Nightmares: What triggers them and Are there treatments? By: Attallah Dejesus-Hoard

Nightmares they affect all of us ever since a young age we all have suffered from night terrors. And if you say you haven’t I know you’re lying or extremely lucky. I remember when I was younger and I use to think that once I got older the terrorizing pictures of Michael Jackson (who I feared oh so much) and visions of serial killers (due to overexposure to Friday the 13^th sequels at a young age) would eventually fade away. But as I’ve come to realize they may never go away and since they seem to be here to stay why not figure out how they work and maybe even figure out how to beat them.

So lets start with the common triggers of nightmares. I used to get told not to eat to much junk food before I go to sleep or I would get a night terror but I’m pretty sure it was one of those lies told by your parents just so you wouldn’t be to hyped up to go to sleep. The same way they told you that Santa Clause was real just so you’d be good all year long for a bunch of a toy they bought themselves… but that’s a whole other topic. The point is that I’m going to differentiate fact from myth for you. So here are the triggers:

• Medicine – drugs have chemicals in them that can cause the brain to become more “active”
• Lack of sleep – sleep depravation can cause you to have nightmares this has been proven through many test by scientist since sleep is such a required part of our lives which can explain the plot behind “Nightmare on Elm Street”
• Withdrawal- Being taken off medicine proscribed by your doctor or your street pharmacist (cough cough..) can lead to your brain having weird effects if this happens you should “consult a doctor immediately”

Since we now know the triggers lets see some treatments to ending the war on night terrors. I don’t know about you I would love for the night sweats and fear of opening my closet to stop. So lets explore some of the treatments and see how affective they are.

Psychological Treatments (physical treatments with the mind)

• "Imagery Rehearsal Therapy"- This helps the person who experiences the nightmares to stop the endings from their nightmares by having them change them in their head

Psychopharmacological treatment (medical treatments)

• topiramate (Topamax),
• prazosin (Minipress),
• nefazodone (Serzone),
• trazodone (Desyrel),
• gabapentin (Neurontin, Gabarone)” http://www.medicinenet.com/nightmares/page4.htm”

* If seeking help with through this method consult a doctor*

So there you have it the reasons why you have nightmares and the medical ways to cure them. I hope this answered the question of why we get these night terrors and how they can be cured. So sweet dreams :)