Nightmares: When are they considered a sleep disorder?

Since we are very young we have always wondered where nightmares come from or why we have those unpleasant dreams where we live horror adventures.

Nightmares are not unique experiences of the little ones, adults can also suffer from them and they do not have to be monsters. We can have different negative experiences because of work.

In a colloquial way, we define nightmares as those disturbing or terrifying dreams that make us have a bad night, full of fear and that can make us wake up with anxiety.

Although its nature is still unknown, science can already establish that nightmares appear during the “rapid eye movement” phase of sleep. And although reasons of a psychological nature (anxiety, stress, personal problems) are assumed, medicine (including psychology) continues to investigate its appearance.

Despite the ignorance on the part of science, several studies have determined a series of causes that can cause those bad nights that seem to be taken from a horror movie, such as: Depression, Stress, alcohol consumption, some diseases physical, different traumas of our childhood, consumption of some medications and definitely not enjoying good sleep hygiene.

The consequences of having nightmares at night are clear, despite the fact that its content does not cause physical damage, ultimately, it leads to poor quality sleep and, in general, taking into account the possible causes listed above, it is necessary to avoid encounter unbearable nights of anxiety and poor sleep, because even if we are lovers of the horror genre, we will never enjoy living it in our own flesh and less at the time of our rest

A nightmare is only considered a disorder if it occurs frequently, causing severe distress or disability during the day or fear at bedtime for fear of having another nightmare.

Nightmares can also cause problems with concentration or memory, sleepiness, fatigue, or lack of energy during the day.

See your doctor if you have nightmares that occur frequently and persist, causing frequent interruptions in your sleep and causing you to fear falling asleep.