Top 12 Scary Sleep Disorders!

4. Chronic Nightmare Disorder

Next time you wake up from a one-off bad dream, count yourself lucky- people with CND suffer nightmares on a regular basis (Levin et al). Affecting 8% of the adult population at some point in their lives, this disorder occurs during REM sleep, and many find it extremely difficult to wake up. Once they do wake up, the body’s stress and panic systems are activated and so, it’s very difficult to go back to sleep, leading to fatigue and possibly anxiety and depression. This may be triggered by psychological stress, such as PTSD, or substance abuse, which leads to changes in brain neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and epinephrine.