Nightmares 恶梦的来源

Nightmares 惡夢的來源

Many of us have woken up in the night, covered in cold sweat and feeling a deep

sense of fear. Terrible images flash through your head as you recall the horrifying

things you’ve just experienced. This is often followed a few moments later by a

sigh of relief, though. It was all just a bad dream.

Nightmares are vivid dreams that tear you out of a deep sleep and leave you with

a strong negative emotion. In the past, people thought that nightmares were

caused by an evil spirit called a mare, which tormented sleepers with bad

dreams─hence the name “nightmare.”

Now, however, we know that nightmares can be caused by both psychological

and chemical factors.

Stress and worry are two of the most common causes of nightmares. Adults may

have dreams in which they are unable to escape from danger or are falling from a

great height. These kinds of nightmares are usually connected to strong doubts

or fears they have at work or in their personal lives. Repeated nightmares can

also come after experiencing something particularly scary or upsetting, such as

being attacked or witnessing a violent event. People will often relive these events

night after night during their sleep, and it can sometimes take professional help to

rid them of these bad dreams.

Another reason for nightmares, and one that’s easier to avoid, is eating late-night

snacks. Eating food late at night means your brain will be more active when you

sleep, and so you are more likely to have vivid, realistic, and often frightening

dreams. Additionally, taking certain types of drugs, especially ones that affect

chemicals in the brain such as those that combat depression, are likely to lead to

nightmares.

If your sleep is often disturbed by the same nightmare, there’s a simple technique

that you can perform to stop it. You should try to think up an alternate, happy

ending to your nightmare and rehearse it in your mind while you’re awake. Think

about it again just before you go to sleep, and your mind should replace the

frightening ending with the happy one you’ve rehearsed. Sweet dreams!

很多人常會半夜驚醒，全身冒冷汗又恐懼不已。一邊回想剛才經歷過的恐怖情境，腦海中一邊閃過懾人的畫面。但是過了一下子，就會如釋重負，因為全都是一場惡夢罷了。

「惡夢」意指讓你從熟睡之中驚醒，且伴隨強烈負面情緒的生動夢境。古人以為惡夢是由稱為「夢魔」（Mare）的邪靈所造成，以可怕的夢境折磨入睡的人。所以原文「nightmare」成了「惡夢」的同義詞。不過，我們現已清楚，心理和化學反應等因素都會讓人做惡夢。

壓力與煩憂是讓人做惡夢的兩種常見因素。成人可能常有無法逃離險境，或從高處墜落的夢境。此類惡夢通常與工作或私生活中，所面臨的強烈懷疑或恐懼有關。不斷重複的惡夢，則可能與現實生活中所害怕或煩惱的經歷有關，例如遭受攻擊或目睹暴力事件。日復一日不斷重現惡夢情景的人，有時可能需要專業人士的協助來擺脫惡夢。

另一個較容易避免的做惡夢原因，就是吃宵夜。吃宵夜會讓大腦在睡眠的時候呈現較為活躍的狀態，所以很有可能產生非常真實的生動夢境，而且是惡夢居多。此外，服用特定藥物，尤其是抗憂鬱等會影響大腦化學反應的藥物，都很容易讓人做惡夢。

如果你常被相同的惡夢夢境干擾睡眠，可以運用一個簡單的解決辦法。請試著在清醒的時候，對你的惡夢夢境想像不一樣的美滿結局，並且在腦海裡排演畫面。睡前再回想一次，那麼你的大腦應該會以你自己想像的快樂結局取代惡夢。祝你做個好夢！