![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2K7o3bMogcJOpp9h1n7AWESOwGhFzWf6lkSv6QYptt8bmpeFbm5UfKa6Uf-8uN1ywU4RBgKMc-wSol1fY5_wLx8AnU0Tv1w5W9TWHpqX7G17QeI8lWgh6UEhD24q_i6sM_0y1yp90TNTH/s200/nightmare.jpeg)
Lately, I've been having a lot of nightmares and I'm exactly sure why so I started to do some research. I started to look reasons why, and those are pretty boring but I found an interesting
article on ABC on how to combat nightmares and I was intrigued.
Scientifically there is a difference between a bad dream and a nightmare: a nightmare wakes up in all sweaty panicked in the middle of the night, while a bad dream you remember in the morning, but you sleep the whole night through.
Since dreams are "emotional thermostats" (so says the article), bad dreams can be a good thing - bringing things to your attention that may have been hidden, but nightmares can be a sign of too much stress.
According to Ross Levin, a psychologist, if you have a recurring nightmare, the patient needs to relive the dream while they are awakes so that they can rescript it and hopefully change it forever.
I find this all very fascinating - the idea that you are in control of your dreams and thus, your subconscious to some degree.