Yes, in fact nightmares are a classic symptom of post traumatic stress disorder. And in other research, adolescents who experienced regular nightmares (at least one per week) were more likely to suffer from an array of psychological difficulties, including anger, attention problems, hopelessness, anxiety, and symptoms of depression (Liu et al 2022 Yang 2022). And when kids have particularly disturbing or frequent nightmares, it can affect both their sleep and their daytime functioning.įor example, in a study of more than 6,000 primary school children, kids who reported frequent nightmares were at higher risk for insomnia, hyperactivity, mood problems, and poor academic performance (Li et al 2011). So it’s likely your child will experience nightmares at some point. In one study, children between the ages of 7 and 9 ranked “scary dreams” as one of their top three sources of intense worry (Muris et al 2000). ![]() Moreover, it’s not unusual for kids to think about their bad dreams during the day. ![]() How can you tell if your child has frequent nightmares? That’s not always easy to tell, especially if your child is too young to articulate his or her anxieties, or has trouble remembering the content of dreams.īut overall, nightmares are very common. Most studies estimate that at least 70% of young children have nightmares at least sometimes, and the incidence of nightmares peaks in later childhood - around the age of ten years (Gauchat et al 2014). For this reason, nightmares are more likely to occur during the early morning hours. Kids switch back and forth between REM and non-REM sleep during the night, but spend ever-longer stretches of time in REM during the last few sleep cycles. Nightmares are frightening dreams associated with REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. What’s the difference between nightmares and night terrors, and what can be done about these conditions? Here is an evidence-based overview of each problem, with some tips for coping. Both cause distress and disrupt sleep, and though terrors are less common than nightmares, they are hardly unusual…especially among toddlers. ![]() Night terrors in children - also known as “sleep terrors” - are sometimes confused with nightmares. © 2008 – 2023 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved
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