If you get nightmares – it may NOT be the spicy food you ate at 11pm – or the horror movie you just watched. You may have just gone to bed TOO LATE! That’s because people who stay up late throw off their sleep cycles. Here’s how it works: As morning approaches, our stress hormones naturally rise in an effort to wake us up… But, if your sleep cycle is off, your dreaming phase will coincide with your stress hormones rising – and cause a nightmare. So, go to bed earlier and you won’t have that problem… Because your dreaming phase and stress hormones won’t intersect.