How to Sleep After a Horror Movie Fright-Fest

If you're anything like me, there's a good chance that you are either a horror movie fan or frequently find yourself surrounded by people who are (I am the latter, by the way). These days, horror directors and producers are going to ever-more extreme lengths to satisfy the urges of genre fans, leading to more and more fright-fests on our collective screens every year. I, for one, am not ashamed to admit that some recent horror fare has left me deeply unsettled (think ants on Charlie's decapitated head in Hereditary), and driven me to near insomnia. Since I'm sure I am not alone in feeling that way, I figured I'd share my own battle-tested strategies for getting to sleep peacefully after watching a scary movie. Here's how to do it.

Distract, Delay, Defuse

The first thing you're going to want to do is to make sure that your mind isn't fixating on the disturbing imagery you've seen. That means taking steps to distract yourself from obsessing over whatever you found so scary in the first place. It's basically the same thing that anxiety sufferers do on a nightly basis to help settle the mind and prepare for sleep. You might find it helpful to have a cup of tea and read a book (preferably something dry and intellectual—like a textbook if you have one) that will stimulate a different part of your brain and distract you a little bit. Make sure to avoid any screens like tablets and smartphones, since while they will distract you, they'll also make it much harder to fall asleep later on when you're ready. If you're comfortable doing it, you can also try some deep breathing exercises that will slow your heart rate and help you to relax.

Don't end on a scary note.

Once you're relaxed and not focusing on the scary movie you watched, the next thing you need to worry about is keeping it from invading your dreams. Believe it or not, most of our dreams consist of things we've been thinking about when we are awake, so even if you've managed to successfully distract yourself, that doesn't mean you're out of the woods. The next step is to make sure that you are focused on something positive that you actually enjoy right before you fall asleep. Now, your mileage may vary with this step, since not everybody has a topic they can fixate on, and not everyone remembers their dreams, either. The only measure of your success will be how you feel the next morning, which can let you know how well you slept. If you're going to make scary movies a regular part of your media diet, you should consider using a sleep tracking app to get a better idea of what's working for you and what isn't.

Try melatonin, avoid Ambien.

The last thing that you can do if you're having trouble sleeping after a scary movie is to use a sleep aid. I say this is the last thing that you can do because it's not something to be taken lightly—sleep aids can have serious side effects and aren't to be trifled with. Your best bet is to stick with something natural like a melatonin supplement. That's because melatonin is the hormone our bodies use to regulate sleep patterns, with its concentration in the body increasing as it gets dark each night. If you're scared or anxious, your body will seek to keep you alert by suppressing melatonin output, so taking a supplement can help you get some sleep. Although many people look to prescription drugs like Ambien for this purpose, they're a bit like using a missile to kill a fly—and you might wake up engaged to your significant other without remembering it.

Goodnight, sleep tight.

With any luck, the strategies I've shared here will help you get a good night's sleep no matter how scared the latest horror flick has made you. I know that they work for me, and I hope that they will do the same for you. With 2019 shaping up to be another banner year for the horror movie genre—I bet you're going to need all the help getting to sleep that you can get.