Table of Contents
- Overview
- Treatment
- Prevention
A nightmare is a dream that occurs during sleep that brings out strong feelings of fear, terror, distress, or
See also:
Generalized anxiety disorder Night terror Post-traumatic stress disorder Sleep disorders
Alternative Names
Dreams - bad; Bad dreams
Considerations
Nightmares tend to be more common among children and become less frequent toward adulthood. About 50% of adults have occasional nightmares, women more often than men.
Common Causes
Anxiety and stress are the most common causes of nightmares. A major life event occurs before the nightmare in some cases.
Other causes of nightmares include:
- Abrupt
alcohol withdrawal - Breathing disorder in sleep (
sleep apnea ) - Death of a loved one (bereavement)
- Excessive
alcohol consumption - Illness with a fever
- Recent withdrawal from a drug, such as sleeping pills
- Side effect of a drug
- Sleep disorder (for example,
narcolepsy orsleep terror disorder ) - Eating just before going to bed, which raises the body's
metabolism and brain activity
Review Date: 02/22/2010
Reviewed By: David B. Merrill, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New
York, NY. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director,
A.D.A.M., Inc.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)

