Bad dreams and nightmares can keep you awake at night. Literally. If you’re unfortunate enough to suffer from recurring bad dreams, what can you do to diminish their effect and – over time – banish them from your life?
1. Sleeping pills may help short term
Whilst pills aren’t a long term answer – they just paper over the cracks – they can be of use until you can find a better solution. Check with your doctor first and also ask them to run any necessary tests in case your bad dreams and nightmares have a deeper root.
2. Relax more before sleep
Give yourself time to get ready for sleep. Don’t just expect to stop reading a book or turn off the television and be ready to go to sleep. Actively take time out to relax before you go to sleep. This will help your mind to unwind a bit and will give you a better chance of getting through a night’s sleep without being rudely awakened.
3. Cut down on the alcohol
The usual culprit. We think that alcohol helps us unwind and de-stress but it actually has the opposite effect. So there’s a better than even chance that the nightcap you take is actually encouraging your bad dreams and nightmares.
4. Learn to control your dreams
This sounds a bit like something from the X Files at first sight. But it really is possible to control your dreams – there’s a whole section of people called lucid dreamers that do this – in which case you can begin to turn your worst nightmares into enjoyable fantasies. Dreams flit all over the place anyway – and that includes bad dreams. So if you can influence them even slightly then you can take the direction of your bad dreams a completely different route. A bit like the Marshmallow Man in the movie Ghostbusters.
5. Morph yourself
It’s your bad dream. Why shouldn’t you suddenly turn into something that the baddie that’s giving you nightmares is afraid of. That one could be quite fun to try!
The thing to remember is that other people have managed to stop bad dreams and nightmares so help is at hand for you to do the same.