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As we go through nine of the most common bad dreams meanings, think about when you last had a dream like this (and what was going on in your life at the time). However, a dream's meaning isn't always as obvious as you might think. When it comes to meanings, nightmares are often easier to analyze if you look at the key themes or events taking place. Nightmares come in thousands of different forms, and no two are entirely alike.
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If you're worried about the frequency or nature of your dreams, talk to your doctor sleep specialists and therapists may be able to help with nightmare disorder treatment. If you have a nightmare disorder, you can end up avoiding sleep in order to escape these types of dreams, and you may begin to suffer from chronic exhaustion. You may experience more of them (or have nightmares that have a greater level of intensity) when you're facing a time of high stress.
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Nightmares are common in both childhood and adult life. Often, it will feel like nightmares last for a particularly long time, and it's common to remember many of the details when you wake. Nightmares take place during the REM (rapid eye movement) phase of sleep, usually after you've been asleep for several hours. To be nightmares, bad dreams need to be vivid experiences that make you feel sad or scared. Not all negative dreams qualify as nightmares. We'll explore the nature of nightmares, and then look at what an expert dream analyzer would say about nine of the most common. If you've ever asked yourself “what do my dreams mean?”, this beginner's guide will help you get a handle on any underlying messages from your subconscious. But can you learn anything about yourself by thinking about the themes of these sorts of dreams? Sleep studies and psychological research suggest that you can and that your nightmares may, in fact, be a very useful guide to unmet needs and unresolved issues in your life. In the worst cases, you can end up with disturbed sleep and images from your nightmares may haunt you for the rest of the day. Sometimes, you might find yourself having unusually frequent nightmares or even repeatedly experience the same awful dream. Even the most well-adjusted people have frightening or distressing dreams now and again.
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