Nightmares reveal HEALTH warning signs
By: Team Ifairer | Posted: 01-04-2014
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The researchers said frequent nightmares could indicate children are facing emotional trauma, such as abuse or bullying, in waking life. They said use of violent video games and computers near bedtime may also play a part.
It's thought we may experience terrifying threats in our nightmares to practise handling them in waking life, explains Patrick McNamara, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School.But nightmares may also indicate an underlying physical problem that is disrupting our sleep as we dream. We only dream during the stage known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. We experience REM, a very light sleep, on average four to five times a night.
Lots of medical problems cause disruption to sleep, which means you're more likely to wake during the REM phase and remember that you had a nightmare, says Dr Nicholas Oscroft, a sleep researcher and cardiologist at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge.