How to Tame Your Dreams

If you suffer from vivid or intense dreams, you probably don't get a good night's sleep very often. In America, around 70 million people suffer from insomnia, and about 63 percent of adults do not get the recommended eight hours of sleep each night. Sleep deprivation is not only about losing sleep. People who are sleep-deprived have an increased risk of stroke, heart attack, obesity, depression, diabetes and hypertension. Learning how to tame your dreams is an important part of getting more sleep.

Instructions

• 1

  Relax. Each and every night prior to sleeping, make sure you are in a relaxed state. Do not attempt to go to sleep after playing a game or being on the computer. Also, if you were watching TV, take some time to unwind before drifting off into dreamland. Your body needs to prepare for sleep, so find a way that works for you to relax.

• 2

  Learn how to remember your dreams. Some people have an easy time trying to recall their dreams, while others don't remember anything. If you fall into the latter category, you can learn how to remember your dreams by immediately writing them down as soon as you wake up. Remembering your dreams helps you to analyze problems and fears that arise in your subconscious mind, allowing you to deal with them while awake.

• 3

  Teach your mind to recognize that you are dreaming. When you wake up from a dream, take yourself back to that dream immediately. Tell yourself that you want to remember that you are dreaming. Fall back to sleep with that intention.

• 4

  Change the outcome of your dream. When you learn that you are dreaming, you have the ability to change the outcome of the dream. Tell yourself that you are not in any immediate danger, and find a way to correct the bad dream. If you know you are dreaming, you can take control of the dream to make it less scary. For example, you can wake yourself up, or shut your eyes and erase the dream. With a little practice, you can even transport yourself from the frightening dream into a more enjoyable dream.

• 5

  Keep a journal near your bed. If you are unable to change the outcome of the dream on your own, when you wake up, write down everything you can remember about the dream. This usually works best on days when you don't need to use an alarm. Take the time to reconstruct your dream from the last part that you can remember.

• 6

  Compare the data. After you have a few days of recalling your dreams either by changing the outcome or writing in a journal, compare your dreams. Discover the common themes or adventures. Dreams usually have many hidden thoughts or worries. When you compare them, find out what the metaphorical meaning of the dream may be. After you learn what the meaning is, you will be able to solve the real-life outcome.