Reasons Behind Nightmares: How to Control and Eliminate Them

When it comes to nightmares, they’re a universal human experience, and they’re nothing short of a disaster. Vivid dream scenarios can evoke fear and anxiety, making us dread the prospect of reliving such nightmarish experiences. Today, we’re going to delve into the art of nightmare control. Yes, you heard that right – control, not just elimination.

You might find this logic a bit strange, but understanding how to control nightmares is the first step toward banishing them entirely. It’s an unconventional approach to a pressing issue, but it has its merits.

Let’s get started.

The Universality of Dreams

Every human being, regardless of their race, geographical location, gender, or age, experiences dreams daily. Dreams are not exclusive to humans; animals also dream. However, scientists have found that while animal dreams are in black and white, human dreams are in color. Dreams have become an essential part of everyone’s life, and there’s no escaping them.

But you might wonder, do people exist who never dream? The answer is yes – they’re the deceased. Human dreams are more intricate and abstract, reflecting our unique life experiences and advanced brain functions. They often convey hidden meanings through bizarre and surreal imagery, including both pleasant dreams and, of course, nightmares.

The causes of nightmares are complex and have been extensively studied by scientists in fields such as psychology, physiology, nutrition, pharmacology, and medicine. They aim to pinpoint the root causes of nightmares. While these explanations can be quite intricate, let’s not delve too deep into the scientific complexities. Instead, I’ll provide practical ways to control nightmares.

We all want to experience pleasant dreams, like those elusive and indescribable dreams many desire. However, pleasant dreams can be challenging to control. Nightmares, on the other hand, are more malleable. If you have someone you dislike, try sharing this nightmare-inducing method with them – it tends to work like a charm.

So, how do you control nightmares? The method is surprisingly simple, and you’ll likely relate to it instantly.

The Technique to Control Nightmares

Here’s the key technique: Place your hand on your chest or abdomen when you sleep.

Don’t believe it? Try it for yourself. When you wake up from a nightmare, check the position of your hand. Test the effectiveness of this method and, if you dare, recommend it to someone you’d like to see tossing and turning all night.

But why does placing your hand on your chest or abdomen relate to nightmares? The answer lies in a profound connection between our subconscious mind, ancient human history, and our instincts.

Let’s first discuss the role of the subconscious. Why is it relevant?

Every individual comprises two “selves” – one is the conscious self, and the other is the subconscious self. During the day, our conscious self takes the lead, but when we sleep, our subconscious self takes control. While both “selves” coexist, the subconscious is more dominant during sleep. This coexistence is a crucial aspect of understanding why nightmares occur.

In simpler terms, your conscious self sleeps, but your subconscious self remains awake. The subconscious has a heightened perception of our surroundings compared to the conscious mind. This is why we fear sleeping alone after a breakup, as our subconscious magnifies our pain.

You might have experienced this phenomenon – during the day, you cope with your breakup just fine, thinking, “I’m better off without them. I’m gorgeous; I’ll find a better partner.” But at night, while you sleep, the pain you didn’t feel during the day suddenly emerges in your dreams.

The subconscious activates all sensory organs and amplifies these sensations, so when facing intense pain, like heartbreak or the loss of a loved one, what seemed manageable during the day becomes unbearable in your dreams.

Now, let’s dig deeper and ask why. Why does the subconscious amplify these sensations?

Here’s the answer: the subconscious has a stronger memory of pain than of pleasure. This fact is crucial.

Within the subconscious, there’s also a collective subconscious. What’s that, you ask? Let’s consider an example.

Back in our tribal days, if a fellow tribesperson got bitten by a snake, their extreme agony and the horrific sight of their wound were witnessed by all. The collective subconscious wasn’t initially developed; it was like a blank slate. However, a significant event imprinted a lasting memory into it. This imprint was the most profound experience related to the subconscious.

So, when others in the tribe encountered snakes, they instinctively stayed far away. These tribal members’ descendants inherited this fear through generations, even if they’d never been bitten by a snake or seen one. As soon as they encountered or heard about a snake, they felt fear. This is the power of the collective subconscious, and it spreads widely, much like the air we breathe.

Now that we understand this basic principle, let’s explore why placing your hand on your chest and abdomen leads to nightmares.

The Secrets Behind Nightmares

The reason why humans have survived and evolved to our current state lies in the accumulation of ancestral survival experiences. These experiences, passed down through generations, have become our primal database of survival knowledge.

This database undoubtedly contains memories of death and suffering, and these memories are exceptionally vivid. This instinctual knowledge is crucial to human survival, and most of it points to one critical area of the body – the chest and abdomen.

In other words, in the collective subconscious, the majority of intense pain and death experiences are associated with injuries to the chest and abdomen.

Why, you might ask? Consider this: the pain from limb injuries is less severe than the excruciating pain and high fatality rate associated with injuries to the internal organs. This is the root of nightmares.

When you sleep with your hand on your chest or abdomen, you inevitably apply pressure to your body cavity. This pressure mirrors the sensations of pain experienced in the collective human history due to chest and abdominal injuries. As mentioned earlier, the subconscious magnifies these sensations, triggering fear associated with past injuries.

You might wonder why you don’t always have nightmares when your hand is on your chest or abdomen. This can be attributed to factors like body fat, among others. If the pressure on your internal organs is minimal, the impact might not be sufficient to induce nightmares.

Does placing your hand on your head induce nightmares? No, it doesn’t.

The cranial cavity is distinct from the chest and abdominal cavities. It doesn’t deform as easily under pressure, and therefore, it doesn’t trigger the subconscious’s alertness to the same extent.

Furthermore, in humanity’s ancestral survival experiences, injuries to the head didn’t induce intense pain or prolonged suffering. The subconscious doesn’t have time to react with fear to this type of pain. Hence, placing your hand on your head doesn’t easily provoke nightmares.

In real life, when is it common for hands to be placed on the chest and abdomen? Western traditions often involve placing the deceased’s hands on these areas during funerals. They do this because the departed are beyond the reach of nightmares.

Now that we’ve uncovered the source of nightmares, let’s discuss how to eliminate them.

The Method to Eliminate Nightmares

The key to eliminating nightmares is to avoid placing your hand on your chest or abdomen.

But how do you prevent your hand from ending up in this position during sleep? Solving this issue is the ultimate solution to banishing nightmares.

Our ancestors devised a brilliant solution to this problem, commemorating it with an idiom: “sleeping soundly with a high pillow”. Why is the excellent solution for nightmares?

Lying on your side naturally prevents your hand from sliding under your chest or abdomen, thanks to gravity. However, side sleeping introduces a gap between your shoulder and head, which, if not addressed, can lead to waking up with a stiff neck.

Our ancestors were clever, so they came up with a solution: the high pillow, as mentioned in the idiom. Sleeping on your side is an effective way to prevent nightmares because it naturally eliminates the possibility of your hand ending up where it shouldn’t.

Additionally, here’s a tip: if you want to experience nightmares, watch a horror movie before bed.

This is common knowledge; the subconscious is highly sensitive to fear and pain. If you watch a horror film and then place your hand on your chest or abdomen, the chances of experiencing nightmares increase significantly.

So there you have it – the methods and principles behind controlling and eliminating nightmares. Have you learned the art of it? Try these techniques and sleep peacefully without fear of the night. Sweet dreams!