How to Have Happy Dreams?

Dreaming is wonderful. It's like an uncontrolled and out-of-this-world TV program we start seeing in our slumber. But our dreams can be exciting, confusing, or terrifying at times. The exciting thing about plans is that we can't ditch our dreams (like we do with TV channels).

Dreams are a surprise package. Every time you go to your bed, you will experience a dream you have never had before, or maybe a happy dream comes again with another episode. You never know.

But have you ever wondered if there is any way you can tune your dreams into a happy mode? (Who doesn't want to dream about good things, after all?)

To your surprise, YES!!!

It's possible to design your palette of dreams and fill them with happy memories and moments. Below, we will share some hacks that you can try before bedtime and dream your night away with sweet dreams.

17 Hacks You Can Try to Enjoy Better Dreams

Did you know that everyone on the planet dreams if they don't have any psychological disorders? Even animals do. But, we spend one to two hours every night dreaming. You are more likely to have several dreams in a row.

Wait, what? But I can't remember what I was dreaming last night – You might wonder.

That's because we only remember the last dream we see during REM sleep. The visions fade away quickly right after you wake up. The rule of thumb to recall the goal is to wake up within five minutes of having it. Otherwise, it will be all gone.

There is an array of dreams that you can experience throughout your life, for example, vivid goals, pregnancy dreams, recurring dreams, lucid dreams, anxiety dreams, nightmares, and night terrors.

Among all of these dream types, happy dreams are everyone's favourite.

Here are 17 hacks you can try to experience some feel-good dreams every night. Finally, you might find the go-to hack that can help you set out on your journey of mind-blowing dreams – enjoy!

Improve Your Sleep Quality

Research shows, generally, adults need seven or more hours of a good night sleep every night. If you are not investing enough hours of sleep in winding down your body, sleep deprivation can ruin your chances of enjoying pleasant dreams at night.

You can drastically improve your sleep quality by practising a few little tips and maintaining good sleep hygiene.

• Set a sleep schedule for yourself. Sleep and wake up every day at the same time.

• Maintain your bedroom's temperature that favours a sound sleep.

• Turn off all lights, including nightlights.

• Keep the glowing alarm clocks or other lighted objects away from your vision field.

Tried it all and am still unable to sleep? Don't keep lying in your bed. Instead, get out of your bed and get busy with some activity that soothes your nerves. Slip into your comforters only when you feel sleepy.

Keep Your Sleeping Zone Free from Distractions

Make your bedroom a place where you can hit the hay without getting distracted.

Keep everything that might get in the way of your sound sleep away from your bedroom. Like, your bedroom must not have computers, TV, and tablets, etc.

You can try putting your cell phone on silent mode. Then, declutter your bedroom and keep it clean.

Exercise

Daytime exercise can help you wind down better at night. However, remember that exercise before bedtime can harm your sleep quality, and you can have trouble sleeping.

Boost Your Melatonin Intake

Melatonin is a hormone that helps you improve your sleep quality. You can receive your required melatonin intake from melatonin-rich foods or go for supplements as well.

The foods that contain melatonin are:

• Legumes

• Seeds

• Cereals

• Nuts

• Fish

• Meat

• Eggs

Note that: Melatonin supplements can work differently for everyone. They might help you experience positive dreams. Also, they might contribute to more vivid dreams or nightmares. It's always a smart move to seek medical advice before introducing melatonin into your routine.

Watch Your Sleep Position

If you are experiencing bad dreams, continuously consider changing your sleep position.

Do you sleep on your stomach? On your right side? Or on the left side?

All these sleep positions can contribute to attracting bad dreams. In addition, these sleep positions can promote racy dreams, being stuck, or being unable to move.

Try Aromatherapy

Sweet smells also can be stimuli to lead to more positive dreams in certain conditions. However, the magical aroma you sprayed in your bubbly bath before sleeping can't be a stimulus to good dreams. Because, by the time you'll enter into the dreamland, that sweet smell would go away.

Contrarily, if you smell a fragrance at the time of dreaming, it can make its way into your dream and become the stimulus.

Take Vitamin B6 Supplements

B6 is a water-soluble vitamin that helps regulate mood. It's the cofactor that our body uses to transform into neurotransmitters that significantly influence our dreaming.

There is no research to back up this notion, though.

However, you'll find many people claiming that taking Vitamin B6 has helped them attract more positive dreams. So if you want to try vitamin B6 to encourage good dreams, it can be the best for you.

But remember, you should stick to the recommended daily dose of Vitamin B6 for this purpose. Overkilling your body with excessive vitamin B6 can do more harm than good.

The suitable amount of vitamin B6 for adults (between 19-50 years of age) is 1.3mg.

Say No to Nightcap

Taking alcohol at bedtime can disturb your sleep cycle. Yes, it makes you feel drowsy at first, but later on, when you try to sleep with alcohol in your blood, you increase the probability of having bad dreams at night.

Log Your Dreams in a Dream Journal

Dreams have an absolute connection with our waking life. You might have noticed that you experience good dreams when you are happy or on good terms, while bad dreams awash when you are stressed out in real life.

You can control your dream situation by documenting them. Jot down all the details of your dream with the emotions you felt in your dream journal as soon as you wake up. Be quick. If you don't journal your dream within five minutes of getting up, chances are you'll forget it.

Train Yourself to Experience Lucid Dreams

Lucid dreaming means dreaming mindfully. It happens during the dream stage of sleep, also known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. You can try different techniques to train your mind for lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming can help people in the following ways:

• You can overcome nightmares

• You can face situations that cause you anxiety.

• You can improve your motor skills with lucid dreaming.

Reprogram Your Brain with Happy Thoughts

"The last thing you do before your bed matters, period", says Dr Barrett - assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

What is your pre-bedtime routine? Book reading, watching a movie, or listening to music?

Whatever you do before bedtime has a significant influence on the dreams you have at night. Say, if you watch a scary movie, you skyrocket your chances of scaring yourself off with a nightmare. Therefore, it's vital to rearrange your thoughts with some colourful memories you've had or happy moments from any of your favourite events.

Play Virtual Game before Bedtime

Research shows that playing physically interactive games connects lucid dreaming and controlling the dream frequency. Furthermore, the study says that a calm dream state or lucid dreaming has a great connection with multiple psychological outcomes, but they are difficult to induce.

However, when you interact in video games before you hit the hay, the video gaming experience will wend its way into your dream and help you get on to the driving seat and control your dreams.

Avoid Spicy Food in the Dinner

Act wisely when you choose your nighttime snacks. Anything that might cause you indigestion or bloat should be cut off—spicy food, cheese, heavier meals, for instance.

Also, these kinds of foods can increase the possibilities of your dream recall.

It will be best if you schedule your dinner two hours before bedtime.

Furthermore, caffeine intake can also keep you up at night. So, you should also avoid drinking coffee when you are about to hit the hay.

Put an End to the Intake of Antidepressants

Have you been taking antidepressants to calm yourself down?

You should stop taking them immediately if you have a non-stop series of nightmares every night. Yes, antidepressants can help you relax. But a specific category of antidepressants – SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) can hike the rate of your nightmares as a side effect.

Each medication in the SSRI group has a different effect on the brain of different individuals. Therefore, like any other medication, you should consult your doctor before you opt for antidepressants.

Don't Go To Bed Empty Stomached.

If there's a big no-no to something in your sleep schedule, that's going to bed hungry.

You might be on your journey to weight loss, and maybe you are also following some particular diet. But don't let any diet skip a healthy dinner. In case if you are on a strict diet, still having a nutritious nighttime snack can help you sleep soundly.

The best option that won't spoil your diet and help you catch some zzz's is taking a small banana and a glass of skim milk. It not only fills your stomach but also produces tryptophan (an amino acid that makes people tired) and can help you sleep better.

Use Your Wind-Down Time to Relax

Practising good sleep hygiene improves the quality of sleep like nothing else can. But, first, you must go to your bed with a calm body.

That means you should not use screens at least an hour before going to bed. Taking a hot shower also helps in sleeping effectively. Other pre-sleeping regimens include reading, meditation, yoga, and deep breathing.

You can use whatever option you find the best fit to de-stress.

Use White Noise

White noise can help you sleep better and ultimately dream better.

White noises are certain sounds that are produced by combining different sound frequencies. Some examples of white noise are the whirring sound of a fan, an air conditioner, or a hissing radiator. They cut down the distracting noises from your environment and help you sleep soundly.

You can buy small white noise producers from different retailers or order one from Amazon.

These electric white noise generators play different soothing sounds like ocean waves crashing and forest noises. In addition, these white noise producers have a pre-recorded playlist of gentle sounds to help you fall into a deep sleep and have pleasant dreams.

FAQs of How to Have Happy Dreams

Q: Can you control what you dream about?

A: Yes, sort of. We can control what we dream with the help of lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming occurs when we are in REM sleep. So when we correctly practice lucid dreaming, we can pretty much control the storyline of our dreams.

Lucid dream training can help us escape nightmares and get rid of bad dreams.

Q: How do I stop having bad dreams?

A: If you are often disturbed with bad dreams, you can try the following strategies to keep them at bay:

Medical Treatment – Nightmares can be the consequence of some underlying medical condition. So, see your doctor for the medical treatment of the underlying disease (if any).

Anxiety or Stress Treatment – If stress or anxiety plays its role in attracting and dreaming, your doctor might suggest stress reduction techniques to improve your mental health.

Imagery Rehearsal Therapy – This technique is often practised with people who have nightmares because of PTSD. The method includes swapping the bad ending of the dream with a good one in your wake time. It helps with reducing the frequency of nightmares.

Q: How do you make happy dreams happen?

A: You can make happy dreams happen by telling yourself that you will dream (a happy dream, of course). Also, assure yourself that you are going to remember the goal. This technique is called Mnemonic Induction to Lucid Dreaming (MILD).

Q: What are the benefits of happy dreams?

A: When you experience happy dreams in your sleep, you reap some benefits. Here are some of the perks of dreaming well:

• Goals help you learn.

• Dreams help you heal emotionally.

• Dreams allow you to have a good night's sleep.

• Dreams assist you to overcome your fears.

• Dreams uplift your mood.

Q: What is the best way to have a happy dream?

A: There is no one perfect way to have a happy dream. Our list of hacks to improve happy dreams is dedicated to helping you dream pleasantly. You can try different techniques to see which one suits you the best and decide accordingly.

Final Thoughts : Happy Dream

Dreams can be influenced by things we do in our daily life, or they might bring those things upfront we are avoiding in our life but have buried in our subconscious.

Why we dream and how they work are things that are still unexplainable. But one thing is for sure. We can influence our dreaming experience the way we want. We can't completely take over our dreams, though.

But, we can try some tips and tricks to promote a better dream life. The list mentioned above of techniques is a few ways that most people have tried and found helpful.

All of these hacks help a ton in having beautiful dreams. We'd guesstimate that they have a 60% success rate for dreaming beautiful based on our research. So, why not give these a shot?

Happy Dreaming!