Six Reasons of Having Bad Dreams

No one likes being jolted awake from a deep sleep, especially when what riled you up was an assailant, a snake in the bed, or being engulfed by flames. Bad dreams—or worse, nightmares—aren’t just annoying; when reoccurring, they can disrupt a good night’s sleep, and sometimes, life.

On the spectrum of dreams, missing an important exam or showing up naked to work pales in comparison to nightmares, which are defined as bad dreams that wake the sleeper. They occur during rapid eye movement (REM) late in the evening and because we jerk awake during them, we usually remember all too clearly the fear, anxiety, and horrors.

Though more common among children, nightmares and bad dreams happen throughout life. But is there anything we can do to prevent the bad things from creeping into our sleep?

1. Anxiety and Stress

Anxiety and stress, often as the result of a traumatic life event, are sometimes the cause of nightmares and bad dreams. According to the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD), a major surgery or illness, grieving over the loss of a loved one, and suffering or witnessing an assault or major accident can trigger bad dreams and nightmares. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is also a common cause of recurrent nightmares.

Not all nightmare triggers have to be traumatic, however. Everyday stressors, such as job or financial anxiety, or major life transitions such as moving or divorce, can also cause nightmares.

2. Spicy Foods 

When and what we eat may affect our nighttime rest, if not our tendency toward bad dreams. A small study published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology had a group of healthy men eat spicy meals before bed on some evenings and compared their quality of sleep on nights where they had non-spiced meals. On the spicy nights, the subjects spent more time awake and had poorer quality sleep. The explanation is that spicy food can elevate body temperatures and thus disrupt sleep. This may also be the reason why some people report bad dreams when they eat too close to bedtime. Though few studies have looked at it, eating close to bedtime increases metabolism and brain activity and may prompt bad dreams or nightmares.

3. Fat Content of Food 

Though far from conclusive, some research has indicated that the more high-fat food you consume during the day, the greater the chance that the amount and quality of your sleep may suffer. A small study published in 2007 in Psychological Reports found that the dreams of people who ate a high amount of organic food differed from those who ate “junk foods.” The authors hypothesize that certain foods may negatively influence dreaming.

4. Alcohol
Though alcohol is a depressant that will help you fall asleep in the short term, once its effects wear off, it can cause you to wake up prematurely. Excess consumption can also lead to nightmares and bad sleep; nightmares are also a common occurrence for those going through alcohol withdrawal.

5. Drugs

Some drugs, including antidepressants, barbiturates, and narcotics, can cause nightmares as a side effect. For instance, a 2008 study published in the journal Pyschopharmacology looked at ketamine, a drug used in anesthesia and recreationally, and found that compared with a placebo, ketamine use resulted in more dream unpleasantness and increased the incidence of bad dreams. Similarly, anyone who has traveled to a country where malaria is endemic may have taken Lariam and had some interesting nightmares associated with it. Nightmares usually cease once the drug is cleared from the system.

6. Illness

Illnesses that include fever, such as the flu, can often trigger nightmares. And other sleeping disorders, including apnea and narcolepsy, may also increase the incidence of bad dreams and nightmares.

While bad dreams and nightmares are considered normal responses in dealing with everyday experiences, the IASD recommends consultation with a therapist if they last in intensity and severity. But trying to eliminate these six factors first may be the best place to start in your quest to sweeten your dreams and chase the nighttime demons away.

P/S: Just quote this article from this website together with its picture because I found it was scary to take pics from Google Image when you typed "BAD DREAMS".. hehe

Love-Shyness??

Love-shyness is a chronic shyness in which a person becomes extremely anxious and unable to function normally when confronted with any type of interaction with the gender to which he or she is attracted. The anxiety is so severe that it inhibits normal social interaction, and some even go as far as to say that it is a type of social phobia. Love-shyness can happen to both genders and all sexualities, but is most predominant with heterosexual males. There are several factors that psychologists believe contribute to this shyness.

The term “love-shyness” was coined by Brian G. Gilmartin who was the first psychologist to study the phenomenon fully, and as of 2011, he is still the dominating expert on the subject. He describes love-shyness as the incapability for a man to interact with those of the opposite gender for any reason, while still being able to function normally in other aspects of his life. Gilmartin notes that although love-shyness can affect anyone, it is most predominant within heterosexual males. Psychologists believe this may be because of the assertive gender role that men are expected to undertake.

Men who suffer from love-shyness typically have similar backgrounds and personalities. According to Gilmartin’s research, love shy men are usually predisposed to shyness due to biological temperaments in combination with particular nurture and environmental learning experiences. They tend to have had close relationships with their nuclear family, but their relationships with peers were usually stressful and sometimes traumatic.

Most of these men have had at least one memorable experience with a female at a very young age. Some men remember a good experience with a girl, but the situation did not develop as fully as it could have. Usually, this experience happened in an embarrassing social setting. Almost all of these men have low self-esteem and emotional insecurity due to these experiences.

Gilmartin estimates that 1.5% of the male population in America suffers from love-shyness. He also believes the majority of this group will main recluse for the remainder of their lives. Other psychologists, however, believe that this estimation is overly generous. It is impossible to know how many people are love shy, mainly because it is not something regularly diagnosed by professionals, and most men are not likely to openly admit their shyness. In fact, many psychologists believe love-shyness should not have its own label outside of social anxiety, because it reinforces negative thinking in these men and infers that the condition cannot be managed or cured.

How Much Skin Does the Average Person Have?

The average person has between about 6 and 10 pounds (between about 2.7 and 4.5 kilograms) of skin. That is roughly the equivalent of the average chihuahua. It is the largest organ in the body, and weighs more than 3 times as much as the liver, the next largest organ.

Chihuahua : a type of dog

More facts about skin:

• By the age of 70, the average person will have shed around 105 pounds (about 47 kg) of skin over the course of his or her lifetime. To put it in perspective, that is the approximate weight of an average 11-year-old child.


• Humans go through almost 1,000 "skins" in a lifetime. The skin is completely regenerated every 27 days. In fact, around 70% of household dust is composed of skin cells that are shed as the skin renews itself.


• The human skin contains about 45 miles of nerves, and around 200 sweat glands in every square inch (2.5 square cm) of skin.