I have had difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep all my life, in addition nightmares have been the norm as far back as I can remember. I have tried melatonin, magnesium, valerian root, kava, st. johns wort, chamomile and linden teas, and ambien, Of course I’m tired all the time, any ideas that might help.
Better Together
Insomnia and chronic nightmares
Updated on September 5, 2017 in
Healthy Living
Make sure to check for other causes of depression, such as high thyroid. Here is a summary of “things to do” and “things to avoid” for healthy sleep. The brain cleans and washes itself when you sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep every day (7 hours) trash builds up and your decisions will not be as good.
Great Sleep Techniques
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Things to Do :
Behaviors or substances that should be avoided:
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I meant to say make sure to check for other causes of insomnia.
Thanks, I’ve been looking into getting some extensive blood work but can’t afford it at this time. My days are pretty hectic, 6 am until aprox. 9:30 pm, with very little down time, my only chance to exercise would be before 6am, which is tough when I don’t get enough sleep. I have two special needs kids and the days can sometimes be very long. Thanks for your response below to the other individual with similar problems, My nightmares are very violent and go back into childhood, but I never could figure out what might have triggered them
Coach
For less expensive labs you can initiate on your own, you might check out directlabs.com. This is a much less expensive way to get labs done when the cost is a deterrent. You will still need a practitioner to interpret them for you in order to know what to do with the information gathered. Hopefully a comprehensive lab panel will help get you some answers that may lead to better sleep.
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I teach my patients that dreams usually contain 3 things, and understanding those 3 things can help.
1. A wish or a fear.
2. Something from the past.
3. A present day trigger.
If the dream is recurrent, before bed, play the dream in your mind, but give it a different ending that is more helpful.
Let us know how it goes.
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I’ve had some difficulty as well with insomnia after a recurrent dream. I like docamen’s idea of playing that dream in the mind and giving it a different ending. Proactive programming.
Coach
Changing the ending of a violent dream could include one of these options, or you could come up with your own:
- You become empowered to get out of the dangerous situation of your own strength and intelligence
- You find a way in the end to make peace with the aggressor/danger
- You invite a circle of your friends/families/mentors to create a shield around you to protect you from the danger
- The violence is transformed into something beautiful
Let us know how this works for you.
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You would change the end to make it safer, where you are more in control.
I no longer experience Lucid Dreaming so my control within the dream is no longer available. My dreams are often “end of the world” scenarios where I am fighting either with or without weapons to protect myself or my family from people or the elements, ie. starvation, shelter, etc.. Even when I’ve done great physical harm to my “enemy” they aren’t always stopped or contained. So, my question is, how do you control your dream once you’re in it? Thanks again for all you help.
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I don’t know many people who can manipulate their dreams while they are in them, though I have heard some research on that phenomenon that is fascinating. I think what Dr. Amen and I were talking about here is the idea of imaging a different ending while awake. Visual imagery is powerful in impacting our emotional and psychological health, and may keep those violent dreams from reoccurring.
I think I understand, I will give it a try, thank you. As far as lucid dreaming goes, all my brothers had the ability as well, but it became less for all of us as we aged. Its almost like being in your own movie, where you know your dreaming and have some control over your environment. I experienced more lucid dreams in my teens and twenty’s, now it very rare.
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Just an FYI, I have been able to acquire a cpap, and even though I still don’t sleep well, I don’t wake up with headaches and the violent dreams have tapered off significantly. My O2 was dropping to 80% during the test so I am assuming that the low O2 may have been a contributing factor. Thanks again for everyone’s help.
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