Are nightmares something to be avoided?

I used to have alot of nightmare about sharks and bears.I was always fighting bears…
I got tired of that and before I went to sleep,told myself that I would beat the hell out of it once and for all.
Sure enough,I had the bear dream and proceeded to fight.It then told me I couldn’t punch for $hit!
I woke up laughing. :)
I don’t think I have had one since.
I think fear is good for me.I take action.

When the dreams of others become my nightmare, yes, they are to be avoided.

I suffer from sleep paralysis. I am fully aware I’m asleep and can’t wake. I struggle to move even one twitch of a finger or toe, all the while struggling and moaning until I scream for help. Not pleasant.

I have read that nightmares are the brain’s way of rehearsing strategies for dealing with the situations we fear. War games, in effect. Thanks to nightmares, I know exactly what I’ll do next time I’m pantless in public.

I used to get chronic nightmares when I was younger. Some seem silly now (one was of giant frogs with inflatable hammers taking over my neighborhood) while others still scare me to think about it (I once dreamt that my father was killed in action). I think that nightmares aren’t something to be afraid of, but perhaps they show the way into your subconscious, or let you know what to be cautious of.

Nightmares can be helpful because they sometimes help us wake up to prevent something.
Like ever had a nightmare where you had to pee and you couldn’t find a toilet or you where asleep. Then you jump out of bed full awake (in real life) and realize you really do need to pee.
Or another. You dreamt you could breathe and your sinuses where really clogged.
On the other had it could be bad to have a lot of nightmares. To many can be a sign of illness or a lot of stress in your daily life and you won’t get proper sleep on top of all that.
Nightmares can also bring to light issues you may be trying to down play in your life that subconciously bug you.

If it could really be avoided, yes. But personally my chances are slim since I love watching horror movies and chances are that is the cause of my nightmares. Oh well.

Nightmares, so long as they aren’t a nightly thing, aren’t an issue for me. I don’t get them too often, and even more rarely am I affected after waking. Usually it’s just a “whew! It was only a dream” situation. Occasionally I’ll have one that leaves me in a daze for a while. That’s not a huge issue either – they can even be inspirational. They tell me what is bothering me, and I once wrote a short horror story based on a nightmare I had. I do get sick of the medical nightmares after a while.

For a child it is something that is concerning as it can manifest itself into real fears.
For adults, you simply have to be adult about it.
Certainly there are certain fears or stress points that can be considered good stresses.
I love a good nightmare myself…

When you have them every night for over a decade, they simply becomes nothing more than a dream.

I don’t think you can avoid nightmares. Metaphorically yes, otherwise you can’t. I don’t know the science behind dreams though.

I think that some nightmares can be helpful sometimes, they bring up things from your subconscious, but if they make no sense they’re not helpful. Too many is not a good thing though.