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one
Go to bed sober
“Alcohol triggers nightmares,” says Albrecht Vorster (38), sleep researcher at Inselspital Bern. He recommends that people who wake up frequently at night due to unpleasant dreams should avoid alcohol for three weeks. “In many cases this can lead to improvement of the condition.” Alcohol disrupts our natural sleep rhythm. It causes the muscles in our airways to relax, which means we snore more. If there are short pauses in breathing, we continue to alternate between deep and light sleep. This causes more restless sleep.
2
Maintain rituals
“If we have rituals before we go to sleep, it gives us safety and security,” Vorster says. “We feel like everything is going as planned” Even simple habits like brushing your teeth, ventilating or reading a book help you relax and unwind in the evening. This also reduces the likelihood of having nightmares at night.
3
rewriting dreams
Nightmares are frequently recurring. These aren’t always the same, Vorster says. “But the same motifs appear again and again.” He recommends writing down in detail the nightmare you keep having. In the second step, you rewrite it and give it a happy ending. You read and repeat this new version of the nightmare over and over while awake, until after a few weeks you internalize it. Vorster: “You can reinterpret dreams this way.” In sleep research, this method is called “Visual Rehearsal Therapy” (IRT). «The results are generally very good. At some point we can’t stop ourselves from imagining the nightmare in the new version. Only then will it no longer be a nightmare.”
4
Avoid afternoon naps
According to Vorster, the fourth factor for deep and uninterrupted sleep is adequate sleep pressure. This means you need to be awake long enough (about twelve hours, according to Vorster) before going to bed. A siesta like in Spain, where many people take a long afternoon nap, is not an obstacle for those who do not have sleep problems, on the contrary: “I recommend that people who often have nightmares avoid naps or afternoon naps.”
5
Keep a sleep diary
We all have nightmares. However, thanks to them, we only become aware of it when we wake up. This happens more slowly when we sleep at regular hours, Vorster says. If you are having nightmares, you should first analyze your sleeping habits. A logbook in which affected people write down what time they went to bed in the evening and woke up in the morning every day for two weeks may be useful. Then it’s about changing your habits. “In two-thirds of cases, nightmares can be reduced by regular bedtimes.”
Source : Blick
I am Dawid Malan, a news reporter for 24 Instant News. I specialize in celebrity and entertainment news, writing stories that capture the attention of readers from all walks of life. My work has been featured in some of the world’s leading publications and I am passionate about delivering quality content to my readers.
