Nightmares. Nightmares

Dreams are considered a normal state of the human mind. They visit absolutely everyone, but not everyone can remember what special they dreamed about. However, there is a certain category of visions that are remembered to the smallest detail, because they are filled with vivid pictures and emotions. These are nightmares. Waking up under the influence of horror, a person experiences fear, but repeated episodes already force him to think not only about the nature of this phenomenon, but also about how to get rid of bad dreams.

To date, a unified theory of dreams has not yet been created. Ancient peoples associated them with mystical ideas about the afterlife, and in the content themselves they saw predictions of future events. There were also more realistic hypotheses that dreams are a reflection of urgent physiological and emotional needs, and are closely related to active wakefulness. In Orthodoxy, as well as in Islam, there is a belief that they are considered a revelation of God.

It is important to know! The nature of dreams has not been fully studied. It is believed that their main goal is to unload the nervous system and process information received during the day from external sources and internal organs and systems.

Disruption of the latter often leads to the fact that a person in a sleeping state learns about his illness, while outwardly there are no symptoms. Negative emotions experienced during the day can provoke anxiety and bad dreams. Often the causes of nightmares in adults are associated with internal experiences and dissatisfaction with their situation.

All about nightmares

Most often, children suffer from nightmares. Waking up in tears with a feeling of chilling fear, they experience extreme stress. Psychologists recommend not to panic, since they consider these conditions to be a natural mechanism of child development at a certain age. But adults often wake up from creepy and realistic pictures. Experts advise: to understand how to get rid of nightmares at night, you need to know the peculiarities of their nature.

Bad dreams most often occur in the rapid phase and visit a person in the pre-dawn time. The disturbing, frightening events that fill the dream are sometimes so realistic that he feels himself a participant in them. Dreams characteristic of the deep stage are formed in the first hours after falling asleep. They do not have a specific plot, but are filled with horror so much that the sleeper may suddenly wake up with an unconscious feeling of intense anxiety.

Causes of bad dreams

Why do nightmares occur, and in what area should we look for the answer to this question - in medicine or psychology? Experts identify a number of provoking factors:

Often bad dreams are formed due to overeating, dehydration, oxygen starvation of tissue cells, and hormonal imbalance. People with physical injuries, such as damage to the brain and central nervous system, can also experience nightmares in their sleep.

Changes in a person's state during bad dreams

In the first one and a half to two hours after falling asleep, the human body is still in a state of stress, and therefore cannot adequately respond to emerging fears associated with heartbreaking sleep images. He has a natural reaction - he screams, cries, suddenly jumps out of bed. At this time, the level of adrenaline in the body increases, the heartbeat quickens, and trembling appears. Having fully awakened, a person begins to realize that all this is just a mirage, calms down and falls asleep again.

If a bad dream occurs in the morning, the psyche of the sleeper reacts more adequately. Therefore, the above symptoms do not occur. But such thrillers are remembered quite well, and a person is under their impression all day long. Exciting the imagination, they continue to affect his condition over the next day, provoking psychological discomfort.

It is important to know! As a result, night terror causes sleep disturbances, impairing sleep quality, as a person is afraid to fall asleep. At the same time, the mood deteriorates, irritability and anxiety appear, and physical fatigue accumulates.

People prone to nightmares

Almost 70% of the population suffers from nightmares, and most people note the episodic nature of their occurrence. Chronic pathology is observed only in 3-5% of people. They see horrors during their holidays at least once or twice a week at regular intervals throughout the year. Bad dreams can torment every second child or teenager, which is due to the development and formation of the body. Bad disturbing visions are common among women during pregnancy. Their appearance is based on purely psychological reasons.

Different ways to interpret terrible dreams

Nightmares and dreams have no effect on reality at all. If a person gets into a terrible accident, or is late for work, then it is not a fact that this event will manifest itself in life. But everyone interprets bad dreams in their own way, giving them special meaning.

Prophetic nightmares

Night fears in adults are often unfounded. But experts involved in the analysis and interpretation of dreams claim that every mosquito you dream about at night has a certain meaning.

1. A natural disaster in nature indicates the helplessness of a person in real life.
2. Chronic delays for a train or plane, accompanied by accidents on the way to the station, indicate the need to take a break from work, relieve yourself of the burden of responsibilities and go on vacation, even if it’s short-term.
3. Finding yourself in a terribly awkward situation, embarrassment indicates that a person has too low self-esteem.
4. Murders also have different interpretations, depending on the role of the sleeper. If they liquidate him, then in reality he simply fell under the influence of a person or circumstances. When a desire arises to eliminate someone, one should talk about the desire to get rid of someone’s influence.
5. A funeral and a dead person are dreamed of when the sleeper tries to explain his problems with the help of esotericism, the evil eye, and damage. Another interpretation can be called the inability to come to terms with the recent death of a loved one.

Children's night terrors

The reasons are of a slightly different nature than in adults.

A teenager or child often worries if the following facts occur:

• quarrels between parents, accompanied by strong expressions of emotions;
• lack of attention from loved ones;
• excessive care and guardianship;
• conflicting demands from parents;
• increased anxiety, nervous state of the mother.

Attention! Frequently recurring bad dreams can traumatize a child’s psyche, but if the episodes are associated with sleepwalking, the consequences can be bruises, abrasions, and injuries.

Parents should try to make the life of their son or daughter calmer. To do this you need the following:

• spend more time with children;
• establish a daily routine;
• increase time spent in the fresh air;
• create an evening bedtime ritual.

What are adults afraid of?

Nightmares that periodically recur in a dream often indicate the presence of some kind of problem in real life. Most often, adults dream about:

Experiencing fear, and subsequently obsessive discomfort, many men and women constantly replay stories in their minds, trying to decipher them and project them onto behavior and events in real life.

Effective ways to deal with scary visions in sleep

To understand how to get rid of unpleasant dreams, you need to find out the reason for their occurrence. Only a doctor – a psychotherapist or a somnologist – can help you understand the problem. After a confidential conversation and a thorough diagnosis carried out in the clinic, he will identify the cause of the panic attack. Since the disorder can have different origins, the methods for eliminating it also differ significantly.

Visit to a psychotherapist

In the vast majority of cases, a psychotherapist who uses cognitive behavioral therapy, which allows you to change sleep scenarios, helps get rid of frightening nightmares at night. To achieve a positive effect and eliminate fear and discomfort, various techniques are used, resulting in the destruction of negative thoughts, actions, and emotions.

It is important to know! The person is asked to remember all the events and sensations that took place in the dream and put them in writing. With the help of a doctor, he learns to replace bad episodes with good ones, directing the plot in a positive direction.

Nightmares are usually the result of events from a busy day.

Getting rid of the visions that visit you every night consists of the following steps.

1. Study your behavior, trying to eliminate self-torturing, risky actions and behaviors.
2. Monitor your thoughts during the day, without focusing on fears and worries.
3. During periods of increased stress, conduct auto-training to learn how to relax.
4. Use the technique suggested by the psychotherapist, creating good sleep in advance.

Many people practice using a spell against fear, the evil eye and damage. In addition, medication prescribed by a doctor and herbal medicine will help normalize the condition and improve the quality of sleep. You can use the following remedies yourself at home:

• valerian root;
• motherwort and St. John's wort herbs;
• lemon balm and lavender flowers.

Go to church for help

Believers often turn to God for help. Evening rituals help restore mental balance and properly prepare for bed. You can read special prayers and place a container of church water at the head of the bed. The ability of liquid to absorb all information will facilitate sleep and eliminate negative energy. In the absence of deep knowledge of religion, a simple prayer will help.

“Thank you, Lord, for giving me this day. Forgive me all my sins today. Give me, God, the opportunity to have a good dream at night without ghosts and nightmares, may they not torment me today and always. Drive away all my bad thoughts and calm my nerves. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen".

Prevention of bad dreams

Is it possible to get rid of nightmares and terrible dreams? How to restore normal rest and improve well-being? Most people are able to answer these questions on their own by adjusting their lifestyle. To do this, you just need to change your attitude towards yourself and your own behavior.

1. Reconsider your views on nutrition by correctly adjusting your diet, in particular, dinner. Heavy foods take longer to digest, which will invariably lead to increased brain activity.
2. Avoid drinking strong tea, coffee, and energy drinks in the afternoon. By stimulating the work of the main human organ, they provoke the appearance of visions of a different nature. An alternative substitute would be a glass of milk with honey or mint tea.
3. Do not drink alcohol before bed. It slows down the rate of metabolic processes, which causes oxygen starvation of brain cells, which leads to the development of terrible visions.
4. Do something interesting in the evening that will restore your emotional state. Knitting, embroidery, and drawing have a calming effect on the nervous system. Short, leisurely walks before bed will also provide a pleasant rest.
5. Take time for relaxation: meditation, yoga, favorite music will improve your mood.
6. Create comfortable and favorable conditions for a good rest. To do this, it is necessary to ensure silence, peace, optimal temperature and humidity in the room, and arrange a sleeping place. In addition, before going to bed, ventilate the room, and under normal weather conditions, leave the window open, ensuring a constant flow of fresh air.

You should also engage in some kind of sport, perform a simple set of exercises or morning exercises every day.

Conclusion

Nightmares can only be a signal from our subconscious. Lifestyle changes can often help relieve bad visions and insomnia. But if they continue to bother you, it makes sense to turn to specialists.

Have you ever woken up at night in a cold sweat because sharks were swimming after you in a dream or a maniac was chasing you? It’s good if such dreams are a rare occurrence, but when nightmares haunt you regularly, it’s time to take action!

Every second adult has bad dreams at least once during the year. 2-8% of people suffer from chronic nightmares that occur once a week. Most often, terrible dreams visit a person in the morning, during the rapid phase of sleep. The images can be so realistic that the body reacts on a physical level: the heart beats faster, breathing quickens, and the person wakes up. Nightmares impair the quality of sleep, and if they recur regularly, you begin to feel tired, drowsy, and anxious. Everything falls out of your hands, you literally fall asleep on the go. Don't wait for the nightmares to pass; you have the power to program yourself to have good dreams.

Deal with problems

The most common plot of nightmares of adults is the motive of the chase. Someone scary is chasing you, and if he catches you, you will be in trouble. Often the cause of such night visions is unresolved problems. The subconscious is trying to reach you and signals danger. Let's say your husband began to stay late at work suspiciously often, someone constantly calls him, he became nervous and irritable.

There are other alarm bells that clearly hint at adultery. But you are silent because you are afraid that your suspicions will be confirmed. It is not surprising if, in such a situation of uncertainty and anxiety, you constantly have nightmares. While you brush off the problem and pretend that it doesn’t exist, you can forget about a restful sleep. If you continue to stubbornly ignore your problems, you risk harming your health.

Pass a medical examination

The cause of nightmares can be not only psychological difficulties, but also health problems. First of all, these are sleep disorders:

1. Apnea is when a person stops breathing during sleep.
2. Restless legs syndrome - cramps.

But there may be more serious reasons. Through nightmares, your body can send distress signals that something is wrong in the body. Therefore, if you have not undergone a medical examination for a long time, then it is worth making an appointment with a therapist and taking a general blood test. Some medications can also cause nightmares. If you are taking antidepressants or medications to normalize blood pressure, consult your doctor. You may need to choose other tablets.

Get ready for bed

Much depends on how you spend your evening time. A couple of hours before bedtime, try not to eat anything, especially sweets. The fact is that food increases metabolism, the body is actively involved in digesting food and does not allow the brain to rest. So the brain begins to show you a “movie”, and not a romantic melodrama, but a real horror.

Tea and cookies before bed may not be the best idea.

In the evening, it is better to drink a soothing herbal tea:

• with lemon balm;
• mint;
• motherwort;
• valerian root;
• linden.

The environment in the bedroom should be as comfortable as possible. If you live on a noisy street or are unlucky with your neighbors, then use earplugs. Light from street lamps should not enter the room, so purchase blackout curtains. Ventilate the bedroom well before I go to bed. It's better to get an extra blanket or blanket and keep the temperature in the room cool.

Set yourself up for relaxation

What you do before bed is important. Stop watching television and watching the news. If in your next dream you read a terrible story about a fire or a natural disaster, then it’s not surprising if you are tormented by nightmares at night.

It’s also better to arrange showdowns with family members at a different time. Quarrels and high-pitched conversations cause overstimulation of the nervous system, and as a result, bad dreams. In the evening, it is better to do things that calm, pacify and put you in a good mood. Read a good book with your children, listen to music, do some handicrafts, watch a funny video with cats.

Lying in bed with your eyes closed, try to think about good things: about where you will go on vacation this summer, or about a beautiful dress that you saw in the window, and be sure to buy it after your paycheck.

A double portion of dinner because I am very hungry and tired. Then he goes to bed. And then terrible people appear to him and torture or strangle him. In fact, the body is trying to digest what has been delivered to it. The heart is beating hard, it is difficult to breathe. What happens in this case is up to you to decide. Or go for a walk before bed, or before.

Stress, anxiety, fatigue. More and more often, people forget about themselves, about their rest, that they are not made of iron and they also need rest. Testing the strength of your body in the form of: lack of sleep, malnutrition, tedious hard work, gives multiple. Among them are nightmares that become the norm. First of all, you should relax: play sports, take a walk in pleasant company, get enough sleep, enrich your diet, change your occupation.

Internal unrest, worries. In the list of reasons nightmares one can find personal experiences that may or may not be conscious. 1. Keeping a diary helps. You write down exactly what you dreamed about, then briefly note the events that happened in your life in the following days. Periodically, re-reading the entries, try to discover the relationship between events. 2. Sketch of a dream. You need to draw what you saw. Then reconsider and try to understand what exactly scared you. Then think about what it looks like what you captured on paper. 3. Records of previous days. You need to write down all the events that happened to you, without sorting out what you consider important and what not. Then you should reconsider several times and think about what really worries you and causes anxiety. What do your thoughts constantly return to? The three methods described can help when you don’t know what bothers you so much during the day that you cannot relax and escape from these thoughts even at night. In fact, it must move from the subconscious to consciousness.
If the above methods do not work, contact a psychologist.

Fear, doubt, resentment. It's absolutely normal to be afraid of something, it's a reaction. It is a basic emotional process. In small doses, fear is useful. But if this feeling is exaggerated, life becomes unbearable. In such a situation, in order to get rid of the nightmare, you need to cope with your fears and experiences. You can overcome them, accept them, come to terms with them, understand that they are not as terrible as they seem. There is the following effective way. If you are afraid of some event, imagine the worst case scenario for its development in bright colors, feel it. Accept this situation and understand that things cannot get worse. After this, begin to actively look for a way out of the situation, as if it had happened, or ways to prevent it.

5. Strong negative emotions. Many events happen to a person during the day, some are remembered, some remain in the memory, even if you don’t think about them. The simplest thing is to ventilate the room well before going to bed, take a walk yourself, lie in bed with pleasant memories and fall asleep in a good mood.

6. Secret desires. Perhaps you passionately desire something, but for some reason, you try to suppress this feeling within yourself. Inner dissatisfaction comes to you in a distorted form in a nightmare. Listen to yourself, respond to the call of your inner voice and don’t force yourself to do something you sincerely don’t want.

Helpful advice

Among other things, the following phrase helps to forget nightmares: where night goes, sleep goes.
If you are afraid of what you dreamed and want to forget it as quickly as possible, say this sentence several times and try to fall asleep again.

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• What do nightmares mean?

In childhood, nightmares during sleep, according to psychologists, are part of the normal development of a child. In adults, unpleasant dreams are usually caused by some objective and subjective reasons. To get rid of nightmares, these reasons must be identified.

Why do I have nightmares?

Very often, nightmares are caused by physiological reasons - illness, pregnancy, fever, consumption of alcohol and certain medications, sleep apnea syndrome, overeating heavy and spicy foods.

Nightmares also cause various emotional shocks and traumatic events, such as death, disaster, accident, terrorist attack, problems at work, divorce, change of residence, financial problems.

In some cases, nightmares appear due to a person's hidden fears hidden in his subconscious. Day after day, these fears accumulate and manifest themselves during sleep. Very often such fears come from a person’s early childhood.

How to get rid of nightmares

Try to determine the causes of nightmares and eliminate them. If you are unable to identify the reasons on your own, contact a psychologist who will work with your internal phobias.

Before going to bed, avoid negative external stimuli. This primarily applies to heavy films, news, and computer games with scenes of violence. Better watch a positive TV show, read your favorite book, listen to relaxing music.

Maintain good sleep hygiene - heavy night dreams can be caused by stuffiness and harsh sounds. Ventilate the bedroom, keep it quiet and dark, turn off the computer, TV and cell phone. Pay special attention to the quality of the mattress and pillow - they should be environmentally friendly and comfortable.

To ensure better sleep, drink herbal tea with mint, motherwort, valerian, and hops in the evening. Never drink alcohol before bed!

To strengthen the nervous system, you can use essential oils of lemon balm, bergamot, patchouli or sandalwood. Just don't overdo it - too much oil smell can cause headaches.

Physical fatigue helps to effectively get rid of nightmares. If you have a sedentary job that causes mental rather than physical fatigue, walk in the fresh air for at least an hour every evening before bed.

Organize relaxation sessions every evening. Turn on relaxing music, lie comfortably on your back and imagine that you are in a very pleasant place - on the seashore, in a forest, on an island, etc. Try to feel the breeze and smells, hear the birds singing, feel the warmth of the sun. When you learn to easily immerse yourself in your favorite place, use this skill before going to bed and you will stop having nightmares.

Nightmares are an extremely unpleasant phenomenon. According to statistics, they occur in 4% of adults and almost 70% of children and adolescents. During a nightmare, a person sees himself in a dream in a very difficult, life-threatening situation. He awakens suddenly, in a state of fright, and, as a rule, clearly remembers his dream. The feeling of depression and anxiety sometimes persists throughout the day, interfering with work and normal communication. If such episodes are repeated frequently, mental disorders associated with constant tension and fear of falling asleep may develop.

According to experts, there are 6 main factors in the occurrence of nightmares.

Almost 80% of difficult dreams are caused by post-traumatic stress disorder. Moreover, the pictures that the sleeper observes usually have autobiographical content. Nightmares can be caused by a serious illness, the death of a loved one, an accident, violence, a collision with hostile, aggressive and dangerous people, or being in the zone of a terrorist attack or military operations.

Less common are cases where nightmares haunt a person experiencing a prolonged state of stress caused by troubles at work, discomfort in the family or financial problems.

Source: depositphotos.com

Dishes rich in hot seasonings and spices cause increased metabolism and an increase in body temperature. In this case, difficulties arise in falling asleep, sleep becomes shallow and restless, and nightmares may appear.

However, a bad dream is not excluded in the case when a person simply ate a heavy meal shortly before going on vacation. The reason here is not the quality of food consumed, but its quantity: an overfilled stomach causes a feeling of heaviness, which changes the nature of sleep.

Source: depositphotos.com

It has been established that people who adhere to the principles of a healthy diet are much less susceptible to nightmares than lovers of fast food, heavy meat dishes and confectionery products flavored with rich cream.

Source: depositphotos.com

Alcohol

A glass of good wine drunk during dinner has never harmed anyone. This cannot be said about strong drinks, especially if you drink a lot of them. In low doses, alcohol causes relaxation and slight drowsiness. A significant amount of alcohol makes a person excited, and this is replaced by a state of stupor and unhealthy, superficial sleep, which is characterized by a delay in the onset of the rapid phase. In such a situation, a difficult dream is very likely to occur, which can be annoyingly repeated. It is possible that regular consumption of large portions of alcohol and subsequent abstinence will make nightmares chronic.

Source: depositphotos.com

Taking certain medications

Oddly enough, difficult dreams very often occur due to the use of those drugs that are intended to stabilize the nervous system and eliminate sleep disorders. Some antidepressants, sleeping pills, and medications used as anesthesia have a similar effect (and quite long-lasting). In addition, patients who take medications for malaria often complain of nightmares.

For various reasons, people may have bad dreams. Sometimes they arise due to worries about their relatives and loved ones, and they can also dream when a person has done some bad deed in his life. Psychologists and specialists have conducted a lot of research and report that scary dreams are most often seen by skeptics, pessimists and suspicious people. If you understand why you have nightmares, you can quickly get rid of them, thanks to which your lifestyle will change for the better, and you will also be able to get a good night's sleep and avoid stressful situations at night.

Main reasons

If a woman or man has nightmares, then you need to find out the reason for their appearance as soon as possible. They usually arise due to the following factors:

• stressful situations, anxiety and various experiences. Very often, nightmares in a dream occur after a person has buried his loved one or relative, as well as after acts of violence, conflict situations at work, in his personal life, after a divorce or a serious illness. Extreme events in life often have a detrimental effect on a person’s mental state, after which bad dreams begin;
• if some important, responsible event is planned in a person’s life, as a result of which the nervous system is excited, an excess of thoughts occurs, so the brain stops working normally, the person often wakes up due to a nightmare;
• during an infectious, viral or other disease, body temperature increases, this leads to nightmares;
• if in a dream a person feels as if he is being strangled, this sometimes indicates the appearance of diseases of the cardiovascular system;
• binge eating. Eating too much in the evening will cause bad dreams. When the stomach is overloaded, it is unable to work normally, heaviness and discomfort arise, the digestive system is overloaded, and sleep disturbance appears;
• if a person abuses alcohol, this will be the reason why he often has nightmares. Alcoholic drinks, especially if consumed before bedtime, often lead to fear and insomnia;
• when using medications. Some medications have various side effects, including disorders of the nervous system; these disorders can cause bad dreams in women and men;
• severe physical fatigue, mental fatigue during daytime work. If a person is excessively tired during the day, he will not necessarily sleep well at night. Overwork often leads to insomnia and other sleep disorders, including nightmares;
• discomfort at night. If it is uncomfortable to sleep at night, the room is very stuffy or hot, there is an unpleasant smell, bright light or too noisy, then this will most likely cause terrible dreams for both women and men;
• smoking promotes the accumulation of toxic substances in human tissues, organs and blood vessels; these substances have a detrimental effect on night sleep;
• watching scary movies, thrillers and action films. If you watch movies on TV or on the computer in the evening that stimulate the nervous system, they will disrupt your night's rest;
• showdowns, scandals, shouting and swearing have a detrimental effect on brain function, so you should not start scandals in the evening;
• psychological trauma in childhood has a negative impact on the subconscious, which transforms long-past events into terrible night dreams.

To normalize your night's rest, first of all, you need to understand why you constantly have nightmares, and after that you can fight them.

Ways to deal with bad dreams

Every person, man and woman, wants to sleep soundly at night and gain strength so that terrible dreams do not spoil the night's rest. What to do if you have nightmares every night? The following tips may help:

• Before going to bed, you can take a warm bath; experts recommend adding aromatic oils to the water, and also placing candles with a pleasant aroma in the bathroom.
• Before going to bed, it is advisable to drink a cup of lemon balm, mint or chamomile tea; you can dissolve a spoonful of honey in a glass of warm milk. Such drinks will help you calm down, relax and get ready for sleep;
• night pajamas should be clean, made from natural material, so that when you sleep, they do not squeeze the body and do not limit movement, clothes should not be too tight and tight;
• Lack of oxygen is often the reason why you have nightmares every night. Therefore, before going to bed, it is advisable, instead of watching TV, to take a walk outside, in the fresh air, and also ventilate the bedroom for 10-20 minutes or more. In addition, while working during the day, you also need to ventilate the room so that the body receives a sufficient amount of oxygen, this will be the key to a sound and quality night's sleep;
• You shouldn’t think about bad events in your life in the evening, especially when you’re already in bed, and it’s also not recommended to replay negative situations from the past day in your head. It’s advisable to think about something good before going to bed, then you’re more likely to have a good dream;
• if for some reason you often have nightmares, then the events you see can be drawn on paper after waking up. Experts in the field of psychology have proven that by drawing your nightmares, you can examine them in detail and think about why you dreamed about them. Thanks to this, you can understand what to do so that terrible dreams do not recur;
• if you have nightmares very often, or even every day, then there is no need to hide them from other people; on the contrary, it will be useful to discuss them with relatives or friends. During such a discussion, you can understand what they mean, or what you dreamed about;
• Sports activities and moderate physical activity are very useful, thanks to them you can stop having bad dreams;
• when waking up at night after a bad sleep, you need to think about something good and pleasant, such thoughts will help you fall asleep quickly;
• in the evening you do not need to eat too high-calorie foods;
• If a person has tried many ways to get rid of bad dreams, but they still occur when you sleep, you need to contact a psychotherapist who will help you find out the reason why you have nightmares and also help eliminate them.

Prevention

In the case when a person often sees terrible visions at night, and it is not clear why women and men have nightmares, you can take simple preventive actions and change your lifestyle. Psychologists and doctors have conducted various studies and found that it is quite easy to prevent bad dreams. What should I do for this? The following recommendations will help:

• Instead of watching TV in the evening, it is better to pick up an interesting book and read it for half an hour or an hour, thanks to which the nervous system will calm down. However, you should not choose detective stories or books with a tense plot; it is better to read narrative stories, scientific articles or some other literature that will be practical and useful;
• if you don’t want to read stories, then you shouldn’t watch films on TV that contain episodes of violence, cruelty, or horror;
• in the evening there is no need to play computer games, they irritate the nervous system and often lead to scary dreams;
• before going to bed, you need to tune in to something positive, remember pleasant incidents in life, good episodes;
• in the evening you should not throw out your emotions, laugh excessively, before going to bed, you need to calm down and relax;
• do not eat spicy and fatty foods in the evening, because when you sleep, they will provoke bad dreams;
• It is advisable to go to bed early, no later than 22:00, because it is at this time that the human body begins to intensively produce melatonin, so you can only get a good night’s sleep and gain strength from this time;
• when you sleep, it is better to do it on your back. Many experts agree that the position on the back allows all internal organs to relax; in this position, the spine completely rests, which has a beneficial effect on brain function.

Bad dreams in children

There are various reasons why children may have scary dreams. What to do if this happens?

1. It is necessary to listen to the child’s complaints; perhaps his parents are not paying enough attention to him, or he is having serious problems at school.
2. There is no need to tell your daughter or son scary fairy tales, intimidate them and let them read horror films, this has a detrimental effect on the psyche and leads to disturbances in night rest.
3. Cruelty in the family or among friends often explains the occurrence of terrible dreams. If mom and dad often quarrel, or even fight, then on a subconscious level, negative emotions spill out at night in the form of nightmares.
4. When the child was not yet born and was in the mother’s belly, he could take on a nervous state and mental imbalance; this can manifest itself when the child is 3 years old or older.
5. Excessive fatigue and heavy loads can lead to disturbances in night rest. Parents should think about what to do to relieve their son or daughter, emotionally or physically.
6. If the child is too sensitive and vulnerable, then he may have sleep disorders; in this case, the parents will not be able to help the baby; consultation with a qualified psychologist will be required.