I have recurring dreams of being chased... I can hear the footsteps behind me but I wake up before whoever is chasing me catches me. I am so frightened and it seems like the person chasing me gets closer and closer until I can barely run anymore. Then I wake up sometimes screaming and sometimes crying. Please help me as this has been going on for a long time now.

--Elaine, Age 55, Tahlequah, OKLAHOMA, USA

Hi Elaine -

Chase dreams are one of the most common dreams that people experience, and women tend to dream of being chased more than men. I believe most chase dreams are inspired by fears of violence and of sexual assault.

Most of the violence we are exposed to comes from what we watch on the television. Even on the local news each night, we usually see the remains of some violent crime. In truth, it is hard to watch any television without being exposed to a deluge of violence. Unfortunately, seeing so much violence on television tends to inflate our fears about how dangerous our cities really are, and of how at risk we are in our everyday lives. Scientific studies have demonstrated that the more television you watch, the more violent you perceive the world to be. Also, we tend to dream about what we have been exposed to the previous day. If we watch television just before going to bed, then some of the violent programming content (or some of the local crime stories) invariably appear in our dreams, and then we proceed to act out our fears - some one is chasing us, we are trying to get away.

My advice is to not watch television with violent content in it, and to also not watch the local news before you go to sleep at night. Try reading a good book or magazine instead. Odds are you will have much nicer dreams.