by Andrew Pacholyk, MS. L.Ac Nightmares are very common among children and fairly common among adults. Contributing factors in the cause of nightmares include illness, stress, troubled relationships, traumatic experiences, emotional difficulties, drugs or medication. However, some people have frequent nightmares that seem unrelated to their waking lives. Recent studies suggest that these people tend to be more open, sensitive, trusting, and emotional than average. Traumatic events sometimes trigger a long lasting series of recurrent nightmares often diagnosed as part of PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder. These traumatic events are different from nightmares in that they repeat the same scene over and over for months, sometimes years. Night terrors are different from nightmares. Night terrors usually occur during the first hour or two of sleep. It is not uncommon to hear the person screaming or thrashing around. It is often hard to wake the sleeper and they rarely remember anything. Often seen in children, night terrors are harder to understand. In adults, they tend to come under severe stress. Sleep paralysis is the experience of not being able to move. Sometimes the person realizes they are dreaming and still can’t wake up. In this situation both fantasy and reality feel as if they mix. Symptoms may include the feeling of a heavy weight on the chest making it hard to move and difficult to breath, hallucinations, loud buzzing noises, vibrations, the feeling of being electricuted or the feeling of being touched. Researchers feel that sleep paralysis is really a partial awakening during REM or Rapid Eye Movement Sleep. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, there is a particular sleep pattern associated with imbalance or the diagnosis called dream disturbed sleep. Excessive dreaming indicates imbalance. They are often defined as dreams which cause restless sleep or nightmares, resulting in the person feeling very...
Continue Reading
Continue Reading
