I have nightmares every night

This is a new thing to me. For a long time, I would never have nightmares. Only very very very rare occasions. I could stay up watching horror movies and they would never effect me. But recently I've been having horrible dreams every time I go to sleep. It probably is because of caffeine late, and maybe unrest with waking up early to go to work which I've not been used to.

And I even had my first sleep paralysis (maybe??) experience, which I've never had in my life

Just a random thought. I had a nightmare a few days ago where a family was being loud so I went in the backyard which caused the dog to jump at me, and the father was so angry he came over and reached for the dog by the neck and turned into a really creepy black figure with a white smile, and he killed the dog

Usually I was almost always able to relatively control my dreams if I knew I was dreaming. And I realized it was a dream, so I was going to knock the father out to stop him from hurting the other dogs

But when I went closer to him, he grabbed me and I felt my body go numb and tingly and I couldn't move at all. Which scared me because I've never had a dream physically prevent me from trying to control it this way

And I knew I couldn't overpower it so I forced myself to wake up and open my eyes, and when I woke up, the figure was laying in front of my bed facing me and I was still stuck and unable to move

I'm fine, I just find it interesting because it's such a new experience. I've always feared this but even when I would go to sleep so scared of it, it never happened

It's probably because of caffeine before bed?