Nightmares - About Us

1 | Raising awareness of sleep healthWhat are Nightmares ? Nightmares are vivid scary dreams. They tend to wakeyou up. They may often also stop you going back to sleepdue to fear. Many children have them, but they tend tostop between ages 9 to 11. If they keep going past thisage and are not due to stress or trauma, then the personmight keep having them for the rest of their life. Theseare known as idiopathic Nightmares (start in childhoodand not from trauma). They can also start at any age afterperiods of stress, trauma, and the start of a mental orphysical illness. A child will often dream of frighteningimaginary creatures monsters or ghosts. An adult maydream images of events which either threatening orharmful in some way.

2 These can be real or with a link to trauma tend to have vividimages from the event assault, bushfire, accident,war etc. No matter what the cause, they tend to have thesame effects: Waking up suddenly due to the nightmare . This oftenoccurs About 90 minutes after going to sleep . It canoccur over and over for the rest of the night. The timebetween them is often around 90 minutes. Rapid heart rate as well as fear. The person maysweat. Seeing vivid images or scenes where something badwas done to the person humiliated, threatened a child or adult becomes very distressed in their sleepbut has no memory of this in the morning they may beexperiencing a sleep causes them?

3 Nightmares tend to occur in the same stage of sleepwhen you dream. This is known as dreaming sleep or REMsleep. REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement. In REM sleepnormal dreams occur. This may play a part in how weremember and process information that we took in duringthe day. In a child, REM sleep may be more intense. Theirimaginations may be more vivid too. This may lead tosome of their dreams causing high levels of fear orconfusion. In adults, Nightmares are far less common. Butthey can still happen as a result of stress or trauma (seePost Traumatic Stress Disorder and sleep ). People with amental illness schizophrenia, may have them as are other things that can set them off too such assickness, medicine and common are they?

4 Ten to fifty percent of children have them. The number ofadults who have Nightmares is much less, from to10%.Important Things to Know AboutNightmares Nightmares are most common in children. Butadults can get them too. They can be set off by many things such as stress,trauma or mental / physical illness. For some people there is no known cause. You might think they are harmless. But they canhappen so often that you don t get enough sleep atnight. There are ways to treat them ( drugs), or youcan learn how to control your dreams. If they are due to an event in your life, you can getcounselling to deal with 1/12/11 3:58 PM Page 1 How do they affect people?

5 Nightmares wake you up suddenly. This can make it hardto go back to sleep . If they happen a lot, you might notget enough sleep at night. A few people get so scared ofnightmares that they try to avoid sleep . This can affectyour mood during the day. You may feel anxious anddepressed. This is especially so with Nightmares due can Nightmares be dealt with? In a child, they tend to just be part of growing up ( ,not due to any major trauma). If so, the parents shouldsimply reassure the child after a nightmare . With timethey should go away. In adults there are ways to treatthem such as counselling as well as methods to teachhow to change the nightmare ( , learning to changethe story line).

6 There are also medicines that makedreams less intense or occur less often. These work bothwith Nightmares due to trauma and other types. Teachinghow to control dreams ( story line alteration) worksquite well in adults and even better in could you do to help?There are ways to make Nightmares happen less should be sure to relax enough in the hours beforebed and keep regular sleep and wake hours (see GoodSleep Habits). Try to reduce overall anxiety. Avoid can make sure that your children have some quiettime before and when should you seek help?If you or your child keep having Nightmares and this ishaving an impact on well being ( not getting enoughsleep at night, being in a bad mood during the day) thenyou should talk to your GP.

7 If the Nightmares are fromtrauma, illness (physical or mental), medicines or drugsyou could speak to your doctor About these might your doctor do?Your doctor can refer you to psychologist or sleepspecialist. From them, you can get treatment to controlyour Nightmares as well as information to help you sleepmore soundly. They may also train you on how you canchange what happens in your dreams to make them lessthreatening or frightening. If your Nightmares are due totrauma in your life you should get counselling for are also paediatric sleep specialistsor childpsychologists who can treat can I find out more?For children: all ages: | Raising awareness of sleep healthSleep health Foundation ABN 91 138 737 854114/30 Campbell Street, Blacktown NSW 2148T: +61 (0) 2 8814 8655 F: +61 (0) 2 9672 3884 Disclaimer - Information provided here is general in nature and should not be seen as a substitute for professional medical concerns About sleep or other medical conditions should be discussed with your local doctor.

8 sleep health Foundation, 2011 This information is produced by: sleep health FoundationABN 91 138 737 national organisation devoted toeducation, advocacy and supportingresearch into sleep and its disordersSleep Disorders AustraliaABN 98 075 427 voluntary group offering assistanceand support to people and theirfamilies living with sleep disordersAustralasian sleep AssociationABN 32 172 170 561 peak national association ofclinicians and scientists devoted toinvestigation of sleep and its disordersSHF- Nightmares -1111 1/12/11 3:58 PM Page 2