Scary dream: how to forget and stop worrying

Why is a child afraid?

Fear and anxiety are natural emotional reactions. As your baby gets older, he will develop new fears. What are the most popular reasons for the fear of sleeping alone?

Treatment to overcome fear of sleep phobia

Such people may exhibit one of the following symptoms. Daytime fatigue and sleepiness Irritability, mood swings Inability to concentrate - hampered work productivity. Tendency to fall frequently, have low energy levels, etc. . It can be a debilitating disease that seriously affects the professional and personal life of the sufferer. Many mental health forums are known to help people overcome their fear of sleep phobia. These online groups, as well as offline support groups, allow people to share their experiences and contribute ideas or remedies that have helped them overcome their sleep phobia.

Fear of changes in life
. For young children, this could be a new crib, moving to a nursery, waiting for guests or a long trip. For older children - excitement before entering school, before an exam, or leaving the parental home. Again, any painful condition can provoke a fear of falling asleep.
Fear of fairy tales and characters invented by the child
. The fairy tale teaches a lot, but at times it becomes a reason for fear. You should not scare your child with Barmaley and Baba Yaga. Children are really afraid of them, and take quiet rustles or the moving of a curtain for the appearance of monsters.
Overexcitement
. It’s not for nothing that grandmothers say “don’t let your child walk around before bedtime.” Too much activity an hour before bed can result in a sleepless night for the whole family.

Regardless of why the baby is afraid to sleep alone, in most cases, it is up to the parents to make the child’s sleep stronger and the nights more peaceful.

Relaxing mantras and chanting “Om” before bed are known to help you relax and fall asleep. Meditation and Yoga, as well as other mind-body techniques such as Tai Chi and Qigong, are powerful tools for overcoming Somniphobia. Many somniphobic people have also found relief by practicing deep breathing. Therapists also encourage the phobic to write down their rational and irrational thoughts about the sleeper, which slowly allows them to enjoy the physical relaxation that sleep brings. Overtime begins to take advantage of the sleep process by practicing these methods.

Expert I am a Parent, child psychologist Nikolai Lukin talks about the causes of children's fears.

Give your child more attention during the day

A child who receives enough attention and physical contact during the day feels calmer at night. He doesn’t have to wait until he goes to bed to receive parental love for the only time in the form of. The fear of falling asleep for parents is a signal to spend more time with the baby: play, walk, develop his talents.

Talk therapy, hypnotherapy, gradual desensitization and psychotherapy are other useful and effective ways to overcome sleep fears. It is known that many children and adults suffer from fear of the dark or night phobia. Several non-clinical terms are used to describe this phobia: nyctophobia, scotophobia, lygophobia, and aflophobia.

Doctor Komarovsky: what rituals should be performed with a child before bedtime - video

It is common for children to have an irrational fear of the dark; their brains perceive scary images of “what will happen” when the lights go out. However, it is also common to see adults suffering from aphlophobia. This condition can greatly affect the daily life of the sufferer mainly because the individual tends to be depressed, anxious or highly stressed all the time. Sufferers often refuse to go outside after dark or sleep alone. Family and loved ones can also suffer due to their nyctophobia.

Choose a bedtime routine

About an hour before bedtime, you need to finish all active and outdoor games. Daily rituals will help your child get into a routine. If at exactly eight in the evening he goes to the shower, drinks a cup of kefir, then brushes his teeth, listens to a fairy tale, kisses his mother, wishes her “good night”, then he will perceive turning off the lights and his mother leaving for the kitchen as a reason to turn on his side and close his eyes . When there is no time left for long rituals, you can shorten them, for example, to changing into pajamas, covering with a blanket and gently whispering in your ear.

Causes of fear of darkness phobias

As a child, you could be left in the dark as punishment. Siblings and friends may also be responsible for instilling a fear of darkness. Domestic violence, childhood sexual abuse, car accidents, and other devastating or traumatic events can also leave a child confused, scared, and anxious. Teenagers and young children are known to react strongly to such events. One response to such incidents may be a constant fear of the night or darkness when events may occur.

Turn on the night light

Do not force your children to sleep in the dark. If your baby is afraid to sleep with the lights off and there is no night light, turn on the lighting in the hallway or adjacent rooms. Children gradually get used to the dark.

Get something that symbolizes safety

It’s always more peaceful to sleep with your favorite toy or even your mother’s sweater. And if you whisper magic words to the toy, it will become the most important “keeper of a restful sleep” for a long time. Magic words can be invented and spoken together, or they can be kept secret to add the magic that children love so much to the bedtime ritual.

Most childhood fears go away as a person grows and matures. However, in some cases, aphlophobia can persist into adulthood. Such people tend to continue to remember these past events, which they associate with darkness. Preschoolers may resort to thumb sucking or wetting the bed due to their fear of the night or phobia of the dark.

Often the sleeping and eating habits of children and adults can change due to this fear of darkness phobia. They may experience physical symptoms like. Gasps and pains Rapid shallow breathing Heart palpitations Trembling and trembling Chest pain or feeling of suffocation Nausea and other gastrointestinal disorders Crying, screaming Decreased appetite or, conversely, overeating or drinking. Psychological symptoms of fear of darkness include.

Talk in the next room

Little cowards feel calmer when they hear their mother's voice. If you leave the nursery door ajar and talk calmly, your child will fall asleep faster. Of course, you shouldn’t sort things out loudly when your baby can hear you, but you also don’t need to make the whole house quiet. Silence frightens children; it is very easy to discover new fears in it.

Fear of being attacked by "boogeymen", ghosts and monsters; Check and double-check under the bed or in closets.

Refusing to sleep alone or refusing to leave the house after sunset.
Trying to stay awake all night, waking up several times.
Feeling of fear, feeling like running away at the thought of darkness.

The fear of darkness phobia can affect the quality of your sleep.
Adults may begin to exhibit a lack of productivity at work. Consequently, depression and other mental and physical disorders are common in individuals with nicophobes. All this can negatively affect the quality of life. Adults suffering from aflophobia often realize that their fear is irrational. However, they feel powerless to overcome this and fear the coming of night throughout the day. Fortunately, there is hope and many treatments can help overcome this phobia. Professional therapists can help you understand your fear of the dark, as can hypnotherapy.

An aquarium or a cage with birds has the same effect: at night the child hears the same sounds as during the day and calms down.

Pay attention to the nursery interior

Each person has his own bed: this needs to be explained to the child before moving him to a separate room. The crib “grows” with the child. And, if earlier she could stand in the parent’s bedroom, now she “lives” in the baby’s personal room.

Apart from this, you can also consider self-help methods. These include gradually exposing oneself to the object of fear and recording irrational thoughts and changing them to rational ones. Meditation and positive visualization are other expert-recommended self-help techniques for overcoming Nyctophobia.

All of this helps a person cope with their anxious response when faced with a stimulus, in this case darkness or night. Medicines and drugs can also be taken to calm anxiety and reduce depression. Many children experience nightmares and night terrors, but most grow out of them. They do not cause any long-term psychological harm to your child.

In a nursery, everything should be different from an adult’s room. Favorite fairy-tale characters, delicate and bright colors, toys, soft carpeting create comfort and a desire to be in the room more often. The child will feel more comfortable falling asleep in “his own” space.

Children are often frightened by the emptiness under the bed. It's better to put boxes with toys there.

When a child is afraid to fall asleep, he runs to his mother. First you need to hug him, calm him down, and then gently but persistently take him to his crib. It is important to let him know that you are nearby, hear everything, and will come to the rescue at any time.

Night terrors are very different from nightmares. A child who has night terrors may scream and shake, and may not recognize you if you try to calm them down. This behavior occurs when suddenly awakening from a deep sleep without sleep. Your child will not be fully awake during these episodes and will not remember it the next morning.

Nightmares come from the dream of a dream. Your child may wake up from a nightmare and, depending on their age, may remember and describe the bad dream to you. Both night terrors and nightmares in children are described in more detail below, along with tips on what you should do.

Repeat the shortest version of the bedtime ritual.

Fears and concerns are emotions that are born in our subconscious. Fears are needed in order to protect us from possible danger; they were once “developed” by nature as a main priority for survival. Therefore, we can say that this feeling is given to us for our own benefit. The problem arises when fear becomes irrational, and a person begins to fear even where he should not.

Night terrors are common in children between the ages of three and eight. A child who experiences night terrors may scream, scream and shake in extreme panic, and may even jump out of bed. Their eyes will be open, but they will not be fully awake.

Episodes usually occur early in the night, last several minutes, and sometimes occur more than once during the night. Night terrors are more common in children with a family history of night terrors or sleepwalking. A night terrorist attack may be caused by...

Increases how deep your baby's sleep is, such as fatigue, fever, or certain types of medications, making your baby more afraid of waking up from deep sleep, such as excitement, restlessness, a sudden noise, or a full bladder. The best thing to do if your child is having a night terror episode is to remain calm and wait until they calm down. Don't interfere or interact with them unless they are safe.

Fear of the dark - also called achluophobia - is one such irrational fear. A person suffering from achluophobia believes that some unknown evil can harm him once he remains in a dark place. This fear can affect him to such an extent that he will not only be unable to enter a dark room, but will not even be able to fall asleep if the lights are off in the bedroom. How can such people stop being afraid of the dark and is it even possible to overcome achluophobia?

The night of horrors may be frightening to witness, but they did not harm your child. Do not try to wake your child when he is having an episode. They may not recognize you and may become more agitated if you try to calm them down.

After the episode ends, you can wake your baby. If necessary, ask them to use the toilet before going back to sleep. If your baby quickly returns to deep sleep, they may be having another episode. Making sure they are fully awake before they go back to sleep can disrupt this cycle.

Well, very scary, a bedtime story, after which you won’t wake up to sleep until the morning.

A short and terribly scary bedtime story, which is perfect for reading before bed.

Bury yourself in a warm blanket and tuck your feet under you, turn on your laptop, and get ready to read something very scary.

Creepy stories and a scary bedtime story are waiting for you.

Short and long, but after them you definitely won’t fall asleep.

Enjoy reading!

A joke that backfired.

A scary story about a man who loved to play pranks on his friends and family.

It gave him incomparable pleasure. But one day, his joke turned into a very scary fairy tale.

Late in the evening, the man was returning home from work. He drove his car along the city streets, trying to take a shortcut and avoid traffic jams. The sky was black and rain poured down from it like a bucket.

Having driven into another alley, in an attempt to make the path shorter, the car's headlights illuminated a garbage can, from which parts of a store mannequin were sticking out.

The man slammed on the brakes and got out of the car, a plan for a new joke beginning to take shape in his head.

He walked over to the tank and began to pull out parts of the mannequin, examining them.

It wasn't very visible, but the light from the headlights was enough to understand that the mannequin was in good condition.

A little strange smile of the mannequin, and a few scratches on the plastic arms and legs, but everything is in perfect order.

The man nodded his head and opened the trunk of the car.

At dinner, he couldn't wait until night to bring his best joke to life, so he thought at that time.

At night, he quietly got out of bed, trying not to disturb his sleeping wife, quietly left the room and went down to the garage.

Half an hour later, he assembled the dummy. Looking around, the man saw his old fishing raincoat, which he threw over the mannequin. It turned out to be a strange man in a long cloak,

In the man’s head, he already had a picture of how he would laugh when his ten-year-old son discovered his joke at his bedside.

Yes, it will be fun!

Picking up his craft, he went up to the second floor of the house and quietly opened the door to his son’s room.

He saw the sleeping boy and smiled at his thoughts, wishing morning would come sooner.

The man placed the mannequin so that it hung over the sleeping person, according to his idea, this would give a greater effect.

The hockey mask hanging on the wall caught my eye, the man’s lips stretched into an even bigger smile - this is what we need!

He tore the mask off the wall and put it on the mannequin.

Stepping aside, he critically examined his creation. Something was missing, but what? And then insight washed over him, he realized what his mannequin was missing.

He ran down to the kitchen and grabbed a healthy kitchen knife.

Taping it to the mannequin's hand, he nodded in satisfaction and quietly left the room.

He and his wife were sitting in the kitchen having breakfast when his wife asked:

- Please go to your son, it’s high time for him to get up, but he’s still sleeping. So you can be late for school.

See also: 10 scary comics from a Taiwanese author who squeezes the last chills out of readers

The man got up from the table and went to his son’s room, anticipating what a scream and squeal would now be, he opened the door to his son’s room with a smile and froze with an expression of horror on his face.

His ten-year-old son was lying in bed with a kitchen knife in his chest!

The window in the room was open, and on the floor, where he had placed the mannequin, lay his old fisherman's raincoat.

White mice - a very scary bedtime story

If you are very impressionable, then we strongly recommend closing our site, since the following scary short story may affect your psyche.

A scary bedtime story in which a guy married a girl, but he had no idea what would happen next...

The guy's name was Sebastian, and he lived in the suburbs of Paris. Sebastian met his wife Sabina at the club.

He never believed in love at first sight, but that evening...

Sebastian had already had a couple of drinks to relax a little after a long work week, and was now sitting on a high bar stool, his back leaning against the bar counter.

His gaze slid across the dance floor, Sebastian himself didn’t dance very well, but he watched with pleasure how others moved, but he only looked at one girl.

Her flexible, slow movements, accompanied by the same slow music, were simply mesmerizing.

One movement flowed into another and she did it so naturally that it seemed as if she had no bones at all.

That evening they met.

And a month later, he proposed to her, although his friends said that he was in a hurry, and he should have taken a closer look at each other, but the love fog in Sebastian’s head did not allow him to take his friends’ advice soberly.

As a result, the wedding took place and for the first month they lived in perfect harmony. But then their relationship began to change.

Sabina began pestering her more and more often with questions about the children.

Sebastian replied that their financial situation was very precarious and they needed to get on their feet more firmly and then have children.

This infuriated Sabina, and she became more and more hot-tempered every day. The closer summer got, the more restless she behaved.

In her speech, hissing letters often began to slip through, which began to irritate Sebastian; it always seemed to him that she hissed when she was angry.

Sebastian tried not to pay attention to these quirks, he loved her too much.

At the beginning of summer, when the sun began to get hot, they were driving past a pet store, and Sabina asked to stop.

- Look, dear, what mice, we need to buy them urgently. Just imagine how our children will play with them.

“But Sabina…” Sebastian would like to object, but his wife was already inside the store.

He had no choice but to pay for the purchase of 18 white mice.

He didn’t even think about why she bought all the mice that were in the store, considering it another quirk of his wife.

How to treat fear of the dark

As we have already said, achluophobia is an irrational fear. Every person has at one time or another been afraid of being in the dark. But usually this is caused by a specific reason, and after it is eliminated, the fear of being in the dark goes away. When fear invariably returns again and again without any apparent reason, we can talk about its irrationality. A person suffering from achluophobia simply runs away from his fears, and that is why they remain and continue to haunt him. Agree - if you are afraid, but do not even try to change anything in the current situation, but simply begin to avoid what causes emotional stress, then the fear will never go away.

Your child won't remember the episode the next morning, but they can still help in a general chat to see if anything is bothering them and triggering the episodes. It will also help if they have a relaxing sleep routine. discuss the episodes with your child in a way that concerns them, as this may increase their anxiety.

If night terror episodes are frequent and occur at a certain time each night, you may find that waking your child breaks the cycle. Wake your child 15 minutes before the expected time of the episode every night for seven days. This may disrupt their sleep patterns enough to stop the episodes without affecting their sleep quality.

There are various treatments for the most persistent and severe forms of this phobia. One of them is exposure therapy, when the patient, under the supervision of specialists, is again and again immersed in a situation that causes him fear, until he is convinced that there is nothing threatening to his life in it. If the patient is too frightened to receive direct contact with the frightening situation, then systematic desensitization can be used, a method of therapy that can help treat anxiety and phobias without directly involving the source of fear.

Most children end up growing up with night terrors. For example, large tonsils can cause breathing problems at night and wake your baby. In a small number of children who have frequent episodes of night terrors, referral to a specialist service may be required.

Nightmares are common in children between three and six years of age. Most children grow out of them. Nightmares usually occur later at night and cause intense feelings of terror, fear, distress, or anxiety. Your child may wake up and be able to remember and describe the dream to you.

With systematic desensitization, the situation you are afraid of must be taken to a slightly different level. For example, if the patient is afraid to stay in a dark room, then he is offered to be in the dark not alone, but with someone. Then he remains alone in the same room, while the second person is in the next room, while the door remains open. Then the patient is left completely alone in a dark room with the door open, then with the door closed, and so on.

Nightmares in children can be caused by a frightening experience, such as watching a scary movie or something that worries them. Talk to your child to find out if there is anything bothering them that may be causing their nightmares. As with night terrors, make sure your child has a relaxing bedtime routine.

If your child's nightmares are caused by stressful past experiences, they may need counseling. Nightmares and night terrors are usually associated with children, but sometimes they can also affect adults. Night terrors in children are no joke, and if you've ever experienced one yourself, you know there's a huge difference between the terror and your average nightmare. As a parent, this has to be one of the worst things to watch your child, especially since horror stories can be so unpredictable and scary.

Once you have divided your fears into several levels, you should try to experience each of them while controlling your emotions. If you manage to pass a certain level feeling relaxed, then you should move on to the next one; and so on until you manage to go through them all.

Finally, cognitive behavioral therapy can help you overcome your fear of the dark. Agree, every fear is anticipated by the thought “I’m afraid of this!” And since our emotions are caused by thoughts and are in some sense our beliefs, it is changing certain beliefs that can prevent the unwanted emotions that they cause. This also applies to the fear of the dark. After changing your ideas about the dark, you will no longer be afraid to stay in unlit places.

It's easier to stay calm when your little one is having a night terror, however, if you know what to look for and how to react when they wake up, inconsolable, in the middle of the night. Night terrors can occur at any age, but young children seem to suffer from them most often. In fact, up to 15 percent of children are reported to experience at least one night terror, says Dr. Markham. Scientists think night terrors may be caused by overstimulation of the central nervous system, which regulates brain activity.

Most children outgrow them, perhaps as their brains mature, although some adults report suffering from stress at night. This suggests that stress can also cause night terrors in little ones. Markham notes that researchers at Stanford have suggested that there is a link between sleep apnea and night terrors, so it's always a good idea to have your pediatrician test your child for sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can make it difficult for children to get enough sleep and there are signs that excessive fatigue as well as stress can cause night terrors in people who are prone to them.

Scientists have discovered why you can fall asleep and not wake up

Scientists have managed to unravel the causes of such phenomena as sudden, seemingly causeless cessation of breathing and death in a dream.
It turned out that there are many more such cases than are recorded by doctors. Especially among older people. They are usually diagnosed as simple cardiac arrest. Meanwhile, a study conducted by scientists from the University of California at Los Angeles made it possible to pinpoint the area of the brain and the small group of cells within it that commands the body to take a breath.

For their experiments, doctors injected rats with a special composition that killed half of these cells, and then observed the breathing of the animals. When they entered the active phase of sleep, during which people usually dream, they stopped breathing. And the subjects were able to restore their breathing only after they woke up. Over time, such disturbances became more severe and spread to other phases of sleep. Eventually, breathing stops began to occur while awake.

A rat's brain has only 600 such cells, while a human has several thousand. However, with age they are gradually lost. “Our brains can compensate for up to 60% of lost cells, but their deficiency ultimately disrupts breathing during sleep,” said study leader Professor Jack Feldman. Moreover, the body has no biological need to maintain a constant number of these cells throughout life. And therefore, older people, who have already lost the required amount, are more prone to shortness of breath during sleep. And this poses a great danger for them, since the heart and lungs are also weakened.

People with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, are also at risk of stopping breathing during sleep. They often experience difficulty breathing and, according to doctors, eventually reach a state from which they cannot recover on their own and awaken. Now scientists are going to examine the brains of already deceased patients with neurodegenerative diseases and determine whether they have damage in the area responsible for breathing.

As you know, such tragedies happen not only to the elderly, but also to infants who have not suffered from any diseases. Most cases occur between 2 and 4 months of age. Approximately 60% of those killed were boys. Perhaps the discovery of the Americans will shed light on these mysterious deaths.

How to deal with your fear of the dark on your own

The darkness that terrifies many small children is just as terrifying for some adults. While children usually outgrow their fears, approximately twenty-eight percent of adults still have some form of anxiety disorder, including fear of the dark. To get rid of this fear, you can take simple measures. After reading our tips, you will learn what you need to do to calm yourself down or help alleviate the suffering of someone close to you who is afraid of being in the dark. Work on your consciousness must be carried out slowly and systematically, and then you will be able to cope with this irrational fear. Go towards your goal step by step:

Determine the cause of your fear, and from now on try to avoid anything that can subsequently cause such a reaction in you. If, for example, your anxiety worsens after watching a scary movie, then stop watching such movies altogether so that images do not take root in your subconscious, provoking fantasy play and then attacks of fear in the dark.
If you are afraid to fall asleep, then before going to bed, look through photos that capture some happy moments of your life - for example, celebrating a birthday or a fun party with friends. This will push unpleasant thoughts out of your head.
When you go to bed, take several large pillows with you and place them around you. You will have the feeling that there is someone big, soft and warm next to you, whom you just want to hug, and you will not feel completely alone in bed. On the contrary, you will have a feeling of security.
Use the time when you are lying in bed, but not yet asleep, to exercise your imagination. Remember some interesting scene from a book or movie (just not scary ones!) and replay it in your mind, making yourself the main character. Imagine to the smallest detail how you are dressed, how you comb your hair and make-up, what you say, how you move, how your presence influences the course of events. If nothing interesting comes to mind, then just dream about something pleasant.
Don't go to bed with your head full of worries. Are you really unable to sleep because you are afraid of the monsters under your bed, or are you still unable to sleep because you are thinking about the problems that you will need to solve tomorrow? If the second reason is the cause of your anxiety, then proceed as follows: in the evening, make a list of tasks that need to be solved the next day, and then put it aside and forget about tomorrow’s affairs for that evening. The fact that you have drawn up an action plan for the coming day will calm you down, because the range of problems ceases to be blurry and uncertain and it becomes clear how they can be solved.
Listen to your favorite music before bed to help you calm down and relax. It is very good to fall asleep to special music for relaxation or to the sounds of nature.
Turn on a dim lamp at night if you still can’t relax in complete darkness. It would be better if it was a special night light. Bright light will prevent you from fully relaxing while sleeping.
If you have a pet, then the very fact of its presence can greatly calm you down. And it doesn’t matter who it is - a cat that can sleep in bed, clinging to your feet or warming your side, or a dog that is ready to defend its beloved owner every second; even the monotonous sound of a filter working in an aquarium or the rustle of a spinning wheel in a hamster’s house will relax and calm you down.
It will be better if you close the door in your bedroom at night. If you like it to still be open, then move the bed so that you can't see the dark hallway when you're lying in bed. You may not even notice this connection, but the darkening corridor behind the open door can prompt your subconscious to send a signal to your body: “Be afraid of the dark space, the enemy may hide there and attack!” - This is a very ancient subconscious reflex. Therefore, it is better not to provoke your imagination and close the door. As a last resort, you can install a second night light in the corridor.
Try talking to yourself when fear starts to overcome you. Convince yourself: this eerie rustling is just the rustling of leaves that move under the blows of a warm breeze; all living beings are now sleeping, comfortably nestled in soft beds or warm holes. When unclear shadows scare you, use logic and try to identify them, and not imagine that they are the silhouettes of monsters or ghosts. If you still cannot calm down, then place several books or some other heavy objects near you. Reassure yourself that if you are attacked, you can use these items to defend yourself.
If you hear an unclear noise under your windows, then, instead of thinking about intruders, then give full rein to your imagination, just think about something good! Imagine that these are magical gnomes moving on tiptoe around your house, trying to surprise you and decorate the walls with flowers and ribbons, or elves flying under the windows, guarding you and preserving your peace. They will never harm you! And remember that any sounds inside the house - for example, creaking floorboards or cabinet doors opening independently - are just the result of wood expanding or contracting due to changing temperature or humidity in the room.
Close your eyes when lying in bed. Most often, this is the best way to prevent yourself from focusing on strange shadows falling on the wall from a window or from objects illuminated by a night light. And if sounds interfere with your relaxation, then earplugs can help you, as they perfectly block external influences on your hearing.
If you do not live in your own house, but in an apartment, then you don’t need to worry about any sounds at all: they can all come from other people who are also in this building. The creaking of floorboards, muffled knocking, and the like can be heard at night simply because one of the neighbors cannot sleep and is probably walking around the room or doing something. You can also remind yourself when you suddenly feel scared that there are a lot of people around you, and if something happens, they will hear and come to your aid. Especially if you have good relations with your neighbors. In this case, you can even agree with them on a conditional signal that you will give them in case of danger so that they can help you.
Sometimes it is not the darkness itself that prevents you from falling asleep, but the feeling of isolation at night. This is why some people sleep with the TV or radio on, thereby creating the illusion of being among other people. But such sleep cannot be complete and give the brain the necessary rest. Try putting your mobile phone within reach - just for your own peace of mind, just in case. You can agree with someone close that you can call if you cannot sleep or wake up from fear, and this person will talk to you so that you calm down. Just, of course, you shouldn’t abuse other people’s patience. Although it is unlikely that you will need such night calls - most often the very thought that you can make this call in itself has a calming effect.
If you have particular difficulty falling asleep, create a special ritual for yourself that you will perform in the evening. It will be very good if you include meditation or special yoga exercises in this ritual that will prepare you for a restful sleep. Even something as simple as breathing evenly and deeply while listening to relaxing music can help clear your mind of any worries or worries. You must understand that the stress that accumulates during our daily activities can only increase the problems with your imagination, so it is necessary to get rid of it through these relaxation techniques.
Use common sense. Remember that monsters, ghosts and demons are not real! How many reliable cases do you know where it has been proven that people have encountered something similar? If such stories emerge, they are all based only on assumptions and not on concrete facts. Most often, such messages appear with only one purpose - to arouse general interest and get some benefit from it. So why could this happen to you not in your imagination, but in reality?! And one more thing - if there was no invasion of monsters or ghosts on all the previous nights when you were just as scared, then why should it happen today?
Talk about your fears with someone you especially trust. Often a loved one who sincerely wants to help finds a solution to a problem that never even occurred to you. And you will feel better if you voice your worries. You will inevitably lose the feeling of isolation that arises when you have to hide your condition from everyone and experience it completely alone.
If thoughts that frighten you appear and are repeated constantly, the most reasonable thing on your part would be to seek advice from a specialist. A doctor of the appropriate specialty or a psychologist will be able to correctly diagnose your condition, determine the degree of its severity and select for you an effective strategy that will help you get rid of the fears that torment you quickly and forever.

And one last piece of advice. Keep a diary in which you can describe all the stages of your struggle with the fear of the dark. Also write down in your diary all observations of your condition: what caused you a new wave of panic, and what, on the contrary, lifted your spirits and made you take your mind off unpleasant and frightening thoughts. By systematizing these observations, you can understand how to stop being afraid of the dark and become more optimistic. To be able to quickly cheer yourself up, collect pictures, stories and quotes in your diary that once managed to cheer you up, and look through them when you feel sad.