(Trying To) Sleep In Peace

I, like many other people, have been prone to nightmares since a young age.  What started off as vivid dreams about scary monsters grabbing me and eating me slowly evolved into falling from high places or being shot, and now I'm having nightmares that seem to be fueled by my anxiety and the feelings I've experienced past and present.  I don't enjoy having them, and often wake up in a state of panic after some of my worst ones.  It's not a pleasant feeling, and I absolutely despise having them, as it seems like I've let my anxiety get the better of me again, and shame on me for that. 

Nowadays, my nightmares are scary as can be.  Not all of them are remembered the morning after, but over the past year since my anxiety came further to the forefront and I went through some other rather unfortunate struggles I've been having more of them each and every week, and they're getting more and more vivid.  Often, it's hard to believe that they were truly all in my head as they feel so real, being populated with the people I know so well.  It's really weird and interesting to see how it all plays out from nightmare to nightmare, and it seems weird that I'm using that terminology to describe them seeing as they scare me half to death when they're actually happening.  Cold sweats are no fun.

I want to lower my nightmare count, and I'm sure there's some of you reading this blog post who wouldn't mind joining me in this venture as well.  As I write this blog post, I'm pulling up some information from sources on the internet to bring to you.  I want to make sure that you, and subsequently me, have the correct background information to work towards a positive resolve for this issue.  If you're like me and experience nightmares frequently while also suffering from anxiety, you're most likely overthinking your most recent nightmare and also experiencing some type of fatigue from poor sleep caused by said nightmare.  It's a lifestyle we don't want as part of our daily lives.

The Mayo Clinic is a health source I trust when researching health information on the internet.  I may be a little biased because several of my family have been helped by them, but they also have national recognition and people traveling from far and wide to see their doctors, so I feel they're the perfect source to use.  This article about nightmare disorder, while not a disorder I actually have, mentions a few things I'd like to touch on briefly, and then if you'd like more information you can follow the link to the full article.  When it comes to the prevention of nightmares, the article brings up establishing a regular bedtime routine, for example - put on pajamas, brush teeth and/or shower, and then roll into bed.  I find that with my schedule I don't have time for a regular bedtime routine because I go to bed at any hour of the day that it's time for sleep, but for those who are able to keep up a regular sleep schedule, I hope this might help.

Next, the topic of proper stress management techniques are brought up.  How should we better manage the stress of our daily working and family lives to prevent nightmares?  For this, I went a little deeper to find another article that better describes stress management techniques.  My personal favorites from the article include enjoyable pastimes, basically picking up your favorite hobbies and enjoying them for a little while by yourself or with a friend, getting out into nature and enjoying the world around us, preferably without a cellphone or other smart device, and gratitude for others and other things by showing how we're thankful for them.  The other twelve tips are helpful, but I find these three to work the best for me.  I'll also go ahead and add that music works very well for stress relief, especially when you have multiple favorite songs to listen to that are easily at your disposal. 

Back to the Mayo Clinic article.  The last thing it mentions that's useful to us as adults (not a technique for helping those under the age of 10), is something that actually would be more aimed at children, but can help those of us with anxiety especially.  It helps to effectively talk about the dream with a friend or colleague.  Don't do what I do and let your anxiety get the better of you and don't talk about it with anyone.  Find a trusted person and describe what you so vividly saw in your mind last night, and hopefully that person will be kind and understanding of what happened and willing to listen.  If we don't talk about it, everything remains bottled up inside us and it sticks with us forever and a day. 

At any time they occur, nightmares can be some pretty sketchy stuff.  But with the proper prevention methods put in place, they can occur less than they do for those of us who get them frequently.  Remember to stay with a proper bedtime routine and try to find ways to reduce the stress you regularly experience. 

Here's hoping you get a good night's sleep the next time your head hits the pillow.