First of all we should probably discuss what a nightmare is.

A nightmare is what we experience them while we are asleep, just like regular dreams, except for they are usually provoke a strong sense of fear or sadness in the dreamer. They are what we’d sometimes like to call a ‘bad dream’.

Quite often, the dream will be of someone or something chasing you. For adults it’s common for a human someone to be chasing the dreamer, while for children it is more often than not some imagined creature or animal.

One way to tell if what you are experiencing is indeed a nightmare is that upon awakening you will usually have some idea what the bad dream was about. If you only wake up with a sense that you dreamt of something scary, but are unsure as to what it was, you might have been experiencing a night terror, which is a completely different thing.

Nightmares though, are common especially among children, but still remain in adulthood. By this time however, the number of bad dreams the adult will face is usually reduced greatly.

Now perhaps would be a good time to explain why we have nightmares in the first place.

Bad dreams can be brought on by a number of reasons. Certain drugs (or the withdrawal from them) can cause nightmares. So can stress and upsetting events in a person’s waking life. Other times there is seemingly no reason at all for the nightmares.

In children, it is believed that nightmares occur as way of dealing with all the questions a child faces while growing up. This refers to the questions they either do not yet know the answer to, or do not fully understand. One of the many realizations that tend to give children nightmares is when they first learn that everything, including them, will eventually die.

Finally you might ask if there is a way to stop bad dreams from occurring.

Well, that all depends on why you are having the bad dreams in the first place. If you think they were brought on as a side effect to the medication you are taking, consult your physician about switching to a new medication, or changing the dosage so that the nightmares might stop occurring.

If you believe that the nightmares are caused by some sort of upsetting events that happened in your waking life, then you can always see a therapist to help you resolve whatever issue may be leading to the bad dreams.

Unfortunately, if there is no way to determine what might be causing the nightmares, there is little you will be able to do about stopping them. It is also important to note that even if you know of the reason, there is still no guarantee that you will be able to rid yourself of your nightmares.

If you think it might help, talk to someone you trust about your nightmares. This has been known to help children and adults both deal with the fears that face them while asleep. Remind yourself that dreams are just that – dreams. They are not real, and whatever bad things you saw while you were asleep won’t still be there when you wake up.

Having nightmares is not the end of the world. There doesn’t seem to be any real adverse reactions to having nightmares so long as they aren’t frequent enough to prevent you from getting enough sleep. Even in children there don’t seem to be any long lasting effects from nightmares. Just keep in mind that they are a common part of growing up and though less common in adults, still a part of adulthood as well.