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Nightmares every night and lack of sleep

Over the past week I've been having nightmares every single night, causing me to wake up in a sweat around 3am. I then can't get back to sleep again, or it's a really light sleep that leaves me feeling awful when I get up.

This has started suddenly, I've always slept through the night perfectly. And it's leaving me feeling extremely run down during the day.

Is this an anxiety thing? Anyone else gone through this?

:frown:

Reply 1

skunkboy

Nightmares can be associated with sleep disorder. Many factors that can trigger nightmares are below..

1) Stress. Sometimes the ordinary stresses of daily life, such as a problem at home or school, trigger nightmares.

2) A major change, such as a move or the death of a loved one, can have the same effect.

3) Trauma. Nightmares are common after an accident, injury or other traumatic event. Nightmares are prominent in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

4) Scary books and movies. Reading scary books or watching scary movies, especially before bed, can cause nightmares.

5) Bedtime snacks. For some, eating right before bed — and the resulting boost in metabolism and brain activity — leads to nightmares.

6) Illness. Sometimes being sick triggers nightmares, especially if the illness is accompanied by a fever.

7 ) Medications. Some drugs — including certain antidepressants, narcotics, barbiturates, beta blockers and drugs used to treat Parkinson's disease — can trigger nightmares.

8) Substance abuse. Alcohol and illegal drugs can trigger nightmares.

9) other factors, such as your room too hot or cold. Your bed too hard or soft. Or your room smells so awful. Or your pajamas too tight... etc.

My suggestion : You should go see your doctor.

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Reply 2

username1862217

I heard cheese and chocolate contain chemicals that make it more likely you'll have a dream (or nightmare). Dunno how true that is though. Anyone have any sources on this stuff?

But I generally find nightmares are triggered by something in my waking life causing negative emotions (stress, anxiety, trauma, pain, sadness, fear, and those sort of feels have all triggered nightmares for me).

Are there any correlations between your nightmares? Similar content in each one? Recurring themes? Same style or turn of events? Similarities can point to something in your daily life. Sometimes the link will be obvious, while other times it can be more abstract.