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Relax your body. Calm yourself with meditation. Distract your mind. Remove some bedding. Ignore the clock. Maintain a consistent sleep schedule.
In most cases, a person will wake up suddenly because of a nightmare. This sudden shock to your system from fear can cause your heart rate to rise. By tensing and relaxing your muscles, you may be able to return your heart rate to a normal level and easily drift back to sleep. Tightly tense and release muscle groups by beginning at your toes and ending with your forehead. Tense muscles for about 10 seconds and give them 10 seconds to release. You may find that taking a deep breath in between further relaxes you. In addition to higher heart rate, you may also be experiencing rapid breathing and anxiety as a result of the nightmare. Meditation can help lower your heart rate, return breathing to normal, decrease anxiety, and enhance relaxation. Meditating for a few minutes may help your body calm down and fall back asleep quickly and easily. Allow your breath to flow naturally without controlling it. This may greatly increase your relaxation and bring your heart rate back to normal more quickly. Allow your thoughts to come and go. This may help you more readily let go of the images from your nightmare. If you're finding it difficult to refocus your mind and relax, try repeating "let" with every inhalation and "go" with every exhalation. If you can't fall asleep within a few minutes of waking from a nightmare or the images continue to disturb, do something to distract your mind. You may want to get out of bed for a bit or do another activity, which could help relax you enough to eventually become drowsy enough to fall back asleep. Go someplace where you relax. Try reading or listening to soft music, both of which can distract your mind and relax you. Keep lights dimmed to avoid stimulating your brain to stay awake. Many people experience sweating along with the other physical and emotional symptoms of a nightmare. Remove some of your bedding to help cool off, which may in turn help you fall asleep more quickly. Having a higher body temperature can make it difficult to fall and stay asleep, so only remove what bedding you need to cool off and stay comfortable. Cover yourself with whatever you need to ward off chills and help you feel comfortable and safe. If you've soaked your bed because of sweating from a nightmare, you may want to remake your bed to help your relax and fall back asleep. Watching time pass can increase the physical and emotional distress from your nightmare. Don't watch your clock if you can avoid it and you may feel that you are more readily able to relax and return to a peaceful slumber. Turn the face of the clock away from yourself. If the clock is wall-mounted, do your best to ignore it. A clock that glows in the dark may hinder your ability to fall asleep. Consider covering it with a blanket or pillowcase if it bothers you. Sticking to the same bedtime and waking time every day can help you to fall back asleep if you wake up. You may also find that this helps control the frequency with which you have nightmares. Try and go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. This establishes your body's natural rhythms. Aim to get between 7.5 to 8.5 hours of sleep every day.