Mois : mai 2012

How to prevent lucid dreams

Posted on by bridget

Many people strive to experience lucid dreams. However, the ability to have intense sensations during vivid dreams that feel real can be frightening. You may wish to avoid lucid dreams if they are scary or make you feel uncomfortable and play on your mind. There are ways to lessen the appearance of lucid dreams and secure restful, peaceful nights.

Sleep on your side

Have you noticed that most of the time you experience lucid dreaming you are sleeping on your back? Lucid dreaming is often accompanied by an OBE, or out of body experience. When having an OBE you may feel you are floating, flying, or traveling while no longer in your body. While this is exciting to some people, others may find it terrifying, and even if you do not experience a full-blown OBE, lucid dreaming and an out of body state while sleeping seem to have a connection. If you stop sleeping on your back and rest on your side, you are less likely to experience either phenomena.

If you also experience sleep paralysis along with lucid dreaming, and this is making you feel afraid, learn how to become calm while in this state. When you feel you are awake but cannot move after a lucid dream, remind yourself this stage will pass, as it always does, and no harm can come to you. Relax, and accept the paralysis, rather than panicking and it will fade. Losing fear of the terror produced by sleep paralysis will help you sleep better as your stress levels fall, and you are more likely to kick the experience of lucid dreaming faster.

Develop a regular sleep pattern

Lucid dreamers often have bad nights. Their body clocks may be up the creek, leading them to frequently wake up and go back to sleep numerous times . REM sleep, otherwise known as the stage of sleep when rapid eye movement occurs and dreams are experienced, is generally forgotten by people who do not wake during or just after it. Making sure you get a decent night’s sleep will help you stop having lucid dreams, or at least remembering them upon waking and worrying about them.

Reset your body clock by going to bed at a particular time and getting up at a certain time in the morning repeatedly, and unfaltering. It may take perseverance to change your body and brain timing back to normal, but it should help stop you having lucid dreams if you develop a regular sleeping pattern.

Avoid alcohol and caffeine

Some people feel certain foods or drinks affect whether they have lucid dreams or not. Indeed, caffeine or alcohol consumption can mess with your sleep pattern, causing you to wake frequently in the night. Avoiding them hours before bedtime may help you reduce lucid dreaming.

You can help prevent lucid dreams by getting a good night’s rest regularly. By developing a good sleeping pattern, staying caffeine and alcohol free as nighttime approaches, and sleeping on your side, you are likely to have less lucid dreams.

How to deal with night terrors

Posted on by bridget

Night terrors are often thought of as a condition that only affects children, however, a surprising amount of adults also suffer from them, but this is rarely talked about and the problem can go undiagnosed. The condition results in aggravated sleep accompanied by violent physical movements and unaccountable fear, and the cause can be very difficult to pin down.

Some people believe there is a psychological cause, and night terrors arise from deep-seated anxieties and concerns that have not been uncovered and dealt with. If this is the case then sessions with a psychotherapist or counselor may help some individuals alleviate the problem. Unfortunately, many sufferers will tell you that they have tried various therapies and been to their doctor, but nothing seems to have helped them.

When night terrors are accompanied by physical movements it would seem that the sleeper is somewhere in a veiled half world between reality and another, much darker place. If you have ever witnessed night terrors then you will have noticed that the dreamer seems to be wrestling with an enemy and the affect is truly frightening to experience and witness.

This event tends to happen before a dreamer reaches the deepest, rapid eye movement stage of sleep. If they can be awakened before this time then the terrors can sometimes be prevented. This can be a very difficult process and hard to achieve as many dreamers do not follow a definite pattern. It also involves someone else staying awake to watch for signs and is not very practical.

As with sleepwalkers, it is not a good plan to try to forcibly wake someone who is experiencing night terrors. They will be difficult to awaken and may cause damage to themselves or the person attempting to help them.

Playing gentle brainwave music is a better alternative and it can, in some cases, alter brain chemicals being released to a certain extent. This idea is still being explored and may not be the absolute answer to the problem. Nevertheless, with the harshness of the condition in mind, anything is worth trying to alleviate this terrible condition.

Both adults and children need emotional support and comforting to reassure them when they finally wake up so that they know all is well.

If you have a sleeping partner who suffers from night terrors it is a good idea to slip out of bed and into another bedroom after the initial stages of the condition take place. Arms and legs hitting out can be painful for the sleeper lying next to the dreamer.

If you want to try brainwave music, it is available from music shops in CD form and the Internet to download to play on your personal computer or iPhone.

How to cope with a nervous breakdown

Posted on by bridget

Dealing with a nervous breakdown can be difficult when you’re in the midst of it, especially if you’re unaware of possible causes, outcomes and ways of coping. Usually, when we speak of the term ‘breakdown’, we’re referring to an object such as a car or computer. In a way, a nervous breakdown has similarities, as it involves an overload of information, a level of psychological malfunction, and a lack of information required for self-repair.

Symptoms of a nervous breakdown can vary from a gradual inability to function normally during everyday life, to a dramatic event such as a panic attack, hearing voices or unprovoked angry outbursts.

For many people the first signs of a nervous breakdown are an inability to follow regular sleeping patterns, physical and mental exhaustion, withdrawal from usual activities and feelings of anxiety. Other symptoms can involve flashbacks to a particular stressful event, depression, and constant thoughts about death and suicide.

Sufferers may develop a dependency on drugs and alcohol as a means of attempting to ease symptoms, although this will not help and is likely to cause further complications.

A sufferer may deny the existence of a nervous breakdown for some time. This is partly because its onset can be so gradual that symptoms are mistaken for life just being tiring and sad, and partly because there is a social stigma attached to mental health problems and people don’t like to imagine they may have them.

To deal with a nervous breakdown it is necessary to establish its cause. If, for example, a breakdown occurs due to the pressure of an unbearable workload or a demanding emotional life, such burdens need to be lifted.

Adjusting the situation so an individual feels they only have a workload and emotional issues they can manage adequately can help remove part of the pressure that is pushing them over the edge.

At other times, a nervous breakdown may be due to a major negative life change such as an unwanted divorce or redundancy. In this case, a sufferer could benefit from counselling so that they can discuss feelings of loss and fears, alongside learning self-esteem boosting exercises.

Nervous breakdowns often stem from a trigger in a suffers life. This occurs when they are already predisposed to mental ill health. There may have been no warning of this predisposition if they have never been pushed to their emotional limit before.

A trigger may be anything from a life-changing event to an event that reminds them of a past trauma and acts to bring back past fears and worries. If this happens a doctor can give them medication to help them through the worst period of upset, and counselling can help to lessen anxiety from the past.

Studies have shown a lack of vitamin B6, niacin, can also be responsible for psychological breakdown. People need certain vitamins in order to maintain good mental health. When lacking them their brain functioning can become impaired.

Sufferers of a breakdown need to be sure they have a balanced diet including B vitamins, vitamins E, D, C and A. Kelp, brewers yeast and bonemeal tablets can help also.

It is important for sufferers to have adequate emotional support from friends and family during this time too. The resulting depression caused by a nervous breakdown can make them less socially active, which lessens their ability to receive the support they need.

Reaching out to others can be hard for sufferers, especially when they are withdrawn and less confident. Scheduling time to be around other people is an important part of rehabilitation, so it can be positive for sufferers to let others know they need encouragement to remain socially active.