Are nightmares really that common???

I have read a lot of posts about nightmares and would like to know if they are really that common. I have always had very good dream recall and I can probably count on one hand all of the nightmares that I can remember having. I can remember having had them as a child but none that I can remember in the past 10 years (I'm 21). I guess I've never really thought about them too much, but now the whole idea of a nightmare is kind of foreign to me. Being really scared or in some kind of danger just never happens in my dreams. Am I a freak or some kind of exception? What causes or affects nightmares?

nightmares are really common in children, because children tend to get more scared and are more vulnerable than teenagers and adults. i had nightmares when i was younger, and in a handful of them i got lucid, but nowadays i dont have scary dreams. of course my dreams fall under the category of unusal/bizzare, but not scary. so you are normal, unless we are both freaks.... :lol:

I have nightmares a lot myself, though that may just be because I try and induce them, because the help with lucidity.

i think it just depends on the mindset of the person to be honest. i mean i had a dream last night in which i was shouted at, witnessed a car crash, adopted the victims as my children and then lost them, which some people would find disconcerting. i personally was just amazed that my mind could do this, of course i didnt have any control over how i felt because i've never been lucid :( but i dont remember feeling unhappy at all.

I also never have nightmares. The last one I can remember was when I was in the 5th grade. I agree with the whole personal mindset thing as well, I sometimes have dreams that could be scary or painful but they are always fun to me :shock: :? even though that may sound weird. Like fighting a cult of Vampires or something, one person would be freaked out of their head but another would just weild their stake with relish!

Alex D

How do you go about inducing nightmares? I might try it!

About 5-10% of adults have nightmares often, but most people have them once in a while. Up to 25% of alcoholics, drug users and people with psychological conditions have problems with nightmares.

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Originally posted by Mickeys_Elbow
I also never have nightmares. The last one I can remember was when I was in the 5th grade. I agree with the whole personal mindset thing as well, I sometimes have dreams that could be scary or painful but they are always fun to me *:shock: *:? even thought that may sound weird. Like fighting a cult of Vampires or something, one person would be freaked out of their head but another would just weild their stake with relish!

Alex D

How do you go about inducing nightmares? I might try it!

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I just eat cheese before bed and think about screaming before I go to sleep, it seems to work, I guess i makes fear the last thing I think of and the cheese helps with vivid dreams. (chedar is the best for doing this, American cheese sucks)

Now that you say it...I really havn't had a nighmare in ages....The last one musta been more then 5 months ago. I read that nighmares don't happen in the same place dreams do...nightmares take place in this dimition called infrademition or somthing.

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Originally posted by Mickeys_Elbow
... dreams that could be scary or painful but they are always fun to me *:shock: *:? even thought that may sound weird. Like fighting a cult of Vampires or something, one person would be freaked out of their head but another would just weild their stake with relish

How do you go about inducing nightmares? I might try it!

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Be careful what you wish for...

I have them all the time also, but have also come to expect them. I would not suggest "inducing" them.

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[i]Originally posted by Alex D+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alex D)</div>

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and think about screaming before I go to sleep[/b]

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LMFAO, I can't stop laughing after reading this. What I had in my mind was someone lying in bed screaming themselves to sleep, but I assume that you mean imagining someone else doing the screaming and hearing it?

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Originally posted by evangel@
<!--QuoteBegin-Mickeys_Elbow

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... dreams that could be scary or painful but they are always fun to me *:shock: *:? even though that may sound weird. Like fighting a cult of Vampires or something, one person would be freaked out of their head but another would just weild their stake with relish

How do you go about inducing nightmares? I might try it!

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Be careful what you wish for...

I have them all the time also, but have also come to expect them. I would not suggest \"inducing\" them.

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Maybe part of the reason why you have them is because you expect to. The only reason I would try to induce one is to trigger a lucid dream, not out of some sick fantasy to see my entrails or something :wink: . Since I don't have nightmares now, I'm not too worried about accidentaly causing chronic nightmares, but I appreciate the warning. I will tread with caution. 8)

Nightmares i don't have anymore. When i was younger i where scared waking up and have no friends anymore but only enemies! :( I'm very social also i had a dream about my ex girlfriend about a year ago. But the nightmare came true! So that's why i rather don't dream anymore!!

I'm 14 and I don't think I've ever had a nightmare before...ever.

if you honestly dont recall having one, then you will later on. they're probably surpressed.

id say i have a nightmare 10% of remembered dreams...

a nightmare being anything scary really, any time i was serious worried in my dream

I had like probably 5-8 big nightmares in my life, it' snot too common. But when it comes, it's scary because there's always somethign scarier that what you can take, so I guess the more gory images you've seen, the more creative you brain is in making nightmares. One big factor about nightmares in my opinoin is running, because all my nightmares seem to have running away from something. usually somethign I can't kill no matter what cause my brain made up his mind that this character is immortal

Anyone else feel that the more they lucid dream, and the better their dream recall is, the less their dreams disturb them? I've found that as my dream recall got better, I stopped having nightmares. I never had many of them, but I remember getting a couple a year in high school. since I've started keeping a dream journal again I haven't had one, and even during dreams where I would normally be anxious or uncomfortable, I feel fine. when I remember it later, I think wow, that was really messed up, but at the time I just take it in stride.

I also wonder whether nighmares are a normal, healthy de-stress mechanism in my brain-- maybe my newfound control is preventing my subconscious from venting unconscious fears and anxieties... I kinda wonder if controlling your dreams all the time may suppress some of the normal functions that dreaming serves.

or maybe I've become a more confident, self-reliant person in the last few years and my dreams reflect that confidence, who the hell knows.

wouldn't this make an interesting psyc study?
Bizzy

yah, I've read about how dreams are necessary to blurt out everything that we suppress in our normal lives (the things that we aren't allowed to do)

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Originally posted by bizzywhitz
Anyone else feel that the more they lucid dream, and the better their dream recall is, the less their dreams disturb them?

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Definitely. My first lucid was during a nightmare when I was very young. I realized I had to be dreaming, and forced myself to wake up. After that, I don't believe I ever had another dream that really scared me (although some have been rather disturbing, after I wake up and think about them.)

i personally don't believe i've had a nightmare in my last four years of life. but my mom says once i describe my dreams, that none of them are dreams of all. Especially dwelling on the time i wrote a story based on a dream, but to make it more dramatic i had
her viciously killed bu werewolves, she's never forgotten it. but that was kind of off topic.
I'm not quite sure if i'm a lucid dreamer or a lucid nightmarer. Either way, it makes every night an adventure!