Hello, Jacks and Sallys, Julian here for DNews.

哈囉，大家，我是 DNews 的 Julian 。

In the comments of a recent video, Luke Hutton asked us why we get nightmares, well, Luke, today’s the day you’ve been dreaming of, or had nightmares about, if you don’t like my jokes.

最近某部影片的評論欄裡，Luke Hutton 問我們為什麼人們會做惡夢，Luke，今天就是你一直夢想的那天，或者如果你不喜歡我的笑話，那就是惡夢中的那天。

Yes, the common knowledge holds true that nightmares are often a reflection of your waking mental state.

一般常識認為惡夢通常反映你清醒時的生理狀況。

Stressing out about a looming unpleasantness, as well as anxiety from events passed can cause nightmares.

甩不去的煩事造成的壓力和過去造成的焦慮都會導致做惡夢。

Really traumatic events like car accidents or wars can lead to nightmares with recurring themes, or reliving the event over and over.

車禍或戰爭這類真實事件的創傷會導致重複做類似內容的惡夢，或是不斷夢到創傷事件。

Healing from the trauma should cause the nightmares to become less frequent and intense over time.

撫平創傷應有助於降低這類惡夢的頻率及其造成的緊張感。

If you’re among the 5% of people who have nightmares often enough to affect your waking hours, consider seeing a therapist; working through stress or trauma in real life will help you sleep peacefully.

如果你是惡夢頻繁到影響清醒時生活的那 5% 的人，你可以考慮尋求諮商師協助，在真實生活中戰勝壓力或創傷有助於睡得安穩。

Nightmares can also be caused by medications or drugs, especially ones that affect neurotransmitters like antidepressants or narcotics.

療法或藥物也可能會導致做惡夢，尤其是會影響神經傳導物質的療法或藥物，如興奮劑或是麻醉藥。

People who have what psychologists define as "thin boundaries of the mind" are more prone to nightmares, too.

擁有心理學家所謂「薄邊界」的人更有可能做惡夢。

These people tend to be more creative and imaginative, and sometimes have trouble separating fantasy from reality.

這些人通常更有創意或想像力，而有時候會很難脫離想像回到現實。

There's also idiopathic nightmares, meaning we don’t know why they happen, they just do.

還有自發性的惡夢，就是我們不知道為什麼會做這些惡夢，但就是做了。

So if you have a nightmare every now and again, it’s nothing to worry about: 85% of adults report having nightmares on occasion.

所以如果你有時候會做惡夢，不需要太擔心： 85% 的成人偶爾會做惡夢。

They’re more common for children, particularly young girls, and are likely caused when the child is struggling to cope with normal childhood fears.

小孩比成人更常做惡夢，尤其是年輕女孩，並且有可能在小孩克服一般童年恐懼的事物時發生。

To understand nightmares, and to a larger extent dreams, it helps to know what’s happening in your thinking meat while you’re unconscious.

如果你想要了解惡夢或其他類型的夢，了解你昏睡時的心智活動對你會有幫助。

Dreams and nightmares happen during REM, the last step in the sleep cycle before it starts over.

夢和惡夢都在睡眠的快速動眼期發生，這是睡眠週期重新開始前最後一個階段。

During REM your brain becomes much more active than when you’re in deep sleep.

快速動眼期時，你的頭腦會比深層睡眠時還要活躍很多。

Your amygdala in your temporal cortex starts humming along during REM, and that little guy is responsible for processing memory, decisions, and emotional reactions.

大腦邊緣系統的杏仁核在快速動眼期會開始運作，杏仁核負責處理我們的記憶、決定和情緒反應。

Some areas have even more activity than when you’re awake, like the hippocampus, which is the storage center of memory and emotions, and parts of your cortex, particularly your temporal and occipital lobes.

大腦有些部分甚至比你清醒時更活躍，例如海馬迴它是記憶和情緒的儲存中心，還有大腦皮質的一些部分，尤其是顳葉和枕葉。

These regions handle sensory input and visual information, respectively.

它們各負責接受感覺和視覺資訊。

There’s also some spikes in some fast wavelengths, likely caused by the cortex communicating with the thalamus, which is thought to be a hub for information sharing.

有些長波中會有較大起伏，這可能是由於大腦皮質與丘腦互動，一般認為是資訊傳遞共享的中繼站。

One area of your brain that doesn’t light up in REM though is the prefrontal cortex, which is used in information integration and episodic memory.

快速動眼期時，大腦中有個部分不活躍，就是前額葉皮層，它的作用是資訊統籌和情節記憶。

With all that brain talk I just threw at you in mind, the why and how of nightmares and dreams starts to make a little more sense.

綜合剛剛我說的一大堆大腦術語，你現在應該比較能理解為什麼會做夢跟惡夢，還有我們如何做夢跟惡夢。

The parts of your brain that are involved in long-term memory, emotion, vision, and language are all hard at work, but the prefrontal cortex is literally asleep at the metaphorical wheel, meaning nothing’s really guiding what the rest of your brain is doing.

睡覺時我們大腦內負責長期記憶、情緒、視覺和語言的部分都在努力工作，但前額葉皮層其實正在休息，這表示其實沒有東西在領導你大腦剩下的部分正在做的事情。

The result is bizarre dreams or nightmares, especially when something has had a strong emotional impact.

結果就是做了些奇異的夢或是惡夢，尤其是有強烈的情緒影響時。

And since the REM stage gets longer with each cycle and is the one you have right before you wake up, dreams or nightmares get longer and more intense until finally you come out of it going, "What on earth was that about?"

由於快速動眼期隨著每次睡眠週期而變長，你醒來前做的那個夢或惡夢會越來越長、越來越緊張，直到你醒過來然後說：「那到底是什麼？」

So, nightmares can be caused by stress or emotions, but do you have the ability to control them while you sleep? Anthony has the answer here.

惡夢可能是由壓力或情緒引起的，但你有能力在睡覺時控制惡夢嗎？Anthony 有解答。

Dreaming is a kind of a whole-brain activity; the pons system of your brain stem initiates it, your limbic system adds emotions and your prefrontal cortex puts it all together, but the parts of your brain that are associated with self-awareness are turned off.

做夢是一種全腦活動；腦幹的腦橋系統啟動它、邊緣系統增加情緒、前額葉皮層把它們放在一起，但是大腦中與自我意識相關的部分被關閉了。

This question was asked by a viewer and we hope we answered it to his satisfaction.

這個問題是一位觀眾提出的，希望這個答案能為他解惑。

If you have questions, lay it on us. You can ask them in the comments or on twitter or facebook, and don’t forget to subscribe. It’s kind of important to come back so you can see the answer, and I’ll see you next time on DNews!

如果你有疑問敬請告訴我們。你可以在下面的評論欄提出或是在推特或臉書留言，還有記得訂閱我們頻道，這樣你才能再回來看到答案喔，我們下集 DNews 見！