Lemondrop

The next time you have a bad dream, don't blame it on Freddy Krueger -- pass it off on your period. Thanks to our hormonal cycles, women have way more bad dreams than men. Ooh, scary!

According to a new British study, 34 percent of women reported having nightmares, compared with only 9 percent of men. The reason for the huge discrepancy? Bad dreams, say scientists, are brought on by temperature changes in the body -- and women tend to have more temperature fluctuations because they have a greater number of hormonal fluctuations.

In addition, said Dr. Jennifer Parker, who helped work on the study, women, "tend to use their dreams as a subconscious coping strategy ... women carry over their waking concerns into their dream life more so than men do, and they appear to have more difficulty with 'switching off' their concerns."

What's more, the study found that women tend to have three very specific types of nightmares. Common sleepytime scenarios included being chased and hunted; losing a parent or child; or being lost in strange, new and hostile environments.

Critics of the study say that it's not that women have more bad dreams -- it's just that we remember them better.

Tell us: Are you nightmare prone or a sound sleeper?