Written By: Pavitra Sampath | Updated : February 22, 2017 5:10 PM IST
14th March is World Sleep Day
I am a 23-year-old, I get lots of unrelated dreams while I sleep. Especially, during early morning hours. I sleep for 8 hours, but I still feel I haven't slept well. Is there any solution for this, so that I can dream less?
Answered by Gayatri Ayyer, Counselling psychologist
Dreams are a way for our sub-conscious to send us messages. We store all our unwanted desires, fantasies, worries, traumas etc. - we suppress these. Some of the things we suppress could be from our childhood and we do not want to remember them. These suppressed memories do come up once in a while in our dreams, but in a different format. That is the symbolic representation. What we see in the dream will be different from our actual desire or memory.
You could try going for a long walk before going to sleep - its healthy and will help you feel relaxed and tired and help get sound sleep. Avoid watching TV, movies or reading books with high level action before sleeping. This is especially for children as it makes them restless. Avoid eating heavy dinners with oily foods just before you go to sleep. Spend quality time with family and friends - our minds and bodies relax when we are happy. Talk to a psychologist if the problem is persistent and dreams are emotionally disturbing in nature. You could also try yoga poses for insomnia.
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