DREAMS, LITTLE DREAMS

It has been proved that all human beings have dreams while they are at rest. It is amazing to see how many of them can actually re-tell what they have dreamt so accuratelly as if it were something that actually happened. The problem arises when these dreams are not only happy illusions but they become nightmares.

The word nightmare has been defined as bad dreams that wake you up. Researches say that nightmares and dreadful dreams offer potentially information about the larger mystery of why we dream in the first place, how our dreaming and waking lives may intersect and cross-infect each other, and, how we manage to construct a virtual reality in our skull.

One of the reasons why bad dreams can offer an insight into the skeleton of dreams is that most of our dreams are bad.
Survey and diary studies have shown that nightmare frequency varies by age and sex. Preschoolers are relatively immune to this phenomena, but not so their elder siblings. Roughly 25 percent of children ages 5 to 12 report being awakened by bad dreams at least once a week.

The content of nightmares also changes over time and across cultures.
Based on my personal experience, I have never gone through this kind of nightmares that would prevent me from sleeping. I feel I do not dream much. So I guess I tend to forget all my dreams.

All in all, having nightmares at night also causes health problems due to the fact that you cannot rest as much as it is requiered in order to re-gain strenght and put your body at some rest.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/science/

Date: October 23rd, 2007.

Article's Title: Basics: In The Dreamscape of Nightmares, Clues to Why we dream At All.