Anxiety Dreams: 5 ways to cope up with anxiety dreams
Dreams are stories made up of our current life circumstances or anything related to our thoughts causing Anxiety dreams. Some dreams are more intense than others. When you are able to recall how did you felt while dreaming, your emotions, and maybe even the smell and sounds, these are called ‘vivid dreams’. It is normal to have vivid dreams, they too can be positive or negative, exciting or boring, scary or soothing, sad or joyous etc. Sometimes vivid dreams can be so disturbing that it may interfere with quality sleep or normal routine errands.
Brain Scientists are still not sure about the reason of vivid dreams, but they know that most of our vivid dreams do occur during rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep cycle. There are certain causes of vivid dreams which make it more intense such as stress or anxiety, medications, phobias, sleep disorders, grief, pregnancy etc. Vivid dreams might result in severe problems for some people making them depressed or can lead to suicidal attempts if not treated properly. If you are mostly waking up panicking in a cold sweat over a dream, than you need to figure out its cause because anxiety ridden dreams are a red flag for your life and health.
Anxiety Dreams:
A vivid dream due to stress or anxiety can result in anxiety dreams. An anxiety dream in short, refers to any dream that causes stress or distress. Thses emotions might linger during your sleep making it a restless night, and you may wake up worrying if they mean something bad is about to happen. Nightmares also count as anxiety dreams, since anxiety during daytime can inspire feelings of intense terror.
There are many external causes of bad vivid dreams such as:
- Stress and anxiety
- Big life changes
- Traumatic experience
- Drug abuse
- Heavy medication
- Insomnia
- Grief
Ways to cope up with anxiety dreams:
In addition to consulting with a therapist for constant anxiety dreams, some other ways such as relaxation strategies before bed, meditation and healthy lifestyle can help attain for restful sleep. Reducing daytime anxiety or avoiding the tasks which causes stress can help you manage anxious thoughts, hence limiting anxiety dreams.
- A calming bedtime routine:
A routine of activities before going to bed for sleep greatly impact your dreams. Try to monitor your activities in a positive way. Journaling is one way to let out any stressful thoughts before sleep. You can jot down all negative things going in your mind to feel relief.
Make a habit to read positive books or motivational novels at bedtime. Start meditating after laying down on bed and think about all the happy things happened during the day. Be grateful for all good that you have and don’t let your mind wander towards negativity. Most people are habitual of taking a bath before bedtime, this too helps in peaceful sleep.
- Avoid stress before bed:
Stress is part of life but it should be managed especially before bedtime. Vivid dreams can easily become nightmares if you have gone through any kind of stress before sleep. If the last thing before sleep was reading an upsetting email form your loved one or thinking about office work load for the following day, than it can be distressful. Try to complete stressful tasks earlier during day and do something joyous before going to sleep.
- Talk about it:
If you are constantly worried about stressful vivid dreams or any other anxious thing is bothering you, try to share it with someone close. Letting out things often lighten the burden and you may not feel all alone. Your loved ones might help you with a positive suggestion or they may console you. Sharing things always help to lower down stress, hence avoiding anxiety dreams.
- Limit phone usage:
One of the greatest reasons of stress among today’s generation is excessive usage of mobile phones. Even more stress is caused if phones are used before bedtime or sleep. Reading a sad news or fantasizing fake social media life can greatly impact our minds especially during night time. If you wish to have a peaceful sleep without anxious vivid dreams than it is suggested to stop the usage of phone at least two hours before sleep.
- Positive surrounding:
Your surrounding greatly affect your thoughts making them either positive or negative. If you are surrounded by someone who constantly fights or talks in a negative way, try to build your boundaries with them. Going through arguments, or fights before sleep may cause unnecessary stress. While positive surrounding can help attain a peaceful sleep.
CONCLUSION:
Psychotherapists have not particularly determined the reason of intense vivid dreams but some of the above listed reasons can cause anxiety dreams. Try to adopt these ways to monitor your dreams, if you still fail to do so then visit a therapist to discuss excessive anxious vivid dreams.