THE HEALING POWER OF DREAMS
There are more benefits to shut-eye than simply sleeping. ‘Research shows that dreaming is essential for holistic wellbeing,’ says Theresa Cheung, author of The Dream Cure: How Recalling Your Dreams Can Heal Your Life (£16.99, Thorsons). ‘According to a study, clear dream recall had a significantly positive impact on next-day memory consolidation and emotion regulation.’
Not only that, if you have enough REM (rapid eye movement) state of sleep you’ll wake up refreshed and alert, adds Theresa. ‘The REM stage is when most dreams happen and it’s associated with better mental health and a stronger immune system.’ Then there’s lucid dreaming – knowing you’re dreaming when you’re dreaming. As well as alleviating anxiety and boosting creativity, it can be effective at healing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Follow Theresa’s guide to lucid dreaming…
1 Keep a dream journal. The more you write down your dreams on waking – and ponder their meaning – the more likely it is that you’ll lucid dream. 2 Perform reality checks during the day. When you send a text, open a door, or some other routine task, ask if you’re awake or dreaming. If you do this enough, you’ll find yourself doing it in dreams.
3 Before sleeping, tell yourself that you’re going to dream – you’ll then know you’re dreaming when you dream. 4 Visualising or daydreaming is a rehearsal for lucid dreaming. Also read fiction or poetry, or listen to music that gives you goosebumps. 5 On weekends or days when you don’t have to work, drive or operate machinery, try the Wake Back to Bed (WBTB) technique. Set your alarm to wake you a couple of hours before your wake-up time – when the alarm goes off, stay awake for around 20 mins, do some journaling or light reading, then go back to bed. This helps you enter the rapid eye REM sleep stage faster, which is where most lucid dreams occur.