I’ve always had rather vivid dreams — or at least been very good at remembering my dreams. Sometimes, this is a good thing. A dream inspired my first published piece of fiction. Sometimes, this is a bad thing… like when I have a nightmare that makes me turn on all the lights, afraid to go back to sleep.
According to the National Library of Medicine, nightmares are more common in childhood than in adulthood. (So are night terrors!) However, as much as fifty percent of adults (mainly women) still experience occasional nightmares.
Tips to help prevent nightmares:
- Make a bedtime routine and stick to it. Going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning can help get your body into a healthy sleeping rhythm.
- Exercise can help you fall asleep faster and sleep more deeply. It’s also a good way to reduce stress (if stress is to blame for your scary dream theater).
- Avoid recreational drugs and/or excessive drinking.
- Avoid eating right before bed — this increases metabolism and brain activity and may increase the number of dreams or nightmares you experience.
Tips to calm you (or a loved one) down after a bad dream:
- Try to analyze it… or not. Sometimes, it helps to figure out what the dream might mean. Sometimes, it doesn’t. Only you know what works best for you! For frightened children, it may work best to leave dream discussions for the light of day.
- Do things that make you feel safe. For me, it’s turning on the lights or TV. For a little kid, it might be checking the closet or under the bed for monsters.
- Find something comforting. A favorite book, a favorite song, photos of family — anything that feels familiar and happy may be enough to chase away any lingering distress.
- Try aromatherapy. A calming, balancing scent like lavender or chamomile may help ease lingering upset from a bad dream. For little kids, you could call the scent “monster repellant” and give them an added layer of security.
I’m always hesitant to go right back to sleep, for fear that I’ll end up having the same dream again… even though I’ve rarely had a dream bridge the gap between bouts of sleep. It’s one of those not-quite-logical convictions that comes out of the fear, I think. So I’ll sit up and watch TV or read for a half hour or so, until it feels “safe” to close my eyes again.
If your nightmares are so frequent that they’re interfering with your waking life, you may want to talk to your doctor about going to a sleep center. Medical folks can help determine what may be causing the repeated nightmares — be it emotional issues like stress and anxiety or physical issues like sleep apnea or illness with high fever.