Why do you have nightmares, what to do: causes and correction of the condition in an article by psychologist Kovalenko A.V.

A strong and healthy night's sleep helps the body rest and gain strength, which it will definitely need in the morning. But if you didn’t sleep well all night and instead of a bright and colorful dream you saw a chilling nightmare, then there can be no talk of any restoration of the body.

Each of us at least once in our lives, having gone to the kingdom of Morpheus, saw a realistic and terrifying nightmare. If this happens very rarely, then there will be no negative consequences. But some people suffer from nightmares every night, which negatively affect their quality of life and cause them to experience real confusion.

What to do if you often have nightmares? Why is this happening? How to stop seeing terrible dreams that are frightening in their realism? Today we will try to find answers to these and some other important questions.

Benefits and harms

It turns out that nightmares are not always bad. Let's look at how they can be useful.

A signal from the subconscious that a problem has arisen, and a person may neither notice it nor attach special importance to it. If you had a nightmare, analyze what is happening in your life, what is disturbing you.
Allows the nervous system to unload. Nightmares are a way to free yourself from stress, excessive tension, and overwork. Due to the absence of bad dreams, everything will come out in everyday life and cause a lot of problems.
Horrors in a dream can indicate that a turning point has come in your life. It's time to cast aside all doubts and start moving on.

Let's look at the possible harm from nightmares at night.

Restless sleep appears, you have to wake up several times a night, and there is no proper rest.
A person who has had a nightmare is in a bad mood all day long, digesting what he saw in the dream.
In the presence of a weakened psyche, nightmares lead to the development of phobias and even mental pathologies.

What it is

Dreams are pictures that the subconscious draws. Dreams are associated with events experienced during the day. Life problems are visualized in a person in the form of disturbing and scary visions.

Those who are susceptible to nightmares are:

has unresolved life problems and fears;
endowed with personality complexes;
experienced serious depression or resentment;
holds back emotions.

The inability to improve life, to throw out negative emotions in life puts psychological pressure on a person. As a result, visions regularly haunt me at night.

Possible reasons

Overeating before bed often leads to nightmares

Nightmares penetrate our lives in the presence of certain factors. We will get acquainted with the most common of them.

Increased anxiety, stressful life environment, constant stressful situations, all kinds of experiences. Nightmares often occur after experiencing violence, the loss of a loved one, a tragedy in your personal life, or a conflict at work.
On the eve of an important life event, an individual begins to dream of horrors due to overexcitation of the nervous system. A lot of disturbing thoughts are swarming in my head, a turning point has come in life and now the main thing is to do everything right and not lose your chance.
Hyperthermia, which occurs against the background of an infection or some kind of illness, leads to bad dreams.
The result of overeating before bed. This happens due to stomach congestion and discomfort.
Nightmares after heavy drinking are common. Especially if the individual drinks before going to bed.
The result of taking a certain category of medications. There are drugs that affect the nervous system.
Excessive fatigue, both mental and physical. Excessive overwork does not always lead to “sleeping without hind legs.” It often ends in insomnia and terrible dreams, because the body depletes its reserves.
If you have nightmares every night, make sure that the room has a normal level of humidity and temperature, and that there are no factors such as noise, bright light or unpleasant odors. All this can lead to horror in your dreams.
Very often, especially among children, nightmares occur after watching horror films or scenes of violence on TV.
Childhood psychotraumas can remind you of themselves, emerging from your subconscious during dreams. The trauma is transformed into some terrible events that come in a dream.
Having a bad habit like smoking can also lead to nightmares. This happens due to the accumulation of toxins in blood vessels, organs and tissues.
Evening scandals and serious quarrels often lead to horror in dreams.
The occurrence of a pathology affecting the cardiovascular system may be indicated by dreams in which you are constantly being suffocated and experiencing a severe lack of air.
It is believed that a dream in which you lose your teeth indicates diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
If you dream that your feet are wearing tight shoes or you find yourself in front of a narrow gap through which you are trying to get through, there may be a disease of the musculoskeletal system.

Drug therapy

The most commonly used drugs are sleeping pills, which help improve the quality of sleep and prolong it. This treatment method is most effective if nightmares are triggered by the use of psychoactive substances. The doctor may prescribe the following prescription medications:

"Flunitrazepam";
"Clomethiazole";
"Phenobarbital";
"Diphenhydramine";
"Nitrazepam", etc.

There are contraindications, consultation with a specialist is necessary!

How to deal with nightmares

Tell someone you trust about your nightmares

Let's figure out what to do if you have nightmares.

Analyze the current situation, try to understand the reasons for what is happening. Identify the real problems that led to the nightmares.
Tell what you dreamed about to a person you can trust. It is believed that talking about painful things helps to get rid of anxiety. In addition, a loved one can give you ideas about what exactly led to the nightmare.
Become a screenwriter. This method is especially effective if you suffer from the same dream for several days in a row. You need to program yourself for a good end, for example, you will be able to defeat a monster, if someone is strangling you, you will fight back. The same can be done by depicting your fear on a piece of paper, adding images indicating that you have defeated it.
Go to bed no later than 23:00. Try to ensure that your night's rest lasts at least eight hours.
Analyze how you eat. Remember that you should not overeat before going to bed, eat less than three hours before going to bed, and abuse fatty and fried foods.
Avoid watching movies before bed, especially horror films and films with scenes of violence.
Try to be outdoors in the evening or at least ventilate the room before going to bed.
To relax, take a bath with aromatic oils and drink mint tea before bed.
Make sure that the room in which you sleep has normal temperature and humidity, comfortable bed and pajamas, and that there are no irritating factors.
When going to bed, don't think about your problems. Try to go to bed with a light head.

If you realize that you won’t be able to cope with nightmares on your own, seek help from a psychotherapist; perhaps psychological trauma is to blame.

The consequences of poor sleep are its impact on the human psyche.

Of course, poor sleep greatly affects the human psyche. A huge number of experiments have shown that by constantly reducing sleep time, we can greatly harm our health and mental stability.

Also, changes can be observed even at the DNA level. What's more, research shows that people who are sleep-deprived report lower mood and less vitality. Even one sleepless night can lead to negative emotions and an irritable mood.

Precautionary measures

Replace evening movie watching with reading a book

Avoid watching TV and sitting in front of the computer before bed. Better pick up a book, read some kind of narrative story.
When going to bed, think about something good, tune in to sweet dreams.
Avoid evening scandals. However, an excess of positive emotions can lead to bad dreams. In the evening it is better to limit any strong emotions - this is the time for calm actions.
Don't overeat before bed. Remember that your last meal should be at least three hours before bedtime.
Follow the regime. Go to bed no later than 23:00, wake up at 7:00.
Try to fall asleep lying on your back. It is believed that this pose is the most comfortable for relaxing the whole body.
If you have bad habits, fight them, remember the possible consequences, which may manifest themselves not only as nightmares at night.
If diseases occur, treat them promptly.
If you know that you have psychological problems, seek help from a specialist in a timely manner.

Now you know why nightmares can haunt you. As you can see, there is always a logical explanation for this. It is important to understand yourself and your state of health in order to realize the true cause of nightmares. If they torture you, make an effort to resist them and get your healthy sleep back.

Prevention methods

The first and most important advice may seem banal: you should reconsider your values, try to perceive problems more simply, avoiding stress and unnecessary worries. Lifestyle is of great importance. People who eat right, don’t abuse alcohol, and play sports almost never have attacks.

Many people praise warm foot baths with lavender ether, as well as infusions of linden, mint and lemon balm with a little honey. You should definitely walk for at least 30–40 minutes before going to bed, trying not to skip walks in any weather. If possible, go on vacation at sea at least once a year. Such trips are especially important for children with an active psyche. And, of course, you shouldn’t overeat before going to bed. The body must recover without bothering with the work of digesting food. Such simple tips will definitely help you get rid of anxiety and make your life quality.

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Literature

Mayo Clinic, Sleep terrors (night terrors), published November 2, 2015.
Bjorvatn B et al. Prevalence of different parasomnias in the general population // Sleep Medicine
Ohayon MM et al. Night terrors, sleepwalking, and confusional arousals in the general population: their frequency and relationship to other sleep and mental disorders // Journal of Clinical Psychiatry - 1999
Psychiatry (Edgmont), Update on parasomnias a review for psychiatric practice, published November 2, 2015.
Medicine And Sleep, The sleepwalking/night terrors syndrome in adults, published November 2, 2015.
Waldemar Szelenberger et al. Sleepwalking and night terrors: Psychopathological and psychophysiological correlates // International Review of Psychiatry
Giancarlo Di Gennaro et al. Night terrors associated with thalamic lesion // Clinical Neurophysiology - 2004.
Jan JE et al. The role of the thalamus in sleep, pineal melatonin production, and circadian rhythm sleep disorders // Journal of Pineal Research - 2008.
Coulon P et al. The sleep relay—the role of the thalamus in central and decentral sleep regulation // European Journal of Physiology - 2011.
Kales A et al. Hereditary factors in sleepwalking and night terrors // British Journal of Psychiatry - 1980.
Nguyen BH et al. Sleep terrors in children: a prospective study of twins // Pediatrics - 2008

Solving the problem during the day

In cases where nightmares are not accompanied by destructive processes, and you cannot cope with them on your own, it is good to try several methods of dealing with bad dreams in daylight:

Getting out of stress on your own, for example, taking a long rest, returning to your favorite hobby, self-care;
Discussing scary dreams with loved ones, perhaps together we can find the cause of the problem;
Increased self-esteem;
Understanding dreams and working out another scenario for the development of events, leading to a positive ending to the nightmare.

In some cases, psychotherapists help in the fight against fears. Comprehensive therapy, consisting of regular conversations and taking mild sedatives, allows you to calm your emotions and look at the situation with a fresh perspective.