Do we grow out of nightmares?

[Skullbuster 1,906]

i have an interesting question, i havnt had a night mare since i was 12, now back when i was a kid i had night mares every now and then, but as previously stated i havnt had one in years, now i know physiological and/or traumatic events could cause them, but naturally do we grow out of nightmares?

[Bari 7,023]

I haven't had nightmares for quite some time as well. I did have have a small one many months ago, but before that extremely rarely, and now, never. So it wouldn't be too far-fetched to think growing out of having nightmares is possible. It may be that some people can become the master of their subconscious.

[GrooveBroove 680]

While I haven't had some for quite some time. i dont think that we ever grow out of them.

Case in point I know my Mom has had some recent ones in the last few years. If anything it just shows how much the mind can grow and that it takes so much more for a nightmare to actually occur.

[Beta 42]

I still have nightmares 2-4 times a year and I'm in my mid-20s. However, I used to have them weekly as a child/teen and I have had what some might consider trauma. I definitely do think age has been a factor in it getting better.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Beta

[Retro*Derpy 3,182]

As we get older, we realize that the "things in the dark" don't exist, thus not scared anymore reliefs most nightmares. Usually people get them here or there, and that is usually because of a bad day or some tragedy.  Though people with depression can get nightmares almost every night, no matter the age, unfortunately.

[Naught Important 434]

I dunno... I've heard that if you fall asleep looking straight up with you back flat on the bed you are more likely to have a nightmare, but that's probably false.

Anyway, I've been having more normal dreams lately, no nightmares

[Nohbdy 4,108]

I'm no expert, but here's what I think. You don't grow out of nightmares, per se. You grow out of the causes. There are so many things to be afraid of as a young child. You might be afraid of the dark, for example. You might also be afraid of monsters. As you grow, you become less frightened of these things, and so you're less likely to be scared in your dreams. Essentially, you become less susceptible the more knowledge and sense you gain. Adults can still get nightmares, except it's usually if something traumatic occurs.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Twilicorn

[MelancholicMemory 2,025]

Well, by all popular definitions I am an adult, and I have nightmares almost every night. So no, people do not grow out of nightmares, or at least I don't. Dreaming in general declines as you age though. I learned that in my intro to psychology class in my first semester of university.

 

Don't even ask what my nightmares are about though. Trust me, you're better off not knowing.

[Clover Heart 978]

I don't think so. In fact, it's been said that 75% of dreams that we have are that of negative emotion. That may or may not not result in a nightmare, but I think it's highly improbable that none of that 75% is ever a nightmare. That being said, we also don't remember everything we dream. In fact, we tend to remember very little of what we dream. It could be that as you get older, your brain gets better at ignoring or forgetting about negative dreams.

 

However, I don't think we ever "get over" nightmares. There may be times, however, when these dreams are more prominent, occur more frequently or are better remembered. Someone who is under a lot of stress, someone who's suffering emotional or physical trauma or someone who's depressed might be more prone to having nightmares. Nightmares can also be triggered by external causes. If you're sleeping in an awkward position, your physical pain can be interpreted into a nightmare within the brain. If you hear something, it might become a part of your dream and may or may not cause a nightmare.

 

In my case, I think the last bad nightmare I had was when I was 23 about 6 months ago. However, I still feel like I've had nightmares as recent as this year. I've just forgotten the content and context.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Clover Heart

[Betez 1,734]

Eh, I don't usually have what I'd consider to be "Nightmares", but occasionally I'll have a frightening dream. Usually it'll just either be me pretending to slip and fall, or me saying/doing something really stupid and embarrassing. I used to have some pretty creepy nightmares when I was a kid, however they might only be frightening because I had them when I was a kid. There's still one that I had in 3rd grade that scares me to this day.

 

 

It was around sunset. I was in a not-so-nice part of town, in the backyard of a house, playing with a few other kids. I forget this next part, but it really doesn't contribute much to the story. Somehow, it became dark rather fast, and all the kids left. I was in the dark backyard all alone. So I went into the back door of the house. Immediately, as soon as I walk in, there's stairs leading down into a dark basement. There's no lights on anywhere in the house, but I heard noises, like someone breathing and whispering something, coming from the basement. I began to walk down the stairs, and that must have been when I woke up, because that's all I remember.

 

 

Well, it felt good to write that down. Anyway, I feel like you can outgrow nightmares, but some of them stay with you.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Betez

[~Sugar Sprinkles~ 638]

I guess it depends, because I am 19 years old and I have never grown out of my nightmares yet. I still get them here in there. Infact, I think last night I had an unpleasant dream. I really fear deep water. I cant swim very well either. And well, I had a dream last night that I was in a car and somehow ran off the road and went into deep water. Some reason, the car wasn't being filled up with water, but I was panicking like hell.

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

I have a little more than six years on you, but I still have nightmares on occasion. They are very common in kids and teens due to all of the physical changes they undergo and because they typically have more active imaginations, but adults still have nightmares. Sometimes they're brought on by experiences, stress, or for no discernible reason.

 

Not only has the frequency of my nightmares decreased over the years, I noticed that most of the nightmares I have now are unique, whereas as a kid I had plenty of recurring nightmares. There's also the fact that what might constitute a nightmare for one person might not bother another at all - see also what Twilicorn had to say; his post explains a lot.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Artemis

[Zygen 6,066]

I think that we don't really grow out of nightmares, but we just get older and don't have as many things to be afraid of.

 

You can still have Nightmares, it just all depends on if your still undergoing stress or trauma or something of that nature.

 

I have had little nightmares here and there, but as far as I'm concerned I can't remember any to terribly graphic Nightmares I've had recently. However I can get scared at the concept of getting them if something fearful comes to mind.

 

I use to have pretty scary graphic Nightmares a good couple years ago, and while I haven't had those in a while I'm sure if another cause came along they'd come back.

 

So I don't think its we outgrow nightmares, we just get over their causes. People of a younger age usually have less experience with things and more unknowns to be afraid of to. So that contributes to this.

[Just some guy 1,070]

I mostly think it depends more on the individual themselves rather than their age.I haven't had a single nightmare in God knows how many years now (I'm 17),but I know some people of various ages who still have some pretty rough nightmares,one of them being like,30 or so.A few of them don't even have traumatic events happen to them,they just get a lot of nightmares.It's all about how you handle your own self,really.

Edited March 4, 2013 by CaptainBlue808

[NavelColt 22,879]

I think nightmares may naturally lessen in either quantity or intensity, or both, as you get older, and you naturally mature and learn that there's no need to be afraid of things younger kids and even teens may be afraid of. I imagine your subconscious isn't incapable of maturing along with your consciousness and the rest of your brain and body, seeing as your subconscious births from your thoughts. I remember I had numerous nasty nightmares when I was younger, but now, almost twenty, I hardly remember ever having nightmares these days. Most my dreams are boring things that I don't care to recall.

 

Older you get, less nightmares. My guess, anyway. Other factors like anxiety and other disorders, or external forces like drama and stress, etc will effect this, but in general, I believe age brings you experience in wisdom, which lessens your irrational fears, and thus the need for nightmares to occur regularly.

[Titan Rising 2,156]

No.  Anyone is prone to having nightmares.  It's all stress and depends on what you're thinking about and things of that nature...  probably.

[Celtore 2,770]

Im pretty sure you really don't grow out of them. I still occasionally have them at age 20, but who knows, maybe they will be all but gone in ten years. I have noticed that they have changed quite a bit though from when I was younger.

 

When I was young, most of my nightmares were about monsters, something chasing me or falling. Now when they show up, they are more creepy and otherworldly than outright scary. Sometimes the creepyness does transist into extremely scary realistic things, something downright screwed up, but fortunately that happens extremely rarely and that usually wakes me up.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Celtore

[Michael DeSanta 258]

I never had any real nightmares as my dreams have always been epics. One mans nightmare may be another mans weird dream. I consider a dream of volcanos exploding lava pools dark forest and I think about them in their meanings. For some people dreams are past memories of another life or their subconscious telling them things. But the idea of a dream is an odd art which we have yet to master. I think until we can visually see what someone is dreaming we canot explain dreams in the slightest detail. But do we grow out of nightmares often timesno many times ptsd,drug use, and tragedies can cause nightmares. But dreams are an odd way to discoverlife and al of its faults.

[SagasaPony 122]

I still have nightmares occasionally, although I've only bolted upright once, unlike in the movies where every character having a nightmare is required to do so sweating and out of breath.

 

I don't think it's wholly possible to outgrow nightmares. They're the manifestation of our deepest, darkest fears and everyone is afraid of something. It's just that as we grow up, the things we were scared of as kids (the boogeyman, freddy kreuger, the mystery meat in the school cafeteria) are replaced by adult fears like getting robbed, losing family members, and paying taxes.

 

I think its fortunate that we don't remember 90 percent of what we dream about when we wake up.

[Acoustic Cloud 2,202]

According to studies, you average 5 dreams a night, of which, 1 is a nightmare, while often you don't remember dreams you still have them.  And if you don't remember nightmares.  You have them.
Though the definition or scenario usually changes from let's say, as a young kid, you dream of sharks or kidnapping.  And as you get older you dream of anxieties or experiences in your life.

[Snowdream 221]

Well if ever i am really worried about something i might have a nightmare about it, but really i havn't had one since i was about 10

Edited March 4, 2013 by Snowdream

[Loriem 639]

I used to have many more, but then I figured out if yah get mad and make nightmare's take the lemons back, they tend to run away from you.

[khaine21x3 789]

I'm left all my fears behind and I haven't had a nightmare for over a decade, it's impossible for me to have any kind of nightmare now because I have absolutely no fear or anything realistic or imaginary.

[Concord 1,982]

Hello!

 

I've had only a Few nightmares in my life, even those, were more just scary scenarions with intense, Death near, events.

 

I wouldn't say people grow out of them, because there are numerous elder people who have nightmares to...

[Veronica The Miffvixen 232]

I had a nightmare last month, but before then, I hadn't had a nightmare in well over twelve years.

 

My brain is so weird with sleep.