Is it really harmful to wake someone who is having a nightmare, or is this an old wives tail?

1 Answer

Answer :

Harmful? No. However, you generally only remember a dream if you wake up unexpectedly either in the middle of it or very soon after it is over. Otherwise, you normally won’t recall much about it if you recall it at all. So if you wake someone up in the midst of a nightmare, you will probably help ensure they remember the nightmare. If they can sleep through it, come morning they may not remember it at all.

Related questions

Description : As you're starting to fall asleep, do you get kind of an advanced warning that you're going to have a nightmare so you can wake yourself up?

Last Answer : Wow, no, I’ve never experienced it. You’re kind of lucky you have that kind of warning system. The closest I’ve ever come is half waking up during a nightmare and knowing I shouldn’t go back to sleep until my head is filled with happy thoughts.

Description : How to wake up from a nightmare when you know that it's just a dream?

Last Answer : Since you know you are dreaming have you tried changing the nightmare into something else?

Description : Does anyone believe in "old wives tales" or "homemade remedies/aids"?

Last Answer : Most of these things are garbage. The only one I know of that works 100% of the time is the hiccup cure that my grandmother used to have me do. Swallow a dry teaspoon of sugar. Never failed me or anyone I have had try it.

Description : Are there any wives' tales that you believe in or that have been proven to you to be true?

Last Answer : Masturbating causes blindness. I am getting to the point I just might need glasses. Now I know the cause.

Description : Are insulin shots Really helpful in diabetes or harmful? Anything better?

Last Answer : They’re helpful if you don’t want to die of hyperglycemia. I’ve had people who don’t take their insulin and come in to the emergency department in comas with blood sugar values in the 800–900 range. Definitely a bad thing.

Description : Is occasional cigar smoking really that harmful?

Last Answer : Yes jake, since it can cause lip cancer, tongue cancer, lung cancer, and other facial cancers.

Description : is weed really more harmful to your health than cigarettes?

Last Answer : answer:It’s extremely harmful to your health if you are high and driving in front of me. Weed makes people drive VERY slowly…. and I’ll kill you while smoking a cigarette. To really answer your question: No. Cigarettes are more harmful.

Description : Is this an 'old wives tale' about underwear or has this happened to you?

Last Answer : My mother fulminated against using a safety pin to repair a bra strap. I have had to be rushed to the ER only once in my life and I was wearing clean underwear, shorts and a T. I certainly didn’t care, given the state I was in.

Description : What weird or unusual superstition or old wives tales do you know?

Last Answer : answer:In Hawaii, it's said picking lehua blossoms brings rain. Near Kilauea volcano, it is said to watch for an old woman hitchhiking alone at night. If you see her, you should always give her a ride, ... . If she doesn't get a ride, she will engulf homes and buildings in the fire of her lava.

Description : Does anybody know of any old wives tales relating to sexing an unborn baby?

Last Answer : I have found that if she is carrying the baby low and straight out in front it will be a boy no question and I have been 100% correct with this and if she is wide to the side it will be a girl again 100% on with that! Congratulations!!

Description : What old wives tale do you swear by?

Last Answer : Using a hot water bottle is not an old wives’ tale because it works. Snopes calls old wives’ tales “an assortment of superstitions, myths, and adages with no basis in truth.” “Step on a crack, break your mother’s back,” is an example of an o-w-t.

Description : Did you ever sleep with someone who had a nightmare in the middle of the night then screams and scares the $hit out of you?

Last Answer : No, but I was the person having the nightmare. My ex (after his heart slowed down) just held me til I fell back asleep.

Description : Is it possible to severely hurt your tail bone from falling down?

Last Answer : Yes, it is a bone and it can break. My mother broke her tail bone and had to sit on an inflatable tube for 2 months. It did heal fine.

Description : Other than emotional disturbance, what are some reasons a normally curly dog tail would remain straight?

Last Answer : Take her to a vet, she may have sustained some injury involving damage to nerves near the base of her spine.

Description : How long does it take you to wake up?

Last Answer : answer:How many hours sleep do you get? Are you on any medication?h Drink alcohol before bed? Try doing a yoga Sun Salutation…when I absolutely have to wake up fast, that does it for me!

Description : Does anyone know why your face can be fine all day and then you wake up and its puffy?

Last Answer : Allergies?

Description : I'm just curious... why is it that people sometimes wake up with one armpit that is stinky and another that is nice and fresh?

Last Answer : I don’t recall this ever happening to me. Maybe its just that I don’t check? But I would go with your theory on the amount of deodorant.

Description : When I wake up in the morning, why do I feel like I smoked 10 packs of cigarettes?

Last Answer : Could be an infection, asthma, dust allergies, humidity….....or recent change in cigarette brand? and probably a few other things too…

Description : Is it OK to wake up and eat breakfast, but then go back to sleep for, say, 3-4 more hours? Is this unhealthy?

Last Answer : Sounds mostly lazy…..why would you eat to sleep?

Description : What was the last nightmare you had?

Last Answer : I don’t know. I don’t remember my dreams, or my nightmares. It boggles my mind that other people can remember theirs.

Description : What nightmare did you have that still sticks with you to this day?

Last Answer : I once dreamt that I was being pulled apart limb by limb on some sort of torture device

Description : Can one get PTSD from a bad nightmare or hallucination?

Last Answer : A dream is not a traumatic incident; picking up the body pieces of one of your buddies is traumatic incident.

Description : When you are falling asleep, does your mind give you a warning that you're going to have a nightmare before you get there?

Last Answer : I don't remember that specific thing, maybe mainly because I don't usually have bad dreams right as they start. But setting an intention before sleeping can definitely work, as can waking up ... annoying dream, and being partly aware of the dream and the waking world especially when falling asleep.

Description : What's your interpretation of my nightmare?

Last Answer : It wasn’t a ghost it was the pizza guy! You had him waiting for hours. It wasn’t evil, but a bad case of B.O. from the pizza guy.

Description : Can we hear the "nightmare" Christmas tree stories? Misery loves company.

Last Answer : answer:I miss planting our christmas trees in the yard like my family did when we were done with them. It was worth paying more for the plantable ones. We have fake ones now but not $800. More ... 's kind of the end of the conversation. We have a couple hundred bucks in new lights and inflatables.

Description : It's your worst nightmare. You are standing in front of a crowd of thousands, delivering a speech. Everyone starts laughing loudly. You look down, and uh-oh, what's wrong & how do you react?

Last Answer : answer:That happened once - speaking to a crowd, zipper was open. Nothing hanging out, but still embarrassing. I said excuse me into the mic, turned around, fixed the problem, and moved on. ... happens to everyone it feels terrible to you when it happens, but the audience never remembers a thing.

Description : Why do I have the same nightmare over and over again?

Last Answer : answer:This sounds like a version of PTSD possibly and perhaps a short course of therapy specifically focussed on dealing with the after effects of the accident and potential PTSD symptoms would help. Maybe the ... a therapist and can't diagnose over the internet but I have had trauma in my life.

Description : When was the last time you've had a bad dream or nightmare?

Last Answer : Night before last. I was driving and trying to avoid a giant Ferris wheel that was coming out of the sky and sawing cars in half.

Description : Have you ever awakened from a nightmare and hoped it would become reality?

Last Answer : I was awakened the night I made the choice to exchange my past life for a new and much emproved one, I guess you can say, I’ve been, upgraded. Thanks to Unholy Thirst, then you came along, then Mastema. I wouldn’t change it for anything.

Description : Have you ever had a dream, or a nightmare, that stayed with you for life?

Last Answer : Yes, and though I am no longer a believer in any sort of existence after death, I am almost convinced that through a dream I had about 25 years ago, my godmother must have somehow come to bid me farewell before ... . I don't want to go into it too much beacase to this day it affects me to the core!

Description : Can we die because of a terrifying nightmare?

Last Answer : If you mean like going into cardiac arrest, yeah, that’s fully possible. You can’t actually die of fear alone as far as I know.

Description : What is your worst nightmare?

Last Answer : Loosing my mom.

Description : Could we come up with a totally new gaming console that is a horrible nightmare?

Last Answer : Make the panorama/zoom controller extremely sensitive.

Description : Boring question #75: Road trip nightmare passenger, which is worse?

Last Answer : Easy. I’d take the mummy. I drive 100 miles every day by myself, so it would be business as usual.

Description : What is the best dream or worst nightmare that you've recently had?

Last Answer : I usually can not remember my dreams, at least not in detail.

Description : What was your worst nightmare ever?

Last Answer : I tell ya man it was just fuckin awful, awful. But I just can’t remember it. Only thing I remember is that it was awful, and the bedding was wet….with sweat.

Description : Are bananas an atheist's worst nightmare?

Last Answer : I read somewhere that it’s much easier to peel a banana by opening the peel at the bottom end rather than where the “tab” (i.e. stem) is at the top. Try it – it’s a ton easier.

Description : Have you ever had a dream/nightmare come true ?

Last Answer : answer:Uh. Mostly. Depends on what. I often dreamed of doing things when I was younger, and, afterwards I actually did those things. But, I don't think there's a connection between the two. It is ... [or Greeks, not really sure, maybe both] believed that dreams come true, whether we like it or not.

Description : Does anyone know what my dream (nightmare) means?

Last Answer : I think it's away for you to cope with the miscarriage you had prior to the dreams. I really can't say much because I honestly have know clue, but as a person who has nightmares a lot ... You just need to sort through your thoughts. Everything in our dreams is what we have picked up subconsciously.

Description : Do you just hate waking up from a Nightmare?

Last Answer : You need sleep.

Description : How to make a graceful getaway from a nightmare boss?

Last Answer : I don’t think I’d worry too much about burning a bridge that leads to hell. Get another job and move out.

Description : How do I erase my masturbation-discovery nightmare?

Last Answer : I would suggest therapy. Really, though, you know they were doing it, too—they just didn’t get caught. Not by you, at least.

Description : Why is it called a "nightmare"?

Last Answer : It’s not “mare” as in “horse”, it’s “mare” from the Old English “mare” meaning “goblin”. It’s cognate with the Scandinavian “mara” and the Buddhist “mara”. http://www.bartleby.com/61/41/N0104100.html

Description : How do you get over a bad dream/nightmare?

Last Answer : I try and substitute the not so nice images for nice nicer ones. If that doesn’t work, I wake up and read.

Description : Help with Windows XP and Blue Screen Nightmare, please?

Last Answer : You probably had a password If so your files are encrypted :( You did mistake installing 2nd and 3rd copy of windows, all you had to do is to take hard drive out and attach it to another ... your first XP -> then choose repair. otherwise you will have to use password crackers to clear you password

Description : Which is your worst nightmare?

Last Answer : I sometimes dream of being murdered or attacked… I’d rather have the snakes :o

Description : What is the meaning of saying that the consciousness of the past weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living?

Last Answer : There is no such popular saying. Someone might have said it, but is not profound in any way. It would depend entirely on what the past consciousness was related to.

Description : Nightmare Interpertation.

Last Answer : It was just a nightmare.

Description : A promise lost, a lie undone, is relatively light wear. But what’s the cost, where is the fun, when dream becomes a nightmare?

Last Answer : Two road diverged in the wood, And I took the one less travelled by… Robert Frost could have mentioned that there are more opportunities to twist an ankle or become lost and the rougher path though it may be innovative and exciting…

Description : What is a nightmare?

Last Answer : the same as a dream, only with fear….