14 Tips for Getting Rid of Nightmares
Posted by Ryan Hurd on September 2, 2010
Sometimes the only dreams we remember are the ones we wish we could forget. Nightmares can be instructive, and most psychologists believe that they are a healthy part of life. But if you are plagued by repetitive nightmares and are losing sleep, sometimes changing your daily habits can reduce nightmare frequency. In general, nightmares can be caused by insufficient sleep, poor exercise and diet, and stress. The tips below all are aimed at cultivating a healthier sleep and dream life, drawn from my ebook Enhance Your Dreamlife.
1. Don’t go to sleep angry or stressed out. Give yourself time to cool down.
2. Regular sleep patterns = better dreams. Including weekends.
3. Don’t eat right before bed. In particular, foods that take longer to digest, like meats and cheeses, can increase nightmares.
4. Reduce alcohol and caffeine consumption.
5. Cultivate gratitude. If this doesn’t come easy, do a “thankfulness” exercise every day in which you list the aspects of your life that you are thankful for.
6. Reduce exposure to violent images in the media, especially in the evenings. Horror movies can cause lingering nightmares for years.
7. Spend time in nature as often as possible, even if this means sitting in a city park for fifteen minutes every day. Many therapists believe that we all suffer from “nature deficiency disorder.”
8. Don’t sleep on your back. This encourages a special kind of nightmare known as sleep paralysis, in which you feel like you are awake and alert while at the same time you cannot move. Sufferers also feel breathless and/or sense an “unknown presence” in the room.
9. Start a gentle body practice like yoga, walking, or tai chi. In general, moderate exercise increases the quality of sleep.
10. If you have repetitive nightmares, role-play how you will face your nightmare attackers next time.
11. Keep a dream journal. Often writing it out can dispel a lot of the powerful emotionality.
12. Join a dream-sharing group. Many larger cities have them. If not, start your own.
13. Give yourself some self-love and acceptance. Easy to suggest, but hard to do. I use journaling to remind myself that I am loved. Affirmations — while they can seem cheesy at first — are effective as well. My backlog of journals is essentially a history of pep-talks I’ve given myself over the years… and it still works.
14. Keep fresh flowers or aromatic oils in the bedroom. Research shows that good smells positively effects your dreams.
Note: If you have numerous, repetitive nightmares that are related to childhood scenes or some personal trauma you encountered, I recommend seeing a counselor or therapist. Severe nightmares are a common symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which can be caused by war, devastating personal loss, rape and suffering through a natural disaster. Ministers and priests are also good resources for dealing with nightmares if you attend a church; many are trained in working with the spiritual and traumatic side of dreams.
For more information about getting better sleep and exploring dreams, download my free ebook Enhance your Dreamlife.
Title image: Sweet Dreams by Sekaino Ai.
I have certin dreams that seem to come true.
I have woke up in the mornings and told my wife about a dream that seemed real,and then it happened.
A crash was one that i told my wife about,i described it in detail to her,she laught it off until later that day when it happened.
I have dreams like this alot and all of them seem to come true.Is this normal or am i loosing my mind?I told my mother how she would die,best freinds,and one of my sons.I am afraid to sleep most nights,and now i have a friend in the spot light of a dream,i dont know what to do
This happens to me too, u have been give a window in which u are able to see a possible future it is up to you to deside what to do about it. Know this some things you can change some you can’t but u most try if u dont you may never for give yourself. good luck my friend you are not alone.
walt jones one reason that my grandma told me
that if you tell pepole about it and it is before 12pm it could relly happen to you same thing happened to me i had a dream i got in fight and i told my friend and at that hour i got in a fight with my best friend
Walt if you are really scared go to this website
world of lucid dreams it will teach you how to control your dreams it worked for me it should work for you
My boyfriend keeps on having nightmares almost everytime he sleeps. Last time when he took a nap in front of me, i was paying close attention to him, when i noticed he kept whimpering and covering his face with his arms. I always wake him up because he told me his nightmares are horrible and it pains me to see him like that. His dreams are different and yet the same, they always keep repeating in a different way. I want to help him, but i dont know what to do
“role-play how you will face your nightmare attackers next time”
I remember once reading that avid videogame players generally had less nightmares because instead of thinking oh crap, I’m helpless, they tend to treat it like how they would treat a monster in a videogame.
With my sister though, since she only plays videogames a few times a year (for an entire day) she gets nightmares if its a scary game.
As someone who has suffered from SP for around 20 years I stumbled across this great web resource a few weeks back.
I think my worst (and possibly most embarrassing) episode so far was on a long haul flight from Bangkok to Sydney – the typical sleep paralysis fear together with the entirely unnatural environment and discomfort of an economy class contributed to this particular episode – resulting in me waking a number of other slumbering passengers through the loud whimpering and shouting!
Has anyone else had similar experiences? Or more practically, any suggestions for this dilemma of having to stay awake throughout the duration of a long haul flight in order not to trigger an episode.
hey Pete, ironically, trying to stay awake during a long flight can actually promote SP — one of its triggers is jetlag. Rather you want to promote sleep closer to your target destination.
Melatonin may also help, but do your homework to make sure you don’t have any contraindications.
try taking melatonin the day before you fly, and again when you fly an hour before your intended bedtime. If you’re flying way west, this means an earlier bedtime, which is more difficult to adapt to.
Also, and this is tough on a plane, try not to sleep reclined, but if possible, against the window. Sleeping on your back increases the likelihood of SP. If it’s a another long haul, this will probably be impossible.
Other relaxation methods may help — such as listening to music in your headphones that puts you at ease. Breathing exercises, also a good idea.
I can’t recommend an alcoholic drink.. it may just make it worse on the tail end of your sleep cycle due to REM rebound effects.
Hi,
Try readind the book of Ecclesiastes. Start with Chapter 1, try keeping it in memory. Then move to the next chapter.
NB:Ecc 1:13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.
Try it
I keep having dreams that my fiancee has cheated on me, either I’ve caught him or he has confessed. Our relationship is very healthy and I don’t actually suspect him of cheating. I have been cheated on many times in the past so I that’s just my biggest fear of him finding someone else and losing him.