{"id":14536,"date":"2017-04-20T19:35:28","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T19:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/?p=14536"},"modified":"2022-07-07T00:53:40","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T04:53:40","slug":"getting-rid-of-nightmares-sleep-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/massage\/benefits-of-massage\/getting-rid-of-nightmares-sleep-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Rid of Nightmares: Tips for a Restful Night\u2019s Sleep"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You suddenly realize that you need to take a test \u2013 but you haven\u2019t studied at all. As you stare at the exam, full of what looks like gobbledygook, everyone starts laughing. You\u2019re not wearing pants.<\/p>\n<p>Then you wake up.<\/p>\n<p>Does this sound familiar? It very well might, because nightmares are very common \u2013 up to 90% of adults have had a nightmare at some point. Frequent nightmares are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sleepassociation.org\/patients-general-public\/nightmares\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">less common<\/a> (but no less scary), affecting an estimated 6-8% of the adult population.<\/p>\n<h3>A helpful warning<\/h3>\n<p>Nightmares aren\u2019t just a sign that you\u2019re afraid of forgetting to study or somehow omitting an important article of clothing. They are very often a warning sign that something has gone wrong with your \u00a0physical or mental health \u2013 giving you the chance to course-correct.<\/p>\n<h3>What causes nightmares in adults?<\/h3>\n<p>There are a lot of potential reasons you\u2019re experiencing nightmares, but here are three common causes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Stress.<\/b> Nightmares can be a sign that your<a href=\"https:\/\/journal.thriveglobal.com\/our-serious-sleep-problem-a3fc93939e7d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> stress<\/a> is interfering with your sleep quality. It\u2019s a vicious cycle \u2013 the more stressed out you are, the less you sleep, and the less you sleep, the more stressed out you are.<\/li>\n<li><b>Drinking or eating right before bedtime.<\/b> The nightcap is a myth. While alcohol might make you feel drowsy, it can also interfere with sleep patterns. Late-night snacks are another possible cause of scary dreams. Eating right before bed heightens your metabolism and body temperature, which \u201ccan lead to more brain activity, prompting more action during rapid eye movement sleep, or REM,\u201d Dr. Charles Bae, MD <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/health\/can-spicy-food-really-give-you-nightmares-1C8388656\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">explains<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><b>Depression.<\/b> Nightmares are strongly linked to depression \u2013 in fact, research suggests that nightmares may be a way to diagnose the early onset of depressive symptoms, and that early treatment of nightmares may in fact reduce the likelihood of developing depression.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Getting rid of nightmares<\/h3>\n<p>One of the best ways to eliminate nightmares is to get\u00a0a deeper, more restful night of sleep. Easier said than done, of course. Best practices include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Turn off your devices.<\/b> The blue light from your smartphone, laptop, tablet or TV disrupts your brain waves and keeps you awake. This is why, ironically, a marathon night of Netflix can make it difficult to chill. Do not take your phone to bed \u2013 we suggest giving it a bed of its own.<\/li>\n<li><b>Avoid eating and drinking for two hours before bedtime. <\/b>Sure, the midnight snack can be tempting. However, it\u2019s best to cut yourself off at dinnertime so your body can slow itself down for a more restful night of shuteye. Eating earlier in the day is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national\/health-science\/why-eating-late-at-night-may-be-particularly-bad-for-you-and-your-diet\/2015\/08\/24\/ad8b85ac-2583-11e5-b77f-eb13a215f593_story.html?utm_term=.519e8a3c0d78\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">better for your health<\/a> overall, too.<\/li>\n<li><b>Exercise in the morning or afternoon \u2014\u00a0not at night.<\/b> Exercise is great for stress reduction and mood boosts \u2013 but don\u2019t go to the gym too close to bedtime. According to Rafael Pelayo, M.D. of Stanford\u2019s Sleep Medicine Center, late-night workouts can <a href=\"http:\/\/furthermore.equinox.com\/articles\/2017\/01\/nightmares\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mess with your body\u2019s thermodynamics<\/a>. In other words, you\u2019ll boost your metabolism and tell your body to burn more fuel, when really you should be shutting the engine off for the day and winding down.<\/li>\n<li><b>Create a sleep sanctuary<\/b>. There are always going to be times (hopefully not too often) when you just can\u2019t disconnect.\u00a0Those restless evenings where the more you toss and turn, the more awake you become. In these situations, try soothing yourself to sleep with proven sleep methods, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/sleep-massage\">sleep massage<\/a>, lavender oil, and hot baths. You may be surprised at the positive results.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nightmares aren&#8217;t just frightening, they can also be a warning sign for future health issues. Learn how to dismiss these scary dreams from your slumber.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":14545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[752,1052,1053,1054],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-14536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-benefits-of-massage","tag-mental-health","tag-sleep","tag-sleep-better","tag-sleep-massage"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Getting Rid of Nightmares: Tips for a Restful Night\u2019s Sleep - Zeel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/massage\/benefits-of-massage\/getting-rid-of-nightmares-sleep-tips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Getting Rid of Nightmares: Tips for a Restful Night\u2019s Sleep - Zeel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nightmares aren&#039;t just frightening, they can also be a warning sign for future health issues. Learn how to dismiss these scary dreams from your slumber.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/massage\/benefits-of-massage\/getting-rid-of-nightmares-sleep-tips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zeel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GetZeel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-20T19:35:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-07T04:53:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/BLOG-nightmares.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1045\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"460\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zack Kinslow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GetZeel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GetZeel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zack Kinslow\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/massage\/benefits-of-massage\/getting-rid-of-nightmares-sleep-tips\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/massage\/benefits-of-massage\/getting-rid-of-nightmares-sleep-tips\/\",\"name\":\"Getting Rid of Nightmares: Tips for a Restful Night\u2019s Sleep - Zeel\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/massage\/benefits-of-massage\/getting-rid-of-nightmares-sleep-tips\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/massage\/benefits-of-massage\/getting-rid-of-nightmares-sleep-tips\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/BLOG-nightmares.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-20T19:35:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-07T04:53:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/186f0b9630ff3381af0b54f23bfacb69\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/massage\/benefits-of-massage\/getting-rid-of-nightmares-sleep-tips\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/massage\/benefits-of-massage\/getting-rid-of-nightmares-sleep-tips\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/massage\/benefits-of-massage\/getting-rid-of-nightmares-sleep-tips\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/BLOG-nightmares.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/BLOG-nightmares.jpg\",\"width\":1045,\"height\":460,\"caption\":\"Waking up from a nightmare\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/massage\/benefits-of-massage\/getting-rid-of-nightmares-sleep-tips\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Getting Rid of Nightmares: Tips for a Restful Night\u2019s Sleep\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Zeel\",\"description\":\"Premium wellness delivered, on location and on demand.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/186f0b9630ff3381af0b54f23bfacb69\",\"name\":\"Zack Kinslow\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zeel.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4cabe7ee83463d9b4151d49f5d69a27d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4cabe7ee83463d9b4151d49f5d69a27d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zack Kinslow\"},\"description\":\"Zack is a writer, producer and marketer with 10+ years' experience in the advertising, nonprofit and tech startup industries. 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