My 17 yr old is HAving nighmares Every night why?

Samantha - posted on 04/20/2010

Try having your daughter write out her thoughts in a journal at the end of the day before bed. She can put her happy moments in one and her concerns and worries in another. My daughter did this and it helped her work out alot of her concerns. It also helps them to remember alot of the good things that happened during the day. My daughter goes back and reads the past years journals once in awhile and laughs about some of the things that she thought were real important to her at the time. We even has a page burning sessions once where we took all the bad things at the end of the month and burned them in a camp fire. It helped her to let them go. Good luck and i hope everyone is sleeping better now.

Christie - posted on 04/20/2010

there are a million different reasons why a kid will have nightmares, maybe a scary movie she has seen, or it could be something going on in school. Maybe someone is bothering her, and she is reliving it thru her dreams, or dreaming about what will go on the next day. It could be something bad happened to her too. Sometimes it could be something very simple or something bigger. Kids are not always forthcoming with what is bothering them with there parents. I always keep the lines of communication open, and one thing i find that works for us is that when we watch a movie or tv show that could have a pretty intense impact we will then discuss how it would make the girls feel, if they have ever witnessed this behavior first hand or had a friend tell them about it. It shows the girls that we can talk about anything no matter how embarrassing or painful it is. It works for us but not everyone, just food for thought. Hope everything works out and she gets better with it.

Sarah - posted on 04/20/2010

Eating heavily before bed can cause nightmares or weird dreams. My 1st thought (worse case scenario) was could there be a chance of past abuse of some sorts in her life? Why do we tend to think the worst..idk. If she stops eating right before bed & it helps than there's your answer.

Christine Marie - posted on 04/20/2010

*late-night snack, which can increase metabolism and signal the brain to be more active.

*sometimes to much TV, computer, video games, Internet, even texting right before bed can cause nightmares, dreams and insomnia. When our brain is hammered with images and/or words right before we lay down to sleep, (if we can fall asleep) our brain will still be computing everything through dreams and nightmares.

*Sleep deprivation may also be a factor

*check out this site http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Causes-Ni...

and check this one out too http://www.asdreams.org/nightma.htm

Sabrina - posted on 04/19/2010

WHEN MY OLDEST SON WAS HAVEIN NIGHTMARES AND HE IS A GOOD KID, HE DID SOMETHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY AND HE FELT THE GILT. HE THOUGHT ABOUT IT ALL THE TIME AND WOULD GO TO SLEEP WITH IT ON HIS MINE. THAT NEXT MORNING HE'D COMPLAIN HOW HE WAS UP ALNIGHT CAUSE HE COULDNT SLEEP. ONE DAY I ASKED HIM, SON DO U HAVE SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND AND ARE YOU GOING TO SLEEP THINKING ABOUT IT. THATS THE DAY HE TOLD ME WHAT HE DID. AFTER THAT, HE HAD NO MORE NIGHTMARES AND WAS ABLE TO SLEEP. IT WAS GILT, SO ASK HER EVEN IF ITS SOMETHING SHE KNOWS YOU MIGHT BE UPSET ABOUT. JUST TEY IT, IF NOT AND SHE STILL IS HAVEIN BAD DREAMS, TELL HER TO PRAY ABOUT IT. GOD IS THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING. YOU CAN EVEN PRAY FOR HER. GOOD LUCK AND LET ME KNOW IF IT WORKS!

Yesenia - posted on 04/19/2010

hwo can i find out what foods have 621 etc??? thanks everyone for being so helpful =)

Janine - posted on 04/18/2010

Paula has stated things well. Food should be emotionally neutral Yet I find if I have MSG food additive 621 also be careful of 625 I have tremors and agitation when I am trying to sleep which add tension and disharmony to my dreams. I like to analyse my dreams I am an armature but have been doing so since I was little and I ask my Church Minister about them I was told to have an open mind and accept that it is a know that many have received spiritual messages through dreams. That being said I hope that is a comfort to your daughter not that I expect a religious epiphany. Hormones as pathetic as it may seem can produce night sweats. So check things out with a medical professional. There is also the shit happens factor and this is part of your daughters growth. as Paula said Junk in Junk out. Rituals such as not reading while in bed .....TV not too late and avoid hard to digest food may also be of help.. The best thing is you and your daughter have good communication and a burden shared is a burden lessoned. Good Luck

Paula - posted on 04/18/2010

The mind and sub-conscious are very powerful. If she considers what she is putting into her mind she may recognise what is coming out when she sleeps. Junk in - junk out sort of thing. What she reads and sees visuals of, watches on TV, listens to in music, talks about with others - all gets stored in her sub-conscious. Encourage her to focus on positive things and reject letting negatives take up space in her mind. Nutrition does play a role as does her spirituality. We are a whole being but sometimes ignore that. :)

Alycia - posted on 04/18/2010

Is she telling you what they're about? Because I used to have nightmares everyday, multipule times a night, and it was tramatic events I've expirienced.
If she's gone through something like this odds are she will more likely talk to a counselor or therapist like holly said.

Holly - posted on 04/18/2010

If it doesn't stop with the other suggestions, maybe you could have her talk to a more neutral adult, like a school counselor, a mental health therapist or a family friend. Sometimes kids will talk more to someone outside the family. Everyday is pretty extreme for nightmares.

Lisa - posted on 04/18/2010

i'm not sure what your thoughts & beliefs are regarding the spiritual aspect of things like this, but one of my sons and my daughter used to go thru this sort of thing and it was spiritual. we are Christians and couldn't understand what was going on, but a minister friend did, and taught us how to walk in our authority that Jesus gave us as Christians. i would be willing to talk to you about it thru private message on facebook if you like; just friend me.

Tracanne - posted on 04/18/2010

you can use a psychology based dream interpretation as well. Some my think that is a little hokey, but our dreams come from our minds and we process our day time experiences in our sleep. Sometimes night mares seem very scarey until we learn the meanings of the dreams. Just a thought...

Diane - posted on 04/18/2010

I was about to add what these wise ladies below added first. Likely it is her way of working things out that she cannot get her arms around while awake. The two ideas of not eating close to bed and talking to her might help... or see if she likes a certain type of mellow music ( like say Yanni ) and put that on for her. No TV after a certain time may help too as she could be seeing images on there.
Hope it works out

Yesenia - posted on 04/17/2010

thank you so much ladies :) i have talked to her about it and she thinks it has to do with how unhealthy she eats and that sometimes she eats too much before bed. she also told me that she has been stressing out alot lately so maybe me talking to her before she goes to bed will help. i sure hope so thanks again ladies =)

Ricci - posted on 04/17/2010

is there a posiblity that something bad has happened to her that shes nor telling you? this could be anything. she may even be getting bullied at school as well

Gena - posted on 04/17/2010

Maybe she saw something tragic? Death in family? News? Teenagers are more easily stressed out today than 20 years ago.All the negative media & peer pressure could be causing additional stress. I know sounds silly, but have u tried laying in bed with her and rubbing her forhead or brushing her hair til she falls asleep. Communicationg with her on what's happening during her day my help too. I know it's hard to get teens to talk, but maybe she'll open up & u can discover if there is something bothering her. Let me know how it goes & I'll keep her in my prayers