Can Nightmares Be Controlled?

Many people have bad dreams and nightmares. Uncertainty and anxiety make us suffer more than usual. Now, is there a way to reduce or control them?

There are times when bad dreams are a constant at night. We experience anguish, daytime exhaustion, and even some anxiety when it comes time to sleep. In these situations, it is common to ask ourselves if nightmares can be controlled, if there is an effective and simple strategy to reduce these experiences.

It should be noted that sleep disorders are not the exclusive province of the childhood world. While it is true that these experiences are especially common between the ages of 4 and 10, adults also frequent that uncomfortable nocturnal dimension from time to time. Thus, it is quite common for this fact to arise in periods of high stress and anxiety, times in which uncertainty grips and worries us.

On the other hand, it is interesting to remember that nightmares by themselves serve a determining psychological purpose. They are a way in which the brain prompts us to solve latent problems. During childhood, they arise from all those new situations that we face and for which we do not always feel prepared: problems at school, misunderstandings with classmates …

What happens in the day and conscious world has its impact on the night and unconscious universe. It is true that sometimes, although we know the theory and the reason why parasomnias arise, it is not always easy to get rid of them.

Image symbolizing the question of whether nightmares can be controlled

How can nightmares be controlled?

We know that nightmares are distressing, that they interfere with restful sleep, and that they are associated with a number of emotional triggers. An example, studies such as those carried out in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford show us that people with post-traumatic stress disorder are more likely to suffer from this reality.

On the other hand, the rate of appearance of these problems is also linked to times of crisis and to the coping mechanisms of each one. If we are more adept at reducing everyday stress and the tangle of worry, it is very possible that the incidence of bad dreams will be reduced.

However, not all of us succeed, so that the shadow of anxiety lengthens more and more and with it the bad night’s rest and the consequent deterioration of health. What can we do? Is there a way to control nightmares?

Psychological approach: addressing the root of the problem

Any emotional turmoil, worry, anxiety, or trauma from the unresolved past manifests itself in the form of nightmares. Now, the fact that this is so fulfills a function:

Nightmares arise during REM sleep. It is in this sleep cycle when the body rests the most and when the brain performs essential tasks.

The purpose of bad dreams is to allow us to get in touch with repressed emotions, with underlying fears and problems that we are not facing.

Therefore, to the question of whether nightmares can be controlled there is a highly effective strategy. We must address what hurts us, worries us or obscures our well-being. Mechanisms such as the rationalization of fears and worries, emotional management or problem-solving techniques can help us.

The ideal is to go to bed with the minimum possible worries. Thus, and if they exist, we must draw up an action plan, a coping strategy that allows us to go to bed with the idea that, sooner or later, everything will be solved.

Lucid dreaming and sleeping on the right side

Recurring nightmares can cause a deterioration in social functioning, especially in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, etc. Thus, studies such as the one carried out at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil) have seen improvements when training people in the technique of lucid dreams.

Now, what exactly does this strategy consist of? It is about the dreamer being aware that he is dreaming. This exercise involves suggesting to the person for several days through talks that what they live in nightmares is not real and that what they should do is wake up.

The idea is to convince the brain that it is in control of what it dreams of. At the moment in which the threat or anguish arises, a part of the unconscious must “force” us to wake up.

Likewise, we also have a 2001 study published in the journal Sleep and Hypnosis that showed something curious: sleeping on the right side of the body means having fewer nightmares than doing it on the left side.