exhausted and unableto function properly. A person experiencing persistent nightmaresshould talk to a therapist or psychologist.