How to get rid of constant nightmares. Causes of bad dreams
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A nightmare is a rather significant problem that prevents a person from fully resting after the wakefulness phase. If such a fact is not regularly repeated, then you should not worry about this. With systematic nightmares, it is urgent to get rid of a problem that negatively affects the psyche of people.
What is a nightmare
Dream transformation is a branch of the study of psychology that explores the motivation for the appearance of frightening images in the subconscious. In some cases this concept experts consider it a symptom of restless legs syndrome and apnea (stopping breathing movements).
Nightmares in a dream, some people confuse with the horrors that arise in the mind of a person. The second aspect is formed during a deep immersion in the realm of Morpheus. It occurs during the first hours of falling asleep and in most cases is not fixed by the mind of people. With a strong sense of fear, a superficial analysis occurs dangerous situation without transformation in imagination bright pictures and images.
Unlike horror, nightmares usually form during REM sleep, which lasts about 20 minutes. Such manifestations are dangerous because during this period the subject feels like a real participant in the events. Upon awakening, people clearly remember what they saw in a dream, and this often becomes a traumatic factor for them.
Causes of nightmares in a dream
The origins of this problem are well studied by psychologists and psychiatrists. The causes of nightmares at night, experts advise looking for in the following life situations:
- Psychological trauma. offensive word from relatives or an insult from strangers often deals a significant blow to a person's pride. In the daytime, he may not think about the conflict that happened, but during sleep, the experienced unpleasant moments may return in the form of a nightmare.
- physical trauma. After suffering an injury, many people in a dream scroll through a similar situation that happened to them. This may be a fall from a height, an accident on the water, a car accident or aggression from an inadequate person.
- Introduction to media data. Television quite often informs the population about the tragic events that are taking place in the world. Cinema also tries to impress people, after watching which some viewers (especially children) have nightmares.
- Phobia. Suspiciousness, which has become a neurosis, often leads to the fact that a person cannot sleep peacefully. The fear formed in him is transformed at night into frightening images.
- Wrong way of life. Overeating at night, the abuse of nicotine and alcohol often provoke nightmares. This is also facilitated by a failure in the daily routine, when the wakefulness phase significantly exceeds the sleep period.
Note! The voiced causes of nightmares clearly depend on the person himself. It is he who is the main scriptwriter of what is being formed in his mind in this period of time.
Ways to deal with nightmares
In order to eliminate the factor that interferes with the full life of a person, it is necessary to seek the advice of a specialist. Each situation is an individual case, so it is a professional who can understand its origins and consequences.
Drug treatment for nightmares
After a visit to the doctor, you can use the following means of getting rid of this problem:
- Medications. Prazosin is very often prescribed to people with restless sleep after examining their physical and mental condition. At the same time, it is worth remembering that it is precisely antidepressants and drugs that regulate blood pressure can trigger nightmares.
- ethnoscience. With periodically recurring terrible dreams, it is necessary to use drugs or tinctures based on medicinal herbs. In this case, a decoction of hawthorn, wild rose, St. John's wort, chamomile and motherwort will help. For the greatest effect, experts recommend using a collection of all the listed plants and berries. Valerian root, known in medicine, can be replaced with blue cyanosis, which is 10 times more effective as a sedative than known sedatives. Phytopreparations after cryotreatment in the form of Nervo-Vita and St. John's wort P will also help as an aid in the event of night mosquitoes.
Nutrition tips for avoiding nightmares
In any case, experts do not recommend eating after seven in the evening, because it does not have time to be absorbed by the human body. To prevent nightmares from visiting people, they need to adhere to the following rules:
- Consumption of fruits and vegetables. After 19.00 it is undesirable to eat, but it is not necessary to deny yourself literally everything when you feel hungry. Eaten fruit (banana, citrus fruits, apple) or vegetables (cabbage, carrots, beets) will not allow the stomach to fill up enough to cause further problems. The exception is avocados, which are high in calories and fat, making taking this fruit at night undesirable.
- Careful selection of drinks. A glass of warm milk or a decoction of mint will make a person's sleep deep and calm. At the same time, you can’t use coffee, strong tea, energy drinks and carbonated drinks, which additionally stimulate people’s brain activity, if you want to relax.
- Refusal of heavy food. Meat, except for rabbit, chicken and turkey, is digested for a long time digestive system person. Therefore, it is not recommended to eat dishes from pork, lamb and beef at night. If there is a desire to enjoy a salad, then it is better to fill it with yogurt, and not with sour cream or mayonnaise.
- Refusal of foods containing sucrose. Nutritionists insist that eating such food before bedtime can provoke the onset of nightmares. Minimize the use of foods such as chocolate, sweets, fruit cocktails and oatmeal.
- Restriction in the use of pickles and smoked meats. Usually, preservation and meat processed in a special way cause increased thirst, which then makes it impossible to rest peacefully at night. Broken sleep often causes nightmares, which, with such gastronomic addictions, will be repeated from day to day.
- Refusal of flour and confectionery . Adhering to this recommendation is not only for those people who monitor their weight. Such products are digested for a long time, so they become a dead weight for the stomach. As a result, a person is a light sleeper and sees nightmares during the fast phase of a night's rest.
- Refusal of alcohol. There is an erroneous opinion among the people that strong drinks contribute to good sleep. In fact, when using them, a person quickly relaxes, but in most cases he has nightmares. This happens due to the inhibition of the metabolic process in the brain with its obvious oxygen starvation.
Important! People in adulthood it is worth refusing to eat five hours before bedtime so that they are not visited later by nightmares with a full stomach. If the meal has already been completed, then nutritionists advise drinking a glass of mineral water without gas, prematurely adding a couple of drops of lemon juice to it.
Psychotherapy to eliminate nightmares in a dream
Experts recommend that their patients use the following methods of dealing with ghostly phenomena during rest:
- Elimination of external stimuli. For some people, even subdued light makes it difficult to relax at night. At the same time, a leaky faucet and loud music from neighbors can piss off any person. Against the background of such aggressive sounds for hearing, nightmares often occur. If it is not possible to protect yourself from noise, then you can buy earplugs (special earplugs) at the pharmacy.
- Walk before bed. Some people prefer to devote their evening leisure to watching movies that do not always have a positive storyline. It is better to replace such a pastime with a walk in the park or just in the immediate vicinity.
- Working on resilience. If you want to normalize your internal state during sleep it is necessary to train willpower. To do this, it is recommended to face your fears directly in order to develop a neutral attitude towards the situation that has arisen.
- Occupation interesting business . Before going to bed, it is very useful to knit, embroider, solve crossword puzzles or put together puzzles. All these actions help the nervous system to calm down, so that after that the person can fully relax without the formation of nightmares in his mind.
- Meditation and yoga. Such procedures are available even to those people who do not have the skills of these manipulations. Just before going to bed, you can start meditation, which should be accompanied by breathing exercises. It is necessary to imagine a boundless ocean or an endless field, while sitting in a lotus position (legs crossed, heels are located on opposite hips).
- Aromatic treatments. Before going to bed, experts recommend filling the relaxation room with the smell of lavender or roses using special candles. For complete relaxation, baths with the addition of pine needles will not interfere, sea salt or medicinal collection of chamomile, mint, yarrow, linden blossom, arnica and blackthorn flower.
- Relaxation music. If you want to spend a night without nightmares, you can try to immerse yourself in the realm of Morpheus to your favorite tune. However, it should not contain aggressive notes. The Internet is replete with offers to download melodies that soothe the human psyche.
- Method of analysis of someone else's example. In the legendary film Gone with the Wind, the brave Scarlett O'Hara was tormented by the same nightmare that came to her at night. The horrors stopped when the heroine realized the reason for their occurrence.
- Bedroom improvement. First of all, you should take care of the thermal regime in the rest room. Any fluctuations in temperature in the sleeping room can cause a significant feeling of discomfort in a person. It should also be remembered that it is not worth organizing a recreation area where the office is located.
- Physical exercise. When asked what to do with nightmares in a dream, you need to work on improving your body. However, experts do not recommend conducting such exercises immediately before the rest phase, because the body will be overexcited. In this case, it does not hurt to visit the swimming pool three hours before the desire to lie down in bed.
- Method of mental image rehearsal. Each nightmare very often it breaks off precisely at the climax, because the person wakes up. At the same time, it is necessary to play associations in the daytime, coming up with a happy ending to a nightmare.
- Self-hypnosis method. Before falling asleep, you need to focus on the most pleasant episodes of the past day. At the same time, it is recommended to clearly focus your thoughts on the most pleasant things to then program them for your dreams.
- Watching comedies. Such a pastime can literally change the way a person feels. You can try to watch your favorite childhood cartoons to go to bed on a positive note.
- Acquisition of an amulet of dreams. Some people believe in such things, so they willingly buy all kinds of talismans. An amulet that can be bought in any antique shop will help a person to spend the night calmly without any discomfort.
People often wonder how to get rid of nightmares in a dream, because they themselves are not able to control their subconscious. In this case, it is really possible to deal with the problem on your own. In especially difficult situations it is recommended to seek help from specialists.
Double portion of dinner, because he is very hungry and tired. Then he goes to bed. And then they appear to him scary people who torture or strangle him. In fact, the body is trying to digest what it has received. My heart is beating hard, it's hard to breathe. What happens in this case is up to you. Or take a walk before bed, or before.
Stress, anxiety, fatigue. Increasingly, people forget about themselves, about their rest, that they are not made of iron and they also need rest. Checking the strength of your body in the form of: lack of sleep, malnutrition, tedious hard work, gives multiple. Among them are nightmares, which are becoming the norm. First of all, you should relax: go in for sports, take a walk in a pleasant company, get enough sleep, enrich your diet, change your occupation.
Internal disturbances, experiences. 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 what you specifically dreamed about, then briefly note the events that happened in your life in the following days. Periodically, rereading the notes, try to find the relationship of events. 2. Sketching a dream. You need to draw what you saw. Then review 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 out all the events that happened to you, without analyzing what you consider important and what is not. Then you should review it several times and think about what really worries you, causes anxiety. What your thoughts constantly return to. The three methods described can help when you don’t know what is bothering you so much during the day that you can’t relax and get distracted from these thoughts even at night. In fact, it must pass from the subconscious into consciousness.
If the above methods do not fit, contact a psychologist.
Fear, doubt, resentment. Being afraid of something is absolutely normal, it is 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 a nightmare, you need to cope with your fears and worries. You can overcome them, accept, reconcile, 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 it can't get any worse. After that, start actively looking for a way out of the situation, as if it happened or ways to prevent it.
5. Strong negative emotions. During the day, a lot of events happen to a person, some are remembered, some remain in 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, lying in bed with pleasant memories and fall asleep in a good mood.
6. Secret desires. Perhaps you are passionately desiring something, but for some reason, you try to suppress this feeling in yourself. Inner dissatisfaction comes to you already in a distorted form in a nightmare. Hear yourself, answer the call inner voice And don't force yourself to do something you really don't want to do.
Among other things, the following phrase helps to forget nightmares well: where the night is, there is a dream.
If you are afraid of what you dreamed and want to quickly forget it, say this sentence several times and try to fall asleep again.
Sources:
- What do nightmares mean
AT childhood nightmares in a dream, according to psychologists, are part of the normal development of the child. In adults, unpleasant dreams are usually caused by some objective and subjective reasons. To get rid of nightmares, these causes should be identified.
Why do you have nightmares
Very often nightmares are caused by physiological reasons- illness, pregnancy, elevated temperature, the use of alcohol and certain drugs, sleep apnea syndrome, overeating of heavy and spicy foods.Nightmares also cause various emotional upheavals and traumatic events, such as death, disaster, accident, terrorist attack, problems at work, divorce, relocation, financial problems.
In some cases, nightmares appear due to a person's hidden fears hidden in his subconscious. From day to day, these fears accumulate and manifest themselves during sleep. Very often these fears come from early childhood person.
How to get rid of nightmares
Try to identify the causes of nightmares and eliminate them. If you are unable to identify the causes yourself, contact a psychologist who will work with your internal phobias.Before going to bed, avoid negative external stimuli. First of all, this applies to heavy films, news, computer games with scenes of violence. Better watch a positive TV show, read your favorite book, listen to relaxing music.
Observe good sleep hygiene - heavy night dreams can cause stuffiness and harsh sounds. Ventilate the bedroom, ensure silence and darkness, 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.
In order to sleep better, drink herbal tea with mint, motherwort, valerian, hops in the evening. Never drink alcohol before bed!
To strengthen the nervous system, you can use essential oils lemon balm, bergamot, patchouli or sandalwood. Just do not overdo it - too strong a smell of oils can cause headache.
Physical fatigue helps to effectively get rid of nightmares. If you have a sedentary job that causes not physical, but mental fatigue, take a walk every night before going to bed on fresh air at least an hour.
Organize relaxation sessions every evening. Turn on relaxing music, lie comfortably on your back and imagine that you are in a very pleasant place - by the sea, in the 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 sink into your favorite place, use this skill before going to bed and you will stop having nightmares.
Everyone knows that sports and proper nutrition- a guarantee of good health and good mood. However, there is an element that is even more important for maintaining a great shape. Unfortunately, they often forget about it: young people are especially forgetful with their craving for parties and activity at any time of the day or night. It's about healthy sleep.
If a person complains of absent-mindedness, chronic fatigue, irritability, you should not immediately suspect a serious illness. Most often, these symptoms indicate that the patient's body does not have enough sleep.
Sleep is absolutely necessary for the body to restore vitality. Many do not attach importance to the duration of sleep or do not even know what threatens sleep deprivation. However, physicians consider it as pathological condition, which is distinguished by a number of obvious symptoms.
First of all, the consequences of chronic lack of sleep are reflected in appearance. How less people slept during the past nights, the stronger it is imprinted on his face. From lack of sleep, bruises and bags appear under the eyes, the whites turn red, the skin turns pale.
However, circles under the eyes are just flowers. The whole bouquet of symptoms manifests itself gradually, as fatigue accumulates in the body. it Bad mood- up to depression, chills, nausea. Feeling constant drowsiness may be accompanied by hallucinations, incoherent thinking and loss of coordination of movements.
If you stubbornly do not let your body relax, the biorhythms are seriously disturbed. Even when the patient gets to bed, it is not possible to fully rest: sleep becomes sensitive, intermittent, nightmares torment - and in many cases, insomnia.
Exhausted by lack of sleep, the body will give its negligent owner a whole bunch of diseases. will be under attack the cardiovascular system, develops diabetes, obesity, impotence and other equally serious ailments. The likelihood of a stroke increases 4 times, and all kinds of oncology, in particular bowel or breast cancer, increases 2 times. Scientists have found that people who sleep less than six hours a night have an increased risk sudden death- in men by 300%.
As doctors explain, after a day of continuous wakefulness, special chemical processes are launched in the brain that provoke mental disorders. A person is easily excited, becomes nervous and irritable. After two days of lack of sleep, neural connections in the cerebral cortex are disrupted, changes hormonal background. Gradually, the load on the heart and other internal organs increases, and brain cells die.
But during the normal healthy sleep the body gets rid of negative memories, the level of stress hormone in the blood decreases. The brain has time to process problems and experiences. But how to return to normal if the signs of lack of sleep are already evident?
Chronic sleep deprivation is treated - hypnosis, psychotherapy and sedatives are used. But it's in severe cases. And the majority of sleep deprived citizens will be helped by well-known folk remedies. This is honey with decoctions of herbs - hawthorn, lemon balm, mint. The same decoctions help well and dissolved in a warm bath, which is recommended to be taken before bedtime.
But the main thing is to learn how to sleep properly! Doctors say that the beneficial sleep- from 23:00 to 2:00. At this time, the production of melatonin, a hormone that performs several important functions. It normalizes blood pressure, improves sleep, strengthens the immune system and slows down the aging process. And wake up early in the morning another hormone - serotonin. If their balance is disturbed, people who sleep less than the prescribed time and go to bed after two in the morning are more likely to have problems associated with sleep.
So, be mindful of your sleep hygiene. Go to bed at the same time, before midnight. Before going to bed, take a walk in the fresh air, loads during the day will also not hurt. In the evening, do not drink drinks containing caffeine and alcohol - drink better herbal decoctions. Cut down on smoking. Eat no later than 2 hours before bedtime, but it is not recommended to go to bed on an empty stomach. Ventilate the bedroom well, keep the window open ( optimum temperature in the room - 18-20 degrees). Before going to bed, you can listen to relaxing music, but it is better to go to bed in silence - and in the dark.
A comfortable bed also plays a significant role. It should not be too soft and not too hard, perfect solution- orthopedic mattress. The pillow should not be high and too soft. Here, it seems, are all the rules. Follow them - and a healthy, restful sleep without nightmares is guaranteed to you.
There is an opinion that at night our brain “rests” and works less actively. But actually it is not. During sleep, especially in certain phases, brain activity can be significantly higher than during wakefulness. A recently published article in the journal Science confirms this. It says that while we sleep, our brain is cleared - the amount of metabolites removed from the perivascular spaces of the brain (the spaces surrounding the vessels of the brain) increases dramatically. In addition, scientists have proven that during sleep there is an interaction of the higher parts of the nervous system with internal organs. At this time, the brain receives information from them, analyzes it and restores it. That is why sleep determines the physical and mental health of a person.
Our brains are constantly changing, but most of all it happens when we sleep. After all, it is during sleep that two critical process: the process of consolidation and reconsolidation of memory - information is rewritten from temporary memory to permanent memory and vice versa. That is, every night in our brain there is a complete morphological (or structural) restructuring.
Dreams are a phenomenon that is characteristic of almost every person. People who claim they don't dream are not lying - they just don't remember them. Dreams do not have any functional purpose - this is the processing and analysis of information received over the entire previous life. It is believed that we remember everything that happens to us, but not all of this can be reproduced. So dreams are such echoes of the information received and its integration with the information that comes from internal organs during sleep. The nature of dreams can be determined by diseases of the internal organs, mental pathology, or ordinary physiological processes, such as urination, pain syndrome, muscle spasms and headache - we often observe how the nature of dreams changes in people who have some kind of sleep pathology.
Blind from birth, people do not see visual images (maximum - dark spots). Since their brain receives information about the world around them from the sounds they hear, their dreams are predominantly auditory.
Dreams do not come from somewhere outside, from the other world or from outer space, they are information received through various senses. The brain works with this information - changes it or strongly transforms it. Concerning nightmares ideas, they are most commonly seen in people with acute post-traumatic stress disorder. Stress associated with a threat to life, with physical violence or with the death of loved ones, often causes nightmares.
The expression "sleep heals" is largely due to the fact that during the reconsolidation of memory - when it passes from permanent to temporary and vice versa - there is a partial or complete loss of information. That is why, over time, nightmares tend to fade away. However, the level of stress is so great that this information is stored for a very long time - months and years. It is difficult for a person to get rid of nightmares on his own and in some cases he needs professional help and therapy.
Night terrors and nightmares are not the same thing. Night terrors are observed mainly in slow-wave sleep - in its deep phases. A person can toss about in bed, scream, cry. But if you try to wake him up in this state, most likely he will not remember anything - neither dreams, nor what caused such a reaction. Toward morning, paradoxical or REM sleep begins to prevail - it is just characterized by nightmares, after waking up a person usually remembers them very well and can describe them in detail. Previously, it was believed that all dreams occur precisely in this phase of sleep - the rapid eye movements that are characteristic of this phase were explained by tracking images. However, later it turned out that about 60% of dreams are observed in paradoxical REM sleep, and about 40% - in slow, wave sleep. It is worth noting that both nightmares and night terrors are parasomnias - sleep disorders.
One-time nightmares can be associated with experienced stress. Some, for example, many years after graduating from university, dream of passing exams - the stress was so great that they remembered this situation very well. The brain during sleep seems to be testing and checking different parts of the brain - it updates and rewrites information so that the person retains the experience.
Solving dreams, especially from dream books, does not make any sense - everyone has their own unique symbolism. For example, a person dreams of a white wardrobe. Someone has this closet connected with work in medical institution, for someone he stood in the bedroom as a child, and someone saw a movie with that name. The nature of the dream is largely determined by somatic and mental health. So, with some sleep disorders, especially in the presence of narcolepsy - a disease characterized by severe daytime sleepiness - patients see colorful and very realistic dreams that they can describe in detail.
Someone visits other planets in a dream, someone experiences a feeling of levitation. In many ways, such dreams are associated with the peculiarity of the interaction of the brain and proprioreceptors - receptors that determine the position of the body in space. This feature leads to the emergence of various specific sensations, including the sensation of flight.
In addition, a person can dream without closing his eyes. We call this the penetration of waking dreams - a discoordination between the state of sleep and the processes that occur in the body at this time. In fact, a person sees hallucinations for a split second, which he often takes for a mental disorder. And since hallucinations are indeed characteristic of many mental illnesses, the task of the somnologist is to understand their true causes.
It is not at all necessary to write down dreams - there is no functional purpose in them.
Means of treatment of traditional medicine
Every adult and every child at least once, but woke up in a cold sweat because of a nightmare seen in a dream. As children, we were sure that as soon as we grow up, scary dreams will go away, but in reality everything is completely different. Nightmares continue to come to us throughout our lives, just getting older, we perceive them more adequately. But what about in fact, is the nightmare a problem and is it worth fighting it in any way?
What is a nightmare. These are dreams that occur during so-called REM sleep. Most often, from a nightmare, a person wakes up in a cold sweat, his heart beats faster than usual. There is also such a thing as night terror". This is something akin to a nightmare, only there is fear in the phase of deep sleep. These dreams are shorter and simpler, however, the body's reaction to them is more violent - after such fear, a person can wake up from his own scream or cry.
Cause such phenomena can be anything, from elementary overeating before bedtime, ending with depression and stress. The cause of the nightmare may also be an inadequate reaction of the body to some medications you have taken and the usual stressful situation, but often a nightmare is an alarming bell, signaling your problem existing at a psychological level. Of course, if you have nightmares no more than once a year, then there is no reason for concern, but if you systematically wake up because of them, then think, most likely, you need to consult a professional psychologist.
It is best to expose the root of the problem, if you sin on some drugs that you take, then consult the doctor who prescribed these drugs about replacing or reducing the dose. If you think that the disease is to blame, throw all your strength into healing it. If there are no obvious reasons, then delve into yourself, most likely, you are tormented by your internal fears and experiences. Remember what occupies your head, perhaps you know some terrible secret, and it haunts you. Try talking to someone close to you about it. If you do not want to dedicate a loved one to your problems, contact a psychologist. We, in turn, offer you several ways to recover from nightmares.
You must normalize your daily routine. Your bed should be large enough for you to sleep comfortably. For the time of the so-called treatment, it is better to give up horror films, thrillers, replace watching these pictures with a warm bubble bath, if you live with your loved one, offer him to give each other a massage. Sex at night will also drive away unpleasant thoughts from you and allow you to fall asleep in a relaxed state.
It is not recommended to drink coffee or strong tea at night. Replace these drinks with warm milk with honey or green tea with lemon. You can make yourself a decoction of chamomile to improve the condition and general pacification of the body, it has a beneficial effect on the body. Good relax lit aroma sticks(be careful when choosing fragrances, a sharp and pungent smell will not do you any good, and, of course, do not forget to extinguish candles and sticks before going to bed to avoid fires).
When you go to bed, think positive, forget all the negative events and remember all the good things that happened to you during the day.
Treatment with folk remedies
There are many folk methods fight nightmares.
How to get rid of nightmares folk remedies
How to get rid of nightmares
Nightmares are a common thing modern man. They come suddenly, numbing the soul of a person. Many of us, having experienced nightmares, wake up in a cold sweat and cannot recover for a long time. One question revolves in the head of such a person: “Where am I? Did this really happen to me?" It’s good if a person doesn’t have nightmares all the time, but if they keep a person awake every night, it is highly recommended to seek the advice of a specialist.
Night terrors most often occur during REM sleep, the duration of this sleep is from several minutes to half an hour. They are considered nothing more than a non-physiological sleep disorder. As a rule, night fears end with the awakening of a person in fright with a gradual return of a sense of time and space. The eyes of a person who has survived a fright open wide, the person is covered with sweat, utters a heartbreaking cry, he is trembling, his heart jumps out of his chest, and the person himself is in a panic state. During this phase of REM sleep, waking up a person is an impossible task. However, often after a few minutes of panic behavior, the person falls back into the dream state and has no memory of the incident the next morning.
The main reason that provokes the appearance of night fears in a person is the strongest emotional experiences and shocks that a person experiences during the day. There is no pathology in emotional experiences, and therefore in isolated cases of night fears a person is able to cope on his own. If night fears begin to regularly haunt a person, this indicates the presence of severe stress, aggression and anxiety, and therefore the help of a specialist is recommended, since a person cannot solve this problem on his own.
Night terrors occur during the sleep phase. Unlike night fears, upon awakening, a person remembers well what happened. No matter how stupid and ridiculous the situation in a nightmare may be, this dream is always distinguished by the dynamism of the plot and a special frightening effect. Despite the special fear that nightmares cause in a person, they, as a rule, are not accompanied by physiological reactions in the form of increased breathing, heart rate, or sweating. Nightmares are based on frequent nervous shocks and stresses that a person is exposed to during the day.
Very often, a person tends to overdramatize the essence of a nightmare, without even understanding its real essence. For this, a dream book can help a person. As a rule, if a person sees in a dream the death of a loved one, starting from the next morning he will be very frightened and worried about the life of this person, it will really seem to him that a loved one will soon leave this world. However, if you understand this dream better, you will find that this dream does not at all portend any death in real life. According to the dream book, the death of a loved one is not at all a bad omen. This means nothing more than a person's rejection of life clichés and old stereotypes. So, before you panic about the horror of any nightmare that came to you in a dream, you first need to figure out what this dream really means.
In order to move on to considering ways to get rid of nightmares, let's figure out why we actually have these nightmares.
1. Often, the cause of frequent nightmares can be a physical illness or disease that is emerging in a person. These dreams are especially terrifying, associated with those parts of the body in which the disease develops. So, if a person dreams every night about how a piercing object (a knife or a sword) is thrust into his stomach, this may indicate the development of chronic gastritis in a person. If a person dreams that his body is on fire, the next morning he may have an increased body temperature and fever.
2. Very often, the cause of nightmares is an ordinary physical stimulus (the ringing of a mobile phone or an alarm clock, noise outside the window, the fall of an object and the sound accompanying this process, etc.). If a person wakes up from the sounds of a physical stimulus, he will immediately understand what happened, plunge into pleasant dream, which until the morning has nothing to put. If a person does not wake up until morning, and the impact of the sound of a physical stimulus causes discomfort, in the morning a person will have a feeling of a failed sleep, which will negatively affect the general condition of a person. Despite a sleep lasting 8-9 hours, it will seem to a person that he has not even closed his eyes. All this will be accompanied by a state of lethargy, fatigue and unwillingness to do anything, an increased need for sleep.
3. In nightmares, hidden fears and conflicts of a person can appear. These fears are felt by the human subconscious throughout the day, it is regularly fueled by thoughts of some terrible event or fear, and in a dream the subconscious throws these fears out, and all the terrible situations that were hidden from him throughout the day in deep in the subconscious. So, if you are terribly afraid of heights, you can constantly wind yourself up: “How afraid of heights I am!”, And just the thought of height puts you into a state of stupor. You accumulate in your subconscious fear of heights, and during sleep you are more likely to dream that you are falling down. You should not be surprised by what happened - after all, you yourself repeated the same fear until it was released from your subconscious.
4. Sometimes nightmares complement a person's self-preservation instinct, strengthen his phobias and, thereby, help a person avoid such phenomena in real life. Such nightmares are called prejudicial.
Many people who have experienced all the negative effects of nightmares are interested in the question: “is it possible to get rid of nightmares once and for all?” Most likely the answer will be negative, since nightmares are the result of the work of the human subconscious, and all the secrets of the human subconscious have not been opened to this day. However, this does not mean at all that now you should sit back and accept all nightmares with honor. Of course, there are ways to deal with nightmares that will help a person get rid of obsessive thoughts before bedtime and create best conditions for restful sleep.
1. Determine the cause of the nightmare and eliminate it. So, if the cause of nightmares is a disease, it is necessary to direct all efforts to get rid of this disease. The disease will pass - the nightmares will disappear. When the cause is eliminated, the effect changes - everything is simple. But what to do if the cause of nightmares is implicit? In this case, it is necessary to fight nightmares through the analysis of internal phobias. Memories of what life situation are so painful for you that they haunt you even when you sleep? What are you most afraid of in a dream? Already after the first decisive action aimed at eliminating the cause of the nightmare, a person’s sleep will become much calmer and more peaceful.
2. By all means try to avoid the influence of external stimuli on you before going to bed. First of all, this applies to horror films, watching which by 99.9% guarantees a person the appearance of a nightmare that will negatively affect a person from the inside. Also, do not play computer games that involve violence, even during the day, and even more so before bedtime. Another strong irritant that can lead to nightmares is talking about topics that are unpleasant for a person, which cause him fear and annoyance. Try to talk and think only about pleasant things before going to bed, watch TV shows that set you in a positive mood, and also listen to light relaxing music just before bedtime.
3. Sleep hygiene - above all! Very often, nightmares are caused by insufficient air in the room. Therefore, be sure to ventilate the room before going to bed, and then close the windows tightly so that street noises do not interfere with your sleep. Don't forget to turn off your TV, computer, and also your cell phone before going to bed. A very important role for sleep is played by the mattress and pillow - they should be comfortable for you.
4. One of the causes of your nightmares may be the fear of the dark. In this case, you should not create pitch darkness in the room, otherwise you will constantly feel that something is threatening you. Try to make things in the room visible.
5. Use sedatives. If you've tried various ways getting rid of nightmares, but none of them had the desired effect, drink a sedative collection at night - it contains only natural ingredients that have a calming effect on the human psyche. Taking this drug at bedtime will help control the flow. negative thoughts, constant focus on problems. As a rule, the sedative collection includes peppermint leaves, motherwort herb, rhizomes with roots of valerian officinalis, licorice roots, hop cones. It is also allowed to use several tablets of valerian before bedtime. The main thing to remember is that valerian tablets can lead to dependence on the drug, and therefore you need to be careful not to overdose.
6. Visualization. Many people know about the true benefits of visualization, but only a few use their knowledge in practice. Visualization is not only able to cure a person of many ailments, bring harmony and happiness into his life, but also save a person from nightmares. To start visualization, you need to take a comfortable position, lying on your back, it is possible to turn on light relaxing music (sounds of nature). Close your eyes and imagine that you are in a place where you have long wanted to visit - mentally transport yourself there. Let's say it's a beach. A light breeze is blowing, seagulls are singing loudly, circling over the water, the sound of the sea surf is barely audible. You are lying on the beach completely alone, nothing disturbs or disturbs you. You do not need to rush anywhere, the whole world belongs to you and only you. An incredible wave of relaxation envelops your body, your mind rests. The world is beautiful.
And now that you have imagined a place where you feel comfortable and calm, every time before going to bed you can mentally return there. After a few uses of the visualization technique, your sleep will return to normal and you will forget about the existence of nightmares.
7. More rest. Nightmares most often come to people who devote most of their time to being awake, completely forgetting that in order to fully restore vitality, a person needs to sleep at least 8 hours a day. Lack of sleep often causes depression and stress, and depression, in turn, becomes the key to a wonderful, wonderful ... nightmare (excuse the pun). Therefore, if you feel that your eyes are sticking together, drop everything and go to rest. If you do not have enough time allotted for work, do not sacrifice rest time for this, it is better to think about how you can make your work more efficient (for example, reduce the execution time of an operation that is not significant for success).
8. Stop drinking strong coffee and tea before bed, do not smoke or drink alcohol. All of the above leads to sleep disturbances due to the fact that caffeine and nicotine are excreted from the body for a long time. Alcohol completely loosens the nervous system, and a person in nightmares begins to receive not only what he thought about during the day, but also nightmares that a person did not even think about. All those who claim that drinking alcohol is good for sleep are deeply mistaken. Of course, alcohol “cuts down” the human brain, puts it into a state of sleep, and the person falls asleep faster, only such a person has nightmares several times more often, and in the morning he feels, to put it mildly, not very much.
9. Aromatherapy. Use to normalize sleep and aromatic lamps. A few drops of aromatic oil of bergamot, ylang-ylang, patchouli, lemon balm or sandalwood strengthen the human nervous system, allowing it to prevent nightmares. However, despite the positive effect of scented lamps and candles, you should not use them too much before bed. a long period time, as a pungent smell can cause a person to have a headache, which will only contribute to the appearance of nightmares. Scented candles before going to bed should be extinguished.
So, dear reader, take good care of your mental health, lead healthy lifestyle life and ... follow the recommendations of this article - and then no nightmares will interfere with your sound healthy sleep.
Remedies for nightmares
You woke up again in drops of cold sweat, lowing in horror? Had a nightmare. Know that you have the power to get rid of unwanted and frightening dreams.
Proven remedies for nightmares:
Special evening drinks
Save from horrors in a dream drunk directly before going to bed such drugs:
Physical exercise
Before you lie down on a soft bed, in order to avoid nightmares, it is recommended to do exercises. Better yet, organize a full-fledged workout. The more effort you put in, the lower the likelihood of an annoying nightmare.
If charging or training is not possible, in this case, you should try to master the meditative state, or do yoga.
Sleep hygiene
Before a sweet sleep, you should not eat up, especially meat, pastries or smoked meats. Sleep with a full stomach can be disturbing, nightmares come quite often.
The atmosphere in the bedroom matters. If there is stuffiness, stench or dust in the sleeping room, of course, terrible dreams will come. Ventilate the bedroom, put a quality air conditioner or at least a humidifier.
Pay attention to your favorite place - bed. The featherbed should not fall by 10-20 cm, the mattress should softly and springily hold a tired body. A hard bed is also not acceptable if you are not used to such experiments. The pillow is medium in size, not too flat and does not cause a sharp bend in the neck.
It is desirable that the sleeping place is away from the table, personal computer, TV. If it is not possible to allocate a room for rest, during the repair, zone the space, separating a special corner for sleeping in non-disturbing, pastel colors.
Eliminate the causes of nightmares
If the nightmare is caused by snoring, treat apnea, if you dream that something pierces the pain, look for a disease of this organ or limb. Fatigue is also better to track and take action by resting more - and not at the computer, but in the bosom of nature.
Washing before bed
Washing with cool water relieves nightmares, Japanese scientists have found. But the Russian "whisperers" and "grandmothers" have long known about this remedy for nightmares, adding another conspiracy to it.
Psychotraining
Read up on dream management techniques. And in a nightmare, try, without avoiding danger, to overcome it. According to statistics, if you become aware of your abilities in a dream and begin to manage both nightmares and other dreams, your life will last for 5-8 years.
You can also imagine a protective cocoon of bright and glowing energy that separates you from the cold and darkness of the surrounding night world.
Untested cures for nightmares:
Conspiracies against nightmares
From nightmarish visions, it is supposed to be the best way to light a candle in the twilight of the night, and after completely melting, throw the wax soot that it accumulates into a dish of water, saying: “I remove fears, fears, commotions from the slave (name) and lock it with 12 locks and constipation. Come down to rest on the slave (name). In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen". It is necessary to wash with this water and quickly throw it out into the street.
There are also some good rituals. On a glass of evening drink, say “Not a dream, go away. Sleep, come! and drink. Do not forget to look at the interpretation of sleep in our dream book.
When you want to save a loved one from a nightmare, you need to whisper to the back of his head: “Let the road before dawn be bright for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!".
Be sure to clean up the bedroom on the first three full moon days. Throw away those things whose purpose is unknown, or you no longer use them.
If the above methods do not fit, contact a psychologist.
If you are afraid of what you dreamed and want to quickly forget it, say this sentence several times and try to fall asleep again.
- What do nightmares mean
- Man cannot long time fall asleep. Insomnia after drinking is accompanied by a headache and an increase in nervous tension.
- Poor sleep, which is constantly interrupted by nightmares.
- Complete insomnia after alcohol, accompanied by hallucinations and anxiety, which is borderline with delirium tremens.
- Take different medications at the same time.
- Combine medication with alcohol.
- Use drugs without consulting a doctor.
- Fazepam. The drug should not be taken until the complete removal of alcohol decay products from the body. It causes side effects in the form of aggression, hallucinations, loss of coordination of movements and many others. During sleep after taking the drug, a person may experience profuse vomiting and suffocation.
- Corvalol, Valoserdin and Valocardin. Phenobarbital, which is part of these drugs, cannot be combined with alcohol. This can lead to damage to brain cells and disruption of its work.
- Phenibut, Afobazole. During a hangover, these drugs absolutely do not help to cope with insomnia. The glycosides they contain can have a negative effect on the functioning of the heart.
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Why do you have nightmares
Very often, nightmares are caused by physiological causes - illness, pregnancy, fever, alcohol and certain medications, sleep apnea syndrome, overeating heavy and spicy foods.
How to get rid of nightmares
Try to identify the causes of nightmares and eliminate them. If you are unable to identify the causes yourself, contact a psychologist who will work with your internal phobias.
Here's how to sleep with a hangover
Hangover syndrome in the vast majority of cases is accompanied by insomnia. It is very difficult for a person in this condition to fall asleep without sleeping pills. After a long binge, his dreams are replaced by nightmares. There are various ways to relieve the syndrome. Together with their relief, the problem of how to fall asleep with a hangover is solved.
Types of insomnia after drinking
Alcoholic insomnia exacerbates the negative processes that occur in the human body during withdrawal symptoms. The patient, exhausted by the disease, does not know how to fall asleep after drinking. All this happens against the background of nervous and physical exhaustion. There are several types of alcoholic insomnia:
There are many ways to deal with insomnia at home. Sleep disturbance continues for a long time even after a person completely stops drinking alcohol.
Causes of sleep disturbance
Very often you can hear people who drink for a long time complain: “I can’t sleep after alcohol.” Many of them find this surprising. Generally, alcohol causes drowsiness. This reaction of the body to strong drinks is observed in people in the early stages of the development of alcoholism.
The main reason why you can’t fall asleep after drinking is the overstrain of the nervous system caused by alcohol intoxication.
Not everyone suffers from alcoholic insomnia. “I can’t sleep with a hangover,” is most often heard from people suffering from autonomic disorders. The cause of insomnia in this case is hypersympathicotonia. Another common cause of insomnia from alcohol - severe form of depression. A person is seized with a panic state that does not allow him to fall asleep.
It interferes with restful sleep and the general painful condition that accompanies withdrawal symptoms. It becomes one of the reasons why hangovers have nightmares. A person during this period has a headache, a burning sensation is felt in the area solar plexus and heaviness in the pancreas, nausea, vomiting.
How to restore sleep
There are various ways to restore sleep after drinking. One of them is medical. In this case, sleeping pills and sedatives are taken. Very often, people who cannot sleep after binge increase the dosage of medications. It is absolutely impossible to do this.
An overdose of drugs can provoke a sharp deterioration in human health and cause death.
Before taking medications after drinking at home, it is necessary to cleanse the human body from the decay products of ethanol. A large number of medicines cannot be combined with alcohol. Self-treatment can only be carried out by those who know well how and what to do in such situations. .
What drugs to take?
There are various drugs that can be used to normalize sleep after binge at home. Conventionally, they can be divided into two large groups - strong and weakly acting. Hangover toxicologists do not recommend drinking any remedy without consulting a doctor.
Among the medicines of weak action are motherwort tinctures, valerian and other herbal decoctions, as well as grandaxin, glycine, biotredin, novopasit and some others. Strong drugs include such as elenium, diphenhydramine, alzolam, etc.
The problem of how to fall asleep after a binge should be solved in conjunction with the solution of the problem of getting rid of nightmares. They are carried out together with the complete relief of the hangover syndrome.
Folk remedies
Among the people, there are many ways to fall asleep with a hangover quickly and not see any terrible visions. They are quite simple and well known to a large number of people. After heavy drinking, a person’s production of melatonin, which is responsible for sleep, is disrupted. Its increased amount in the blood knocks the body out of the rhythm of sleep.
First of all, it is necessary to get rid of alcohol in the human body as much as possible. To do this, you need to wash his stomach and make him take a warm shower. After that, the patient should eat chicken broth, drink a large number of weakly brewed tea with lemon and honey or 1-1.5 liters of mineral water. All this will help to stop the effects of a hangover. The human body will come out of a stressful state, calm down and sleep will come as a protective reaction.
What to do about nightmares?
Many people can have nightmares in their dreams without alcohol. They do not always dream only after drinking. Such visions are characteristic of people with a sick psyche. Some doctors believe that rare nightmares are even good for the human brain. Drinking alcohol only enhances night terrors. Alcohol vapors make it difficult for a person to breathe. This generates images of suffocation in the person's head, which causes a physical reaction in the human body.
Frequently recurring nightmares should alert a person. It's over serious problems than a consequence of the use strong drinks. Many people try to get rid of the nightmarish visions that haunt them with the help of wine or vodka. This only exacerbates the problem. Only a psychiatrist can help deal with it. The cause of nightmarish visions is the overexcitation of the nervous system.
Excellent help to remove it herbal, coniferous or honey baths. They are able to save a person from insomnia, anxiety and nightly "horrors". 2 hours before bedtime, it is good to take a glass of water with a tablespoon of natural honey diluted in it. For a herbal bath, it is better to use motherwort. A decoction of dry poppy heads will help you fall asleep and get rid of bad dreams. For 0.5 liters of boiling water, 3-4 medium poppy heads are enough.
What not to take with a hangover?
The body of each person is individual and reacts to alcohol and drugs in different ways. There is a list of drugs that should not be taken to combat insomnia after drinking drinks containing alcohol for absolutely everyone. Among them:
Only desperate and unreasonable people can use medications along with alcohol. Their use without consulting a doctor can lead to failure of the internal organs of a person, heart attack, stroke, and even death. Even a slight degree of intoxication can be critical.
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This article is devoted to the mythological and medical aspects such a phenomenon as nightmare. It also gives tips on how to get rid of nightmares.
Since ancient times, people have associated their terrible dreams with the tricks of evil spirits and ghosts. The word Nightmare comes from the name of a demon from Norse mythology. The demon's name was Mara, hence derivative words such as "nightmare", "kikimora". The fact is that the word "mara", "sea", "mor" in most languages means death. Probably, such a similarity of names has remained since the time of the Indo-European language, when most of the peoples of Eurasia had one language.
Later, the creatures that sent the nightmare were called Incubi. The very first mention of the incubus is found in English and Celtic mythology. Over time, all creatures that send bad dreams began to be called incubi. The word “incubus” itself means “lying on the chest”, “dancing on the chest”. Moreover, all such creatures have always been depicted on the chest of a person. It was believed that Nightmare climbs onto the chest and begins to choke a person. It was also believed that incubi thus became even stronger and could send damage to a person.
Our ancient ancestors were closer than ever to answering the question "What causes nightmares?" The answer lies precisely in the fact that all the incubi danced and lay on the chest of a person.
It turns out that nightmares are very often caused not so much by psychological problems as by pressure on a person’s chest. If you fall asleep, and during sleep your chest is in a squeezed position (hands are on your chest, lie down on your stomach), then you will have a terrible dream. This rule has no exceptions.
The thing is that with pressure on the chest, you start to have very little breathing problems. The brain considers this dangerous for health and urgently leads you out of sleep.
A bad dream is normal reaction body to a stressful or health-threatening situation. The fact is that with an emergency waking up, there is a sharp inclusion of consciousness. You paid attention to the fact that when you wake up normally, you “come to your senses” for some time, you want to sleep for a couple more minutes, and you practically don’t remember the dream you had. It's just that your brain has to go from sleep to wakefulness, and do it smoothly. However, if you wake up from a nightmare, then you wake up abruptly. Your breathing is fast, your consciousness is in extreme mode, you do not feel like sleeping at all, and you clearly remember your nightmare.
A nightmare every one or two weeks is normal. However, if nightmares torment you constantly, then you should think about your mental state. In half the cases, terrible dreams are associated with experienced stress, excitement, fear. In fact, stress and anxiety are also associated with fears. The main thing in the fight against nightmares is not a doctor or medicines, it is your fearlessness. To be afraid is generally stupid (not to be confused with the instinct of self-preservation). You don't want to spend your whole life in fear, do you?
Plots are directly related to your fears. If you are preparing for a public speech and are very worried, then you will most likely dream about how you will fail in this speech. If the fear is not pronounced, or if the nightmare was due to pressure on the chest, then the plot usually takes the form of persecution, falling, etc.
Due to the fact that the plots of nightmares are well remembered (sometimes for a lifetime), they are often taken as a basis by artists, writers, musicians. Salvador Dali painted his dreams, Stephen King wrote books about them, and so on. Who knows, maybe your nightmare will also take on a material form (in a good way) and become the basis for a movie or a book.
This official medical term should in no way be confused with the term "nightmare". Nightmares dream during REM sleep and are well remembered. Night terror works differently...
Night terror occurs at the moment of deep sleep, when dreams are not dreamed. Moreover, the person does not remember this, although he experienced great fear at the same time. What does it look like? A person suddenly jumps up in the middle of the night and starts shaking, waving his arms and screaming. After that, the person falls asleep again, and in the morning he does not remember anything, thinking that he slept peacefully.
Night terror can also be expressed in a more calm form. The person can just sit on the bed. Or he may begin to scream softly and panic. During the night terror it seems that the person is not sleeping, because he can walk and his eyes are open. But this is not entirely true. A person is still in a state of deep sleep, which means that he simply does not notice either you or the surrounding reality. And unlike a nightmare, night terror is only associated with mental state, and cannot happen due to pressure on the chest.
If you think that only completely unbalanced people have night terror, then you are deeply mistaken. Night terrors happen to everyone. You just don't remember it. Ask your relatives if they have been watching you similar behavior in the middle of sleep
This medical term is not well understood yet. It has little to do with nightmares, but is closely related to incubi mythology and the Nightmares. Sleep paralysis is a painless paralysis of the muscles upon waking up. It is often accompanied by hallucinations. In ancient times, it was believed that it was a genie or brownie holding you, preventing you from moving.
Sleep paralysis lasts up to 2 minutes. It occurs in people suffering from lack of sleep, psychological weakness. In this case, sleep paralysis occurs only when waking up naturally. If you get up in the morning to the sound of an alarm clock, if someone woke you up, then sleep paralysis will not affect you.
Nightmares and other problems associated with sleep do not need to be afraid. Everything has scientific explanation. Bad dreams are just as useful as good ones. In any case, you will wake up and say with relief: "Thank God, this is just a bad dream."
How to get rid of nightmares?
It is nightmares that make you feel a sense of panic fear and severe anxiety. By setting true reason their appearance, it is possible to determine how to deal with them. So, this article will address the question of how to get rid of nightmares.
Often night fears haunt a person because of a disease that originates in the body - if this is the case, then having directed all efforts to eliminate it, dreams will gradually disappear. Decisive action in resolving this issue must be taken in relation to internal phobias. Throughout the day, a person is exposed to various life situations, many of which are associated with the experience of inexplicable fears. In a dream, they are thrown into the subconscious and turn into a real nightmare - in this case, everything should be directed to the analysis of existing phobias. For example, if there is a fear of the dark, then small nightlights will help ensure a peaceful sleep - so, the interior items in the room will become visible, therefore, the fear associated with darkness will disappear.
A good night's rest ensures the creation of comfortable conditions for sleep. An unventilated room, extraneous noises - this should also be the reason for such visions. A comfortable pillow and mattress in this case are also important attributes. The consequence of violation of the regime of work and rest is the occurrence depressive states, which, in turn, can provoke unwanted nighttime manifestations. Proper organization life activity will greatly reduce the risk of their occurrence, therefore, it will help both get rid of nightmares and normalize sleep.
In many cases, natural sedatives, taken shortly before bedtime, will help to cope with nightmares - their action will be aimed at distracting from negative thoughts and will allow you not to focus on problems.
Strong tea, coffee, an obligatory cigarette before bedtime, alcoholic drinks as a “sedative” means will only lead to the fact that the active substances of the above products - caffeine and nicotine - will act on a person throughout the night, while alcohol will completely generate in the head of a sleeping person terrible stories of night dreams.
One of the common causes of nightmares is thought to be eating too much before going to bed. So, a full stomach, which is obliged to digest the food received, provokes the brain to vigorous activity, thereby not allowing the body to fully relax and rest.
People who use the visualization technique can say goodbye to the existence of nightmares - its essence is to present situations that are more pleasant for visual images. So, having created a certain image, you can constantly reproduce it in your thoughts while preparing for sleep - for its normalization, this measure will be quite effective.
As a preventive measure, it is worth trying the use of aromatherapy, only here the period of application of candles and aroma lamps should be taken into account - it should be short-term. If night fears are repeated and pose a threat to health, then here, of course, the help of a specialist will be required.
After analyzing all of the above, everyone will determine their own cause of restless sleep and find the “recipe” necessary to get rid of this scourge. Consequently, a person can both get rid of nightmares and significantly improve his physical condition!
How can you get rid of nightmares?
The temperature in the room should not be too high and not too low. A person who is very tightly wrapped and covered, under a heavy blanket, in a loose pillow, may dream that he is being strangled.
Pajamas should not cause inconvenience (elastic bands, tight seams, tight collars). The bed is wide enough, not too soft, but not hard either. Remove mechanical alarm clocks so that they do not tick during sleep, and turn the electric ones so that the numbers do not "look" at you. There is no need for extra flicker in the room, but it will still give a signal, even if it is turned to the wall. By the way, neither an electronic alarm clock, nor a radio, nor other electrical appliances should be close to the bed. Better not to have them in the room at all. The mobile phone is taken out first!
Flowers and perfumes with harsh, heavy odors are best removed.
Nightmares. Nightmares.
Nightmares or frightening dreams that contain threats to life or safety charge us with negative emotions for the whole day. It is estimated that about 4% of the adult population has nightmares, among children and adolescents the percentage is much higher and amounts to approximately 70%.
Causes of nightmares
Nightmares can have different origins and go hand in hand with mental disorders. Medical conditions that can cause nightmares include substance abuse, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, and traumatic stress disorder.
There are several types of typical nightmares. Worthy of special attention nightmares associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. They appear in 80% of patients and it is this type of nightmare that is better diagnosed, since the underlying stress nightmares, resulting from a traumatic experience, such as an accident, being in a war zone, rape, or the loss of a loved one. This type of parasomnia can accompany the patient throughout life.
Recurring nightmares are based on real traumatic events in the past. Scientists suggest that recurring dreams are stored in memory in the form of a fixed pattern (fixed in the memory of experienced stress). Nightmare scenario, most often autobiographical. Unlike other memories, a nightmare reproduces the events of the past in full, makes you worry not only at night, but throughout the day.
Severe stress can cause nightmares. Thus, a "vicious circle" is formed, stress causes a realistic nightmare, and a nightmare has a strong negative effect on a person's feelings after waking up. The mechanism repeats over and over again. The higher the stress level, the more intense the nightmare. Attempts to avoid nightmares will eventually lead to REM sleep disturbances and early awakenings. Such a person will feel not rested and not getting enough sleep.
Nightmares may be the result exposure to psychoactive substances, which disrupt the functions of mediator (conductor) systems in the brain (mainly associated with norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine, as well as acetylcholine and gamma-aminobutyric acid, GABA).
What symptoms should you see a doctor for?
To get rid of nightmares, you need to be treated under the supervision of a specialist. The problem is that most patients do not recognize this sleep disorder as a disease. Contacting a graduate with experience is the best and effective method combat insomnia and nightmares.
Symptoms that require an appointment with a psychotherapist or a somnologist:
- have great difficulty falling asleep.
- Can't sleep for more than 30 minutes
Waking up several times during the night and then unable to sleep again
- repeated episodes of awakening from sleep are accompanied by feelings of intense anxiety, fear, anger, sadness, disgust and other negative emotions associated with the content of the dream,
- awakening occurs in "full combat readiness", with a feeling of confusion of thoughts, immediately the memory of the content of the dream comes very clearly,
- Availability real event their past, which carries negative emotions and echoes the content of sleep.
Treating conditions that cause nightmares
Fortunately, there are many treatments and ways to deal with nightmares. People who have managed to defeat this disease have improved sleep quality, they wake up rested and are less overtired at work, sleep less during the day. Getting rid of nightmares improves overall physical condition. Every nightmare is unique and only a doctor can decide which type of treatment to use.
There are several ways to eliminate nightmares.
1. At the beginning, it is worth analyzing your habits related to falling asleep, because in many cases a slight modification can significantly improve the quality of sleep.
2. You can also resort to drug therapy(Always used under medical supervision.). Sleeping pills are most commonly used in the treatment of sleep disorders. Their effectiveness mainly depends on the cause of the nightmares. Medical therapy has proven itself best in the treatment of parasomnias associated with substance abuse and nightmares with nocturnal awakenings.
Sleeping pills: Bromisoval (Bromisovalum), Diphenhydramine (Diphenhydraminum), Doxylamine (Doxylaminum), Temazepam (Temazepamum), Phenobarbital (Phenobarbitalum), Flunitrazepam (Flunitrazepamum), Flurazepam (Flurazepamum), Estazolam (Estazolamum), Zaleplon (Zaleplonum), Zolpidem (Zolpidemum) ), Zopiclone (Zopiclonum), Clomethiasol (Clomethiazolum), Midazolam (Midazolamum), Nitrazepam (Nitrazepamum).
All drugs are addictive when used for more than 4 months, are strictly prescription drugs. Diazepine hypnotics are best tolerated.
More safe drug in the treatment of parosomnia is melatonin (melatonin). Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland (located in the brain, belongs to the photoendocrine system), but after thirty years it produces too little of it. There are violations of circadian (cyclic) rhythms of sleep: increased fatigue, depressive syndrome develops. You can make up for the lack of melatonin in the body with the help of synthetically synthesized. It is sold in the pharmacy chain under the same name, only by different manufacturers (Italian, Indian and Russian).
Lavender flowers- natural sedative, improves sleep. It is used not only as a remedy for parasomnias, but also as a means to alleviate stress and irritability. Often lavender is added to the bath. Bouquets of plant flowers placed in the bedroom can provide a healthy sleep.
Melissa herb- an infusion of lemon balm leaves acts as a sedative. Treats sleep disorders. Especially recommended for the elderly.
Valerian root- infusion of the plant helps to fall asleep, soothes, eliminates insomnia. Valerian is also used to combat stress.
Each medicine contains substances that interfere with the body's natural cycle. Therefore, care must be taken and moderation in the use of drugs for sleep. The constant use of herbs and other natural medicines can lead to psychological addiction. Swallowing pills before bed becomes a kind of ritual that is repeated every night. Natural falling asleep will become impossible, as the brain constantly sends signals that encourage action to take the medicine.
3. Psychotherapy. The best choice of psychotherapeutic help is cognitive behavioral therapy. Various techniques cognitive behavioral therapy have proven effective in reducing the frequency of nightmares. The therapy aims to change the mechanism of the nightmare scenario by influencing the cognitive model of dream formation.
The most widely used: the method of imagination or rehearsal therapy. The treatment approach is based on the destruction of bad thoughts, emotions and behaviors. The therapeutic procedure itself is very structured.
The patient retrieves his nightmares from memory, writes them down.
- Then, under the guidance of a psychotherapist, some elements and details of individual events are changed so as to replace all the negative elements of the dream with positive ones.
- Later, positive experiences are consolidated that can influence the content of nightmares that arise in the future.
Prevention of nightmares
1. If you are a light sleeper, then eliminate all the sounds in the bedroom that prevent you from falling asleep. Noise "paralyzes" the dream.
2. Move large clock faces out of your bedroom, out of your line of sight. You can hang them over your head or put them on the ground next to your bed. If you look at the clock before going to bed, it seems that time passes more slowly, then stress and excitement form.
3. Bedroom lighting is very important. The eyelids let in light very easily and simply closing your eyes may not be enough to maintain an adequate level of darkness for undisturbed sleep. Good curtains or blinds should protect from light, street lights in the evening and at night, from the first rays of the sun in the morning. If you like to read a book before going to bed, care should be taken that the light has a warm, natural color, low lamp power is preferable (but enough so as not to tire your eyes when reading text).
4. If you have trouble waking up, try to expose yourself to sunlight or bright lights. This will restore biorhythms and, when dusk comes, it will be easier to cope with falling asleep.
5. Always take care of the timely change of bed linen. Ventilate the room for a few minutes before going to bed.
6. Avoid extraneous pungent odors in the bedroom (the smell of food, air freshener).
7. Do not bring food into the bedroom, the smell of food can cause hunger at the wrong time. In addition, the presence of food in the bedroom can increase the likelihood of allergenic mold and mildew.
8. An hour before bedtime, you can have snacks containing carbohydrates, but do not exceed the calorie content up to 100 - 200 calories (the number of calories, as a rule, is on the packaging of any food product). It is better to have a short snack in the evening, which will help prevent the desire to eat at night, hunger leads to loss of sleep.
9. In the afternoon or 3-4 hours before bedtime, exercise should be done for at least 30 minutes. In addition, physical activity contributes to the prevention of stress, which is one of the main factors that disturb sleep.
10. Room temperature is very important for sleep. The bedroom should be colder than the rest of the apartment. It is better to choose a room for a bedroom in an apartment with the least number of windows that are not located on the sunny side or simply equip the room with air conditioning.
11. Limit your intake alcoholic beverages in evening time. After 19 hours, it is better not to drink alcohol at all. Alcohol, in the beginning, will make it easy to fall asleep, but the sleep will not be deep and intermittent. The more alcohol you drink, the more time your body needs to process it. Sleep during this period will be of poor quality, it will not come on time fast phase. As a result, the likelihood of nightmares will increase.
12. You should not drink coffee and strong tea more than two cups a day. After 15.00 you should not drink coffee at all. Caffeine remains in the body for a significant period of time, and its presence can cause sleep disruption and fragmentation.
Following basic sleep hygiene principles will help eliminate many causes of parosomia, but in some cases this may not be enough to resolve all problems associated with nightmares. Proper sleep hygiene is necessary condition to ensure that any planned treatment procedures have the desired positive effect.
