Often have nightmares. Why do you have nightmares - effective methods of getting rid of bad dreams
Everyone sees dreams, but not everyone remembers them. However, a bad dream is remembered much better than a "normal" one - that's why sometimes it seems that people see bad dreams more often than good ones.
By the way, not all bad dreams are nightmares; somnologists (doctors who study human sleep) call some of the unpleasant visions “night fears”. These nightmares are in different stages of the night's rest. The REM phase is that part of the “sleep cycle” during which nightmares usually come: these are plot dreams that can conditionally be called “horror films”. Waking up, a person remembers almost nothing, but a feeling of fear is imprinted in his memory.
Often, awakening from nightmares due to the release of adrenaline is accompanied by a rapid heartbeat and profuse sweating. Often people in such cases wake up from their own voice, because they scream.
The deep phase of sleep after midnight is the time when night terrors can appear in dreams. Such a plot is dreamed of for a very short time - literally two or three minutes - however, because of its richness, it makes an extremely painful impression on a person, and often drives the sleeping person into a strong fright.
Why do we all have nightmares from time to time? Why do some people dream of them often, while others do not see them at all? Until now, there is no unequivocal answer to this question, scientists name different reasons that can provoke night terrors and nightmares:
- Psychological crisis.
- Stress.
- Depression.
- Overwork.
- Diseases of a mental or neurological nature.
- Taking certain medications.
- Improper nutrition (eating fatty or spicy foods before bedtime, overeating).
- Alcohol.
- hidden disease.
- Emotional shock or strong impressionability.
Terrible dreams can even serve a person in good stead. For example, to suggest what exactly is the problem that needs to be solved in order to improve your well-being and mood. The main thing is to correctly interpret the "horror stories" that we dream about.
Ways to fight
Why do we have frightening visions? The dream interpretation finds a lot of explanations, but most often it is banal stress. What to do if work is the cause of stress? You need to arrange breaks for yourself during the day, try to unload the evening time from serious matters as much as possible.
To exclude the influence of food factors on your dreams, you should not eat fatty and spicy foods during dinner, you do not need to overeat at night. Alcohol abuse also does not contribute to healthy and restful sleep. It is better to limit yourself to dairy products or fruits.
Rituals also help to tune in to sleep - when you observe them in the evening. You can arrange for yourself the same cosmetic procedure every evening, or stroke a cat, or take a shower before bed - the main thing is that the ritual is the same. Also, if your bedding is uncomfortable, you need to change it.
If you are an impressionable person, do not watch TV at night, close the windows with thick curtains and make sure that you are not disturbed by extraneous sounds. After all, what we dream of depends very much on stimuli such as light and sounds.
You can talk with someone close about your dreams - in a conversation you yourself will be able to understand what is bothering you, why you have such dreams. If this method of "psychotherapy" does not lead to anything, then it would be better to turn to a professional psychologist.
Expectations and Interpretations
When you had a terrible dream, this can be a beneficial work of our subconscious. Why beneficial? Because this way we can more easily cope with psychological traumas, driven deep feelings and restore mental strength. Repetitive scary stories can suggest what kind of problem we have, and even what to do to solve it.
Why, for example, does a person dream of such a plot: he is stuck in and cannot get out in any way? The dream interpretation answers: the sleeper lacks independence in decision-making, you need to take on more responsibility in reality.
Why dream of a nightmare in which sleeping? The dream interpretation answers: the dreamer is too emotional, and this does not benefit him, it is worth holding back emotions a little, and relations with others will improve. I dreamed that we were on the square or in another inappropriate situation - the Psychological dream book believes that you need to work on increasing self-esteem.
Kids can be afraid of the dark, thunderstorms, strangers - all this will definitely manifest itself in a dream. It is worse when your own parents become a source of fear - their quarrels, showdowns, the habit of scaring children with something for "bad behavior". Dietary habits or an impending illness can also cause nightmares.
What else can explain the terrible visions of the baby? The absence of a daily routine - it is very important that the child goes to bed at the same time. And right before bedtime, children are not recommended to play outdoor noisy games or take a hot bath.
The child, falling asleep, should feel protected, so you need to put the child to bed, read books to him at night, talk to him. Rituals for babies are of great importance, therefore, in addition to all of the above, it is good if the child has a plush "friend" with whom he will go to bed.
If the child's nightmares are repeated, then you need to find out why, what events precede the fact that the baby has bad dreams. And, of course, exclude them from the life of your child.
Occasionally nightmares are dreaming everyone. Surely, you know the feeling when you wake up at night in a cold sweat and are afraid to close your eyes again, expecting to see the same terrible picture with your inner eye. And sometimes nightmares can haunt a person every night - they do not allow him to fall asleep normally, they exhaust him. After a while, a person becomes lethargic, broken, irritable, sleepy. The worst thing is that a person begins to experience fear at the mere thought of the upcoming night. This does not happen too often, but the phenomenon is very, very unpleasant. Why do we have nightmares at night and how to get rid of them?
How to get rid of nightmares?
In fact, getting rid of nightmares is not so difficult, except in cases where there are mental and serious nervous disorders.
1. First, try to eliminate all annoying factors - thoroughly ventilate the room before going to bed, then close the windows and hang them with thick curtains so that the light of lanterns or the early rising sun does not penetrate into your room. Make sure that the house is completely quiet - no noise from electrical appliances, no dripping water from the tap, no annoying odors.
2. By the way, about smells. Some aromatic oils promote restful sleep. For example, the smell of lavender in your room will relax you and give you a deeper and more restful sleep.
3. Before going to bed, be sure to soak in a warm bath with foam, sea salt and essential oils.
4. You can take a light sedative tincture before bedtime - motherwort or valerian.
5. Analyze your state at the time of going to bed. If you are anxious, then try to switch to more pleasant thoughts, and not think about the bad at the time of falling asleep. If something hurts you, then take a pain pill.
6. If all these measures do not help, then it is recommended to consult a psychologist, psychotherapist and undergo a full examination in the hospital to identify hidden diseases.
Everything that happens in our minds necessarily carries a semantic load. Therefore, take your dreams seriously - they can warn you that your body, worldview, and environment are out of balance.
Tea helps get rid of nightmares!
If you drink green or black tea before bed, it will effectively help protect against nightmares. Japanese scientists have found that people who drink at least one cup of tea a day are 50% less likely to complain of nightmares.
Tea reduces anxiety and stress levels due to its high content of theine, an amino acid that has a sedative effect.
Studies on a group of 1000 men and women also showed that in the case of women, the occurrence of nightmares in a dream is still 80% higher, and people who go to bed before midnight and wake up before 6:30 in the morning are also at increased risk. although the mechanism of this dependence is not fully understood.
Causes of nightmares
If you constantly having nightmares, then it is imperative to find the cause of this phenomenon and eliminate it, because they negatively affect the quality of sleep, causing nervous breakdowns, emotional and physiological exhaustion in a person. So why might this be happening?
1. Very often, the cause of nightmares lies in the most banal reasons - external irritating factors. It can be stuffiness in the bedroom, a heavy dinner just before bedtime, a night light that does not turn off all night, extraneous noise in the apartment, an uncomfortable bed. It is worth eliminating these factors, and nightmares will leave you.
2. But not always everything is so simple. Try to analyze your psychological state, and if you fail, then contact a psychologist. Perhaps not so long ago you suffered severe stress, lost a loved one. Perhaps in your soul there is a place for hidden deep fears - phobias. For example, fear of the dark, enclosed space, heights, water, etc. All this can be reflected in your dreams.
3. Short-term experiences can also leave a mark on the psyche - a horror movie watched before going to bed, anxiety before an important event in life, the impression of the news received the day before. In general, any factor that caused you negative emotions. Although sometimes even strong positive emotions can become the causes of a nightmare.
4. If you are taking any medications, then do not be too lazy to look at the instructions and read the "side effects" section. If it is indicated there that they can disturb sleep, cause arousal, or otherwise affect the psyche, then it is likely that your nightmares are associated with these drugs.
5. Often nightmares dream during illness, when the body and you yourself are concerned about your condition. These can be nervous diseases accompanied by dizziness, high temperature, fever, pains of a different nature, which do not subside even at night.
6. Consciousness, altered by the action of alcohol and narcotic substances, and again, some medicinal psychotropic drugs, begins to draw out the most bizarre images from its depths, giving rise to nightmares. They have the ability to disrupt the natural process of sleep, knocking down its phases and as a result can lead to persistent nightmares.
7. Very rarely, nightmares can be associated with sleep apnea at night. Such people usually dream that they are being strangled or that they are in a room deprived of oxygen.
8. A secondary role in the appearance of nightmares can be played by the “wrong” food eaten before bedtime - fatty, spicy, heavy food.
What are nightmares?
Not all nightmares are the same. There are at least three types, and they all have their own characteristics.
1. The first category is just a bad dream. They are the most common. In such dreams, you experience a feeling of loss, worry, lose someone or something, see accidents. With this development of events, you may not wake up in horror and panic, but continue to worry all night. Bad dreams have a very thin line with reality - you can feel the time of day, cold, heat, so consciousness is in no hurry to interrupt them. After awakening, an unpleasant aftertaste remains - pain, sadness, longing, fear. But as soon as you throw off the remnants of sleep, what you see is forgotten.
2. Real nightmares are different. They are associated with global, frightening and terrible events. You may dream of a catastrophe, a war, your fall from a great height, you may be pursued by maniacs, monsters or wild animals, that is, you dream of something that threatens your life. It is these dreams that lead to screams of horror upon awakening, cold sweats and prolonged anxiety.
3. night terror even worse than nightmares. Regardless of what you dreamed, in a dream you are seized by an all-consuming panic, horror, and at the same time you continue to sleep. Night terrors are either provoked by nervous disorders or lead to them as a result. There are cases when a person died in a dream from a just experienced attack of horror.
Needless to say, nightmares cause extremely unpleasant emotions. But it turns out that bad dreams are nothing but our own inner fears, and they can be both completely objective and unfounded.
We decided to take a closer look at why we have nightmares and what we can do about it. 
It may sound unexpected, but nightmares help us cope with stress. The brain perceives nightmares as very real events, which upon awakening become memories. After all, what has already happened is much easier to perceive. Simply put, in a dream we "rehearse" a situation that could very well happen in real life in order to be fully equipped if it happens. 
If it came to a nightmare, then the inner world requires urgent attention, which you constantly refuse it: it is likely that in the bustle of daytime worries and responsibilities you simply do not notice the accumulated problems. But the subconscious is much more sensitive and frank than the waking "I". So, try to remember all the frightening images - they will tell you which part of your life you should pay attention to.
Terrible dreams tend to recur when they are not given proper attention. Once you find the courage to decipher the message and take the appropriate action, the nightmares stop.
Sometimes it is worth waking up and rolling over on the other side, and the nightmare is replaced by something more calm. And sometimes it doesn't work. What's the matter? Most likely, the problem raised in a dream is so urgent that no tricks can switch the attention of the unconscious, which is trying to shout to you.
If night terrors become especially intrusive and happen more than once a month, it's time to take your health seriously. And not always only mentally. You may not be able to survive the trauma; but there is a risk that everything is much more “material” and it is time to visit a doctor so as not to start the disease.
The fact is that the psychological and physical in us are closely connected, therefore, recurring plots in nightmares may be the result of a physiological problem: asthmatics, for example, sometimes see that they are suffocating - this may be a harbinger of an attack. 
But if the problem is not in physiology, then chronic nightmares are almost certainly a symptom of psychological trauma, which is difficult to cope with on your own. And here it is better not to torment yourself, but to turn to a psychologist. According to the observations of scientists, especially often unpleasant dreams without a final scene or with a sad ending are dreamed by a sick neurosis. The plots usually feature helplessness, impotence and unfamiliar characters in an unusual setting. 
Falling may indicate a fear of losing control. Most often, such dreams are seen by people who always keep their finger on the pulse. In fact, they are afraid of losing control of life in general. What to do? Learn to delegate control to others. Relaxation practices can help with this, during which the body receives a positive experience of trust.
Persecution can be a reminder of the deep trauma of the abused person, perhaps in childhood. Sometimes memory forgets unpleasant moments, but the body continues to remember, and then the subconscious mind is connected, which persistently hints that something needs to be done about it.
There may be another interpretation: the stalker is a part of your personality that you do not want to recognize. In this case, you need to understand what exactly you are running away from in yourself, and accept your dark side. Sometimes such dreams give out desires that you are not aware of or that you are embarrassed to admit. For example, if a woman dreams that a rapist is chasing her, then there is a possibility that in real life she lacks male attention. 
Murder. If in a dream you kill someone specific, most likely you are angry with this person, but for some reason do not give vent to anger. Killing a stranger or even organizing a massacre - maybe your irritation is directed at those to whom you cannot express indignation. In any case, you need to understand what is the source of this "faceless" anger, and find ways to deal with it.
A special case is when you are killed in a dream. On the one hand, perhaps you really catch "dangerous vibes" from someone close, but maybe it's again your aggression towards the person. It’s just that you are not ready to admit it and project your emotions onto him.
Another option - you are prone to auto-aggression. Say, as a child, you were not allowed to openly express anger, you had to restrain yourself. As a result, all suppressed emotions turn against you. First of all, figure out who causes these unpleasant experiences in you, recognize them and accept them, even if it is a sick grandfather or beloved mother. You have every right to be angry even with them. Then find a way to vent your aggression: hit a pillow, yell at karaoke, or go to the gym.
And anxiety is always unpleasant. Especially if this happens in a dream, when the subconscious is not able to adequately respond and is completely unprotected from such a nightly “horror movie”. But many people, not knowing why they have terrible dreams, do not know how to interpret them correctly. Therefore, after them, they necessarily expect changes in their lives and believe that they can be harbingers of terrible upcoming problems. In order to know for sure what this or that dream can mean, you need to be able to correctly understand it and listen to the clues that lie in its plot.
Why do you have nightmares?
Terrible dreams can often be seen if a horror movie was watched the day before or the stomach is full due to a hearty dinner eaten in the evening. In addition to these reasons, psychologists have identified a number of reasons why people have such visions.
These include stressful situations, nervous breakdowns and disorders, the specifics of the diet, the use of certain medications or the abuse of alcoholic beverages. Nightmares can also be some kind of expression of some unsatisfied state or anxiety. Therefore, it is necessary to identify and eliminate the real reason why bad dreams are dreamed.
If the nightmares do not disappear, then the problem of recurring bad dreams lies somewhere deep in the human subconscious. Then psychologists recommend to analyze the night "horror movie". But you need to do this, not waking up in the middle of the night, but during the day, when a person feels more protected from these nightmares.
When do horrors occur?
Terrible dreams occur mainly late at night, while their most terrible phase lasts only a couple of minutes. But despite such a short duration, the human body reacts very violently to a dream. The heartbeat begins to quicken, in some cases a shiver passes through the whole body, so the dreamer often wakes up screaming and in
Many experts believe that a dreaming nightmare can be not only a reaction of the subconscious to certain events in life, but also a signal that you need to think about your health. Therefore, in order to clearly understand what to do when you have terrible dreams, you need to identify the problem of their occurrence.
Night terror analysis
First you need to ask yourself questions: “What haunts me?”, “Why does this nightmare cause a feeling of anxiety?”, “What exactly do these terrible dreams scare?”
What can haunt people in dreams often symbolizes a set of personal qualities of a person, as well as events, feelings and abilities that he rejects in his real life. The main task of the psychoanalysis of night terrors is to understand what is repressed and not accepted in oneself and subsequently can cause such a strong nightmare.
Nightmares can also help to detect an already existing problem in the body, which a person was completely unaware of in reality.
If terrible dreams accompany turning points in life, then in the end there should be a good denouement. Since nightmares in this case show a person that he has moved to a new stage of his development.
Thus, having got rid of deep psychological causes, people can not only say goodbye to terrible dreams forever, but also change their lives for the better.
Why do you have nightmares? And what if it happens all the time? We will understand the reasons for not the most positive dreams and talk about how to deal with them.
When you wake up in a cold sweat and remember with horror what happened in your dream, the thought of the benefits of nightmares seems absurd. But in fact, even from such an unpleasant phenomenon, you can learn a lesson and learn something.
Any dream is a product of the work of your subconscious. Through sleep, it sends you certain signals that you can learn to read and decipher.
And nightmares are a colossal reboot of the subconscious, the release of negative energy and experiences. Agree, it is much better if the dark side of your personality manifests itself only in a dream, and not in real life.
What else can be useful horror in dreams:
- Your subconscious is signaling: there is a problem. In real life, you may not notice it or not attach importance to some important circumstances that may end badly. Try to understand what your brain is telling you. Analyze what to focus on
- The nervous system is unloaded. All negativity, stress, overwork and tension are released from consciousness, turning into nightmares. If you stop having bad dreams, it will all come out in real life, causing you great damage.
- Sometimes terrible dreams are a symbol of the end of the current life stage. It's time for you to advance in your development and go further. This is an indication of some kind of turning point, a sign that you need to free your living space from everything that interferes and destroys your personality.
Analyze this information and think about what your subconscious is trying to communicate with the help of terrible dreams? If you find the cause, the nightmares will stop every night very quickly.
What harms horrors in a dream
Constant, recurring nightmares every night can do harm. Especially if you are a very emotional and receptive person.
The harm of nightmares can manifest itself in the following:
- Sleep becomes restless, you often wake up in the middle of the night. The body does not get proper rest due to insomnia, which is why real life suffers
- You wake up in a terrible mood, causing everything to turn upside down during the day. To avoid this, try not to think about what you dreamed about. By force of will, change your thoughts to more positive ones, do not dwell on the problem
- If the human psyche is shaken, terrible dreams can cause fears, phobias, and in rare cases, mental illness. This is easy to see in children: the child dreams of a monster, and the child becomes afraid to sleep in the dark.
If your nightmares lead to serious negative consequences, it is very important to catch yourself in time and cure your sleep. Consult a psychologist or psychotherapist so as not to suffer even more.
Reasons for bad dreams
So, you understand what nightmares can dream of, and what consequences they can lead to. It remains to understand the reasons for this phenomenon.
Why do you have nightmares:
- In children, the reason is increased emotional sensitivity. This state of affairs does not occur without reason. The problem lies in family relationships. Children see terrible dreams after physical or moral violence (dad beats with a belt, mom practices sarcastic jokes), divorce of parents, problems in the team
- If a person lives in a constant state of physical or mental overwork, gets very tired and is unable to cope with a bunch of problems, his subconscious mind will unload from overstrain in a dream.
- Prolonged depression can also lead to nightmares. This also includes severe stress, bright negative emotions that a person experiences for a long time. This is a huge burden for the psyche and the brain, and dreams solve the problem, freeing the mind from negativity.
- Nightmares dream after a strong emotional shock: rape, traffic accident, moral bullying. Or, for example, a person witnessed a murder - this event then haunts him for a long time in dreams
It is worth noting that people with a strong psyche almost never dream of horrors. Therefore, to prevent terrible night visions, work with your subconscious, strengthen your psycho-emotional state, and watch your thoughts. Learn not to overreact to negative events in the outside world.
Watch a video about why we have nightmares:
Special cases
The reasons that we discussed above relate to regular nightmares .. If bad sleep is a “one-time action”, perhaps the impressions of the past day influenced your consciousness and transformed into scary pictures at night.
For example:
- You caught a cold, you have a high temperature, which you can’t bring down for a long time. You fall asleep and dream of a terrible fire-breathing dragon
- You ate a big meal at night. As a result, the digestive organs were very heavily loaded, which need to rest, for which the brain takes revenge on you with nightmares
- Sleep in adverse conditions: with the lights on, loud sound, in a room with stale air
- Late in the evening, you experienced some kind of strong emotion: perhaps you were lit up with creative inspiration. Or you banally quarreled with your husband
- You drank too much alcohol, used drugs, smoked a lot of cigarettes, or took a dose of medication that was more than necessary
To stop nightmares, try to be in a calm state an hour before bedtime, do not overeat and put gadgets away. Take a walk or meditate to relax and prepare your mind for sleep.
Fortune telling today with the help of the Tarot "Card of the Day" layout!For correct divination: focus on the subconscious and do not think about anything for at least 1-2 minutes.
When you're ready, draw a card:
