Why do we have nightmares?

[Alchopwn]

On 2/25/2013 at 2:00 AM, sgroclkc said:

 Therefore, people in sleep accordingly will have the two most common nightmares : one is dream of being chased (occasionally hunting other people) ; the other is dream of flying in the air or dream of falling down.

I thought the reason we experienced nightmares was as the body raised the level in adrenaline in our bodies to the point where our consciousness could "reboot" after sleep.  We first go through dreams where our consciousness is semi-ready for the day, but then it needs to be bumped to full consciousness, which means adrenaline.  But what causes adrenaline our poor mind asks (and then promptly slots into the dream experience)?  Our mind in our dream assumes that the adrenaline is being pumped through our body in response to a threat and triggers our fight/flight response in our dream.  We have a nightmare and then when the adrenaline reaches a high enough level, we wake up, which was the entire point of the exercise. 

Edited August 22, 2022 by Alchopwn

[sgroclkc]

23 hours ago, Alchopwn said:

I thought the reason we experienced nightmares was as the body raised the level in adrenaline in our bodies to the point where our consciousness could "reboot" after sleep.  We first go through dreams where our consciousness is semi-ready for the day, but then it needs to be bumped to full consciousness, which means adrenaline.  But what causes adrenaline our poor mind asks (and then promptly slots into the dream experience)?  Our mind in our dream assumes that the adrenaline is being pumped through our body in response to a threat and triggers our fight/flight response in our dream.  We have a nightmare and then when the adrenaline reaches a high enough level, we wake up, which was the entire point of the exercise. 

Your nightmare theory cannot be falsified. Only the nightmare theory of Chinese scientists can be falsified.

There is a corresponding difference that Popper sees in the form of the claims made by sciences and pseudo-sciences: Scientific claims are falsifiable -- that is, they are claims where you could set out what observable outcomes would be impossible if the claim were true -- while pseudo-scientific claims fit with any imaginable set of observable outcomes. What this means is that you could do a test that shows a scientific claim to be false, but no conceivable test could show a pseudo-scientific claim to be false. Sciences are testable, pseudo-sciences are not.

[sgroclkc]

On 8/22/2022 at 9:53 AM, Alchopwn said:

I thought the reason we experienced nightmares was as the body raised the level in adrenaline in our bodies to the point where our consciousness could "reboot" after sleep.  We first go through dreams where our consciousness is semi-ready for the day, but then it needs to be bumped to full consciousness, which means adrenaline.  But what causes adrenaline our poor mind asks (and then promptly slots into the dream experience)?  Our mind in our dream assumes that the adrenaline is being pumped through our body in response to a threat and triggers our fight/flight response in our dream.  We have a nightmare and then when the adrenaline reaches a high enough level, we wake up, which was the entire point of the exercise. 

Over a thousand years ago, ancient Chinese scientists discovered that triggers our fight/flight response was caused by tachycardia (palpitations). And all human fears are caused by palpitations. Therefore, avoiding palpitations can prevent panic attacks and nightmares.

[sgroclkc]

On 4/17/2022 at 8:04 AM, sgroclkc said:

My previous view that sleep paralysis is caused by syncope is incorrect.

The cause of sleep paralysis is very simple. It is caused by a very terrible the reduced blood supply to the brain, common symptoms include very terrible dizziness, palpitations, tinnitus, visual impairment that can't see, and auditory impairment that can't hear,blurred vision,weakness, fatigue, nausea and headache. Less common symptoms include syncope, dyspnea, chest pain, and neck and shoulder pain. When symptoms occur they can vary greatly in expression from one individual to another. 

(Refer to lEvaluation and Management of Orthostatic Hypotension).

Hypotension, anemia, improper sleeping position or poor blood flow in the neck caused by too high pillow are several common causes of the reduced blood supply to the brain during sleep at night. In particular, anyone with too high pillow during sleep is bound to have sleep paralysis repeatedly all night. This terrible the reduced blood supply to the brain is more likely to occur during waking up during the day than during sleep at night. For example, almost everyone suddenly stands up when their blood pressure is low in summer, and has experienced the terrible symptoms of the reduced blood supply to the brain caused by orthostatic hypotension.

Accordingly, the terrible dizziness during cerebral ischemia will lead to the illusion of seeing the terrible demon, the palpitation with too fast heartbeat will lead to the illusion of being attacked by the terrible demon, and tinnitus will lead to the illusion of hearing a certain sound. Because people's instinctive reaction is that your dare not move your body when your can't see the surrounding environment clearly after waking up, therefore, the visual obstacle that your eyes can't see will lead to the illusion of being unable to move your body or can't open your eyes.

Sleep paralysis is a special type of syncope caused by brief paralysis that rarely occurs when a person is awake, leading everyone to mistakenly believe that sleep paralysis only occurs during sleep and does not occur during wakefulness. I often experience syncope and paralysis during sleep, but I have never experienced syncope and paralysis during waking hours. I only observed a neighbor girl of mine who had fainted and paralyzed while awake 50 years ago.

[Alchopwn]

3 hours ago, sgroclkc said:

Over a thousand years ago, ancient Chinese scientists discovered that triggers our fight/flight response was caused by tachycardia (palpitations). And all human fears are caused by palpitations. Therefore, avoiding palpitations can prevent panic attacks and nightmares.

That is a great point sgroclkc.

[sgroclkc]

5 hours ago, Alchopwn said:

That is a great point sgroclkc.

When I was a child, I experienced palpitations every day for several consecutive months and had nightmares every night, repeatedly waking up. After seeing a doctor at the hospital, the doctor instructed me to take medication that could prevent palpitations. After taking the medicine, my palpitations stopped that day and I completely stopped having nightmares that night.