In common current usage, the term nightmare refers to dreams of particular intensity, with content that the sleeper finds disturbing, related either to physiological causes, such as a high fever, or to psychological ones, such as unusual trauma or stress in the sleeper's life. The occasional body movements seen in nightmares may have a use in awakening the sleeper, thus helping to avoid the frightening dream-situation.

Occasional nightmares are commonplace, but recurrent nightmares can interfere with sleep and may cause people to seek medical help. A recently proposed treatment consists of imagery rehearsal (PMID 15984916). This approach appears to reduce the effects of nightmares and other symptoms in acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Historic use of term

Such nightmares were widely considered to be the work of demons, which were thought to sit on the chests of sleepers. In Old English, the being in question was called a mare or mære (from a proto-Germanic *marōn, related to Old High German and Old Norse mara), whence comes the mare part in nightmare.

This type of waking dream is called mareridt in Danish, cauchemar in French, pesadilla in Spanish, Alpdruck or Alptraum in German, incubo in Italian, pesadelo in Portuguese and kanashibari in Japanese.

"Great attention



is to be paid to regularity and choice of diet. Intemperance of every kind is hurtful, but nothing is more productive of this disease than drinking bad wine. Of eatables those which are most prejudicial are all fat and greasy meats and pastry.. Moderate exercise contributes in a superior degree to promote the digestion of food and prevent flatulence; those, however, who are necessarily confined to a sedentary occupation, should particularly avoid applying themselves to study or bodily labor immediately after eating.. Going to bed before the usual hour is a frequent cause of night-mare, as it either occasions the patient to sleep too long or to lie long awake in the night. Passing a whole night or part of a night without rest likewise gives birth to the disease, as it occasions the patient, on the succeeding night, to sleep too soundly. Indulging in sleep too late in the morning, is an almost certain method to bring on the paroxysm, and the more frequently it returns, the greater strength it acquires; the propensity to sleep at this time is almost irresistible."

See also

• Sleep disorder
• Night terror
• Sleep paralysis
• Mara (folklore)
• Nightmare on Elm Street
• Hag

References

• Anch, A.M., & Browman, C.P., & Mitler, M.M., & Walsh, J.K. (1988). Sleep: A scientific perspective. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
• Harris J.C. (2004). Arch Gen Psychiatry. May;61(5):439-40. The Nightmare. (PMID 15123487)
• Jones, Ernest (1951). On the Nightmare (ISBN: 0871409127) (pbk, 1971; ISBN: 0871402483).
• Powell, Nicolas (1973). Fuseli: The Nightmare (ISBN:0713902744).
• Brief Report: Treatment of Combat-Related Nightmares Using Imagery Rehearsal: A Pilot Study, Journal of Traumatic Stress 14 (2): 433-442
• A mini-course for clinicians and trauma workers on posttraumatic nightmares.
• Burns, Sarah (2004). Painting the Dark Side : Art and the Gothic Imagination in Nineteenth-Century America. Ahmanson-Murphy Fine Are Imprint, 332 pp, University of California Press, ISBN: 0520238214.
• Davenport-Hines, Richard (1999). Gothic: Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil and Ruin. North Point Press, p160-61.
• Simons, Ronald C and Hughes, Charles C (eds.)(1985). Culture-Bound Syndromes. Springer, 536pp.
• Sagan, Carl (1997). The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark .

Pesadilla Koŝmaro Cauchemar Nachtmerrie Pesadelo Painajainen Mardröm 恶梦