For example, read a chapter or two of a good book before you try to fall back to sleep. Try to select a book which has a topic far removed from the content of your bad dream: if, for example, you were hiking in your dream and fell off a cliff, avoid adventure novels and instead read a few pages of historical fiction or a romance novel. You should avoid doing anything that is challenging or overly engaging, such as homework, office-work, or housework.
The best poses to try are easy resting and inversion poses, such as Easy Forward Bend (variation of Sukhasan), Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasan), Child’s Pose (Balasana), and Legs Up the Wall Pose (Viparita Karani). [3] X Research source Be sure to keep your stretches and poses gentle, and avoid working up a sweat or getting your heart rate too high. It’s important that you don’t push yourself past your comfort zone or hold a pose that hurts. It’s also a smart idea to learn from a qualified professional, who can help you learn the poses properly and learn to adjust them for your body. [4] X Research source
In general, your sleep will probably be more restful if you choose instrumental music, and avoid selecting tunes which have multiple movements, some of which may be more tense and dramatic. You may also want to consider putting your music on a timer, so that it turns off after a set amount of time. Many music apps have this feature.
For example, you can find cd’s or apps with recordings of ocean waves, rain falling, or quiet animal-life sounds.
If this is the case, sleep experts recommend that you get up and if possible, leave the room. Doing this reinforces the message that your bed is a place of rest. Even though you may be worried about needing to get a certain amount of sleep, allow yourself to stay awake for a period so that the bad dream can fade away and so that your mind can center on more positive thoughts.
Beyond this, television is an engaging medium, which means that we may be overly stimulated when watching it, which can in turn make it harder to fall asleep.
Recurring bad dreams often include more threatening content, and so can linger longer, bother us more throughout the day, and of course cause added anxiety as bedtime approaches. Thus, it’s all the more important that you try to figure out why they are occurring, and a dream journal can help you with that.
For example, pregnant women tend to dream more about pregnancy, birth, and childcare, while health care workers tend to dream more about their patients. [9] X Research source When you pay attention to the content of your dream, you can begin to understand what your mind is trying to tell you: are you worried about an upcoming event at work? Are you stressed about your relationship? If you come to realize that your dream is reflecting your stress about an aspect of your life, once you focus on handling that problem your bad dreams may subside.
Our brain uses the dreaming process to sort through our experiences and emotions, process the information we’ve taken in throughout the day, and begin to form memories. [10] X Expert Source Samantha Fox, MS, LMFTMarriage & Family Therapist Expert Interview. 19 January 2021. [11] X Research source
Why should you care about this? If you realize that your bad dream is just a result of your brain processing and sorting this information, you may be able to conclude that your bad dream is just your brain’s way of wrapping up the experience. If this is the case, you may not need to worry about returning to the dream again.
If you have just recently begun to experience bad dreams, examine the labels of your medication to see if bad dreams or poor sleep possible side effects. If they are, you may be able to speak with your physician about changing your prescription. If not, you’ll at least know the possible reason and can take steps to manage and recover from your bad dreams.
Consider cutting out alcohol in the evening (or altogether) to see if your bad dreams decline.
If you suspect that your bad dreams are not a result of normal stress, but may instead be the symptom of some underlying physical or emotional problem, it’s important that you visit your physician and/or mental health care professional as soon as possible.
For some people, the dreams about their loss can increase their depression, but others report that the dreams eventually help them come to terms with their loss. Once you realize that bad dreams are to be expected after a difficult experience, you may rest better knowing that dreams are part of the grieving process. Just as your sadness will eventually fade or become more manageable, so too will your bad (or sad) dreams also become less frequent.
Your doctor or counselor will ask you how you’ve been feeling: be sure to discuss how you’ve been sleeping and what your dreams have been like as you begin to answer this question.
It can be tough for children to distinguish between the real feelings that they experience in their dreams and reality. Your calm presence will help relax your child, and will help her realize that she was just dreaming.
Tell him, “You had a bad dream, but I’m here, it’s gone, and you’re ok. ”[18] X Research source
Even though you want your child to get over her fear, be careful not to dismiss it, and let her know that it’s ok to be scared and upset as a result of having a bad dream. [19] X Research source
Prepare a monster spray (water in a decorated spray bottle) or good dream dust that you can sprinkle around the room. [20] X Research source
Have a special talk with “Mr. Hippo,” for example, and remind the toy that he needs to help your child have good dreams and chase away all of the bad dreams.
Create a story with your child as the “star” and her friends or toys as the other players in the dream: what are they going to do together when she falls back asleep? Add plenty of details, and don’t rush the story. With luck, your child will fall asleep during the story and will continue it as she dreams.
Prompt him to think about the story the music is telling, or ask him to describe what he sees when he listens to the music: does he see a magic forest, or twinkling stars, for example? Help him come up with soothing visualizations to match the music, and he may become more relaxed and less likely to return to his bad dream.
This can also be a good opportunity for you to figure out if your child’s bad dream was a normal occurrence or if it’s a symptom of bigger problem, such as anxiety about school or friends or depression.
This can make her feel less vulnerable to her dreams in general and give her back a sense of control and power. [24] X Research source
Also, even if your child just seems to be going through a phase, it’s a good idea to let her teacher know that she hasn’t been sleeping as well lately in case it may be affecting her behavior or performance at school. Keeping her teacher in the loop can help protect your child from being subjected to added stress at school.
