Save Your Sleep: Tips for Controlling Your Dreams

Are you exhausted from being scared awake from nightmare after nightmare? Do you wander through your days in a fog thanks to a night of restless dreams? Are you ready to save your sleep and take control of your dreams?

Don’t worry; you don’t always have to give in to the exhaustion that follows night after night of restless sleep and bad dreams. Using certain techniques you can take control of your dreams and save yourself from the fear and anxiety that haunts them.

Preparation

You set the stage for the night’s rest hours before you even go to bed. If you’ve been suffering from nightmares or restless sleep, try eliminating caffeine in the afternoon and switch off the TV an hour before bed. Stop reading that new thriller. Instead, listen to calming music, do a short yoga sequence or meditate on your day. All of these serve as a way to tell your mind that you are going to give it a chance to wind down and relax to set the stage for restful sleep.

Write Your Dreams

Before you sit up in bed, reach for your nightstand and grab your dream journal. Record what you remember from the night’s mental musings. By making a practice of writing your dreams, you are telling your subconscious that what you dream is important. It will also help you gain a better understanding of what types of dreams you have and if you are having recurring dreams. A dream journal is an important tool for you to understand your dreams and take control of the reins.

Set Your Intention

After you’ve let your mind unwind and relax, you can set your intention for your dreams. As you lie in bed, think about what you want your dream to be. Tell yourself what you want to dream about and add as many details as you can until you drift off to sleep. You can even record this in your dream journal each night before you go to bed so that you can track if you met your intention for the evening.

Practice Being Awake

Much of your work at controlling your dreams will happen during your waking hours. In addition to keeping a dream journal, preparing for sleeping and setting a dream intention, you should ask yourself at various point throughout the day if you are awake or if you are dreaming. This will allow you to observe the difference between the reality of being awake and the reality of your dreams.

Take Control

Many times people want to learn how to control their dreams as a defense mechanism against nightmares and anxiety dreams. The key to this is to recognize your nightmare, which are often recurring, and tell yourself that you know what’s happening. Reassure your sleeping self that you are in a dream and can’t get hurt. With practice, you’ll be able to recognize the dream, reassure yourself and eventually get yourself out of the nightmare and into a more pleasant dream.

Once you’ve mastered the art of turning a nightmare around, you can really start to have some fun. Try new activities in your dreams that aren’t possible in your waking life and experiment with the laws of physics. Once you can control your dreams, nothing is impossible.