You sit up from bed, the cold sweat dripping down your frightened face feels like ice. Your hands shake as if you were just about to present in class. The dreams keep coming back, haunting you as you try to rest. Sleeping is now a miserable process to go through. But what do these spine tingling feelings mean? Where do they come from? When do they stop?

Nightmares

Nightmares; they tend to wake you up from your sleep and make you feel scared of the things around you. There are hundreds, thousands of things you can dream about.  It can be weird, scary, or even funny. They must have meaning to them, right? 

What’s the scare about? 

We know not all nightmares are the same, but did you know they all have common elements?  These elements can be falling, drowning, or dying, but what do they mean?  Falling in your dreams can mean you are powerless, or even out of control or it could mean you are afraid or failing at something in your life. Drowning could mean you feel overwhelmed by your own emotions. Dying in your dreams can mean many things, it could mean a symbolic goodbye to a relationship, job, family, or home. These components can represent a part of you that wants to escape.

Nightmares vs. children

Although nightmares tend to have different interpretations, aging can also influence your dreams. Children who wake up from nightmares often can make them feel alarmed and scared of their surroundings. Waking up, they could possibly feel anxious, sadness, anger, or even disgust. Although there is not a specific reason why children have nightmares, there are some certain caused factors that could possibly cause it.  This can be stress, having traumatic events in their life, having a fear of something, or the medications they take. 

Nightmares vs. adults

To my surprise, adults often have more intense nightmares than children.  The sleepless nights and frights, they are both reasoned to be from the lack of sleep the person is getting.  The reasons for having poor sleeping schedules are due to lack of hygiene, lifestyle choices, sleep disorders, and medical conditions. Having late night meals and snacks can increase the probability of having nightmares due to the increase of the metabolism that expands the brain activity. Another common way adults get nightmares are psychological conditions such as Anxiety, Depression, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders.

Students responses

Dreams can be different for everyone. Everyone has different feelings towards them. In what way, shape or form could we know what someone is dreaming about? Even if the dreams or nightmares may not be appealing, are you scared to find out?  I interviewed one person, they chose to remain anonymous. 

I asked them: “How often do you remember your dreams?” Anonymous  replied: “I remember them sometimes.” 

 I asked them: “Have you ever had the same dreams over again?”

 anonymous person: “Not usually, no.”  

I asked: “What was the worst nightmare you’ve recently had?”

 Anonymous  replied: “I wouldn’t say it was a nightmare but recently I had a weird dream, it was about my cat.  The cat could be able to serve itself.”  

I asked: “Have your dreams ever come true?” Ominous person replies: “No, not that I know of.” 

I ask: “Do you walk or talk in your sleep?” Ominous replies with: “no.”  

Overall, dreams can be a wildfire of emotions. They seem to bring us into another world, yet we wake up unable to remember them later on. Dreaming overall helps restore memories in your brain and sort  out your most complicated thoughts and feelings.