Tips for Preventing Nightmares so You can get a Good Night Sleep

October - thanks to Halloween it’s the month where we are all a little more prone to a nightmare or two. Fear not, there are things that you can do to prevent a bad dream and get a good night’s sleep.

With Halloween just around the corner, this blog post could not have come at a better time; whether it’s your children having a restless sleep or yourself, these tips will work for you all.

Avoid Certain Foods

Avoid foods that you know cause you indigestion; this may cause you to stir in your sleep meaning you’ll be more susceptible to having a nightmare.

Common foods to avoid before sleep are any cheese, large amounts of dairy and spicy foods. But, there may be something more specific to you that you need to watch out for before bed.

So, the old wives tales of cheese giving you nightmares may actually have some truth in them after all!

You want to avoid anything that could interrupt your sleep like caffeine and sugar as well. Yes, we’re afraid that means that the Halloween treats will have to go away at night, if not you could be in for a trick.

Turn the Scary Movies Off

It may seem obvious, but scary movies, books or even conversations can disrupt your sleep and give you a few frightful dreams.

If you insist on watching a horror film or reading a ghost story before bed, take a few moments to reprogram your brain before sleeping by thinking of your happy place or happy thoughts. This will help to prevent those pesky dreams.

If you can, we would recommend avoiding this genre completely in the evenings, but we know that this may be especially hard as Halloween is approaching.

Spray Away the Monsters

Your brain reacts to smells heavily in your sleep, that means that if you’re smelling something you don’t like or that your brain doesn’t associate with soothing you could be in for a scare or two.

To combat this, you can use lavender pillow spray; this is available in all local pharmacies or health shops – you can even make your own!

Not only will the lavender help you drift off to sleep, but it will also help you to stay asleep with no stirs or monsters disturbing you.

If it’s your children having the nightmares, you could call the spray your “monster repellent” – this way they’ll be more than happy to have their pillows dowsed in the soothing scent.

Stick to your Routine

It may be tempting to stay up late as the nights draw in and the season gets spookier, but sticking to your routine and heading to bed earlier will stop those bad dreams from haunting your sleep.

If you don’t already have a good night routine in place now may be the time to start one. Who knows - your sleep may get dramatically better and all of those pesky bad dreams will stop.

Getting yourself into a good routine will mean that your body will know it’s time to sleep and overall getting up in the mornings will be a whole lot easier!

So, whether you’re trying to stop having bad dreams or you want to keep the ghosts and ghouls at bay, get into a good bedtime routine.