Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition that people who have endured a traumatic event such as war, a violent crime, or abuse sometimes deal with. PTSD includes symptoms such as nightmares, irrational fears, flashbacks, anxiety, and insomnia. It affects about 7.7 million American adults and it can affect children, too.

Preliminary research suggests that PTSD patients may benefit from virtual reality psychotherapy. The virtual reality helps patients relive some of their traumatic experiences while in a safe environment. Iraq war veterans took part in the study -- taking medication and using the virtual reality treatments -- and it's helped many of them confront their fears.

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Canadian researchers have found that babies who are considered "difficult" or anxious at 5 months or later could develop nightmares during preschool. Their characteristics at infancy were good indicators about whether or not they could have consistently bad dreams as preschoolers.

Psychiatrists explain how they predicted children to have these consistent nightmares based on this data. Bad dreams were then shown to occur as early as two and a half years old. Researchers say if parents comfort them after it could lower the chances of recurring nightmares later.

Are there any parents out there who can attest to this study? All children have nightmares at one point or another. This seems like a valid connection between infant temperament and preschool sleeping patterns. But parents know their kids better than men in lab coats, so maybe this provides a little insight if anything.

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Martha covered this last night, and it's something dear to my heart -- preventing nightmares. Many of us have experienced nightmares of some type. Stress, fear (irrational or not) and other factors all can lead to nightmares. If you're tired of the unsettling these dreams cause, what can you do to curb them?

It's hard to say that the conscious mind has control over dream types, but according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, there are things you can do to stop or greatly reduce the number of bad dreams you have. Oddly enough, many of these are simple steps -- nothing out of the ordinary here.

It's one of the best things you can do for yourself if you have nightmares -- confront the problem and deal with it without using prescription drugs or other potential semi-solutions. If you have regular nightmares, it's up to you to use a root cause approach and delete them from everyday life.

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Do you have frequent nightmares? For most people, nightmares are only an occasional occurence, but if they're a regular thing, they can seriously affect your sleep ... and your health. Nightmares are often caused by underlying stress. So how do you keep them at bay? Everyday Health has these suggestions:

• Talk to friends and family about things that are bothering you. It will help reduce stress and you might even figure out what is at the root of your sleep problems.
  
• Try relaxation techniques before bed.
  
• Think about other causes of your nightmares -- if they started around the time you started taking a new medication, talk to your doctor. Drinking and using recreational drugs can also be at the root of the problem.
  
• Get regular exercise.
• Establish a regular sleep schedule and stick to it.
  

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When I'm under a lot of stress I have two recurring dreams: either I'm driving in a car that I suddenly can't control (usually on crazy roads that climb high and suddenly fall away) or I'm in my house watching a tornado bear down on me. Both, I think, are easy enough to decipher and when I have them I know that it's time to take things down a notch and address whatever is causing my stress levels to rise.

Nightmares can be caused by stress, but also can be indicators of certain health issues. Common triggers of bad dreams include:

• stress and anxiety (as mentioned above)
• major life events
• illness and fever
• excessive use of alcohol or withdrawal from alcohol
• breathing disorders, including asthma and sleep apnea
• sleep disorders
• eating just before bedtime
• drug reactions

Nightmares themselves can cause anxiety and unease, so if you're suffering from recurring bad dreams and haven't pinpointed a cause, it may be worth mentioning to your doctor.

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