Nightmares and poor sleep

[konk]

My 12-year-old daughter has been waking with nightmares regularly for a few months now.  It's really making bedtime anxious.  Could there be something to this developmentally, nutritionally, or otherwise?  We have gone over Bible verses, discussed praying, etc.  This may help after the fact but it doesn't chase away the nightmares and night waking.  She's rather stress free and a very happy child so I doubt there is any hidden anxiety either, which is why I'm searching now for possible physical causes.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

[mrsroeser]

This may be too simple a solution... but my brother and sisters and I always had bad dreams (and still do) when we are too hot at night... Now that it is getting warmer outside.. is she going to bed with too many covers or is the house heat up too high?  Just a little suggestion.. Hope that helps..

[dara]

I don't know if this is at all helpfull, but my 2 year old experiences what some call "night terror", which is very poor sleeping and bad dreams, when he's had one of the 2 two foods he's allergic to (dairy and gluten). Children do occasionally develop a food allergy during adolescence (my brother was allergic to strawberries for 3 years as a young teen, but not anymore). I don't know that that would be the case with your daughter, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

[Gabe Rising]

There is also the spiritual component. In some cases nightmares are more than just troubling dreams... they are (I believe) real "ideas" that are given/sponsored by the Devil, Satan. I would recommend the book Regaining Surrendered Ground from Jim Logan at ICBCI. Some of the ideas are sortof from the Christian Life Movement (Watchman Nee) which I think is confused at best... but Logan's book is really great in the practical aspects.

I always (every single night since I have had kids...) pray for my kids before bed like this, "God I ask that you would set angels around [names of children] to protect and minister to them in the night. I ask that you would place a hedge of protection around the room, the house, and the property. I pray that you would bind and rebuke all powers, principalities, rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness with respect to these children. I pray that your Spirit would speak to them in the night, giving them beautiful dreams, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. I pray these things in the name and the blood of Jesus Christ... Thank you, Amen."

Asking for Angels as protectors concept:
Exd 23:20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

2Ki 19:35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they [were] all dead corpses.

Mar 1:13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.

Act 12:7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon [him], and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from [his] hands.

Asking for a Hedge concept:
Job 1:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

Isa 5:5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; [and] break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

Asking to rebuke spiritual enemies concept:
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].

Col 2:15 [Jesus] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Spirit of God giving dreams concept:
Joe 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, [that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

[other spirit's can give dreams as well] Deu 13:1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Conclusion
I am not saying that this is a complete Bible Study on the concept... but this does give a start for the study.

Sometimes my kids still have a bad dream of some sort... a couple of times I have actually heard my 4 year old praying that Jesus would take away a bad dream and replace it with truth (another thing I pray after one has had a bad dream). My kids do not have many bad dreams... I think this is why... although I do not deny that there can be other environmental factors as well.

--gabe

[PS: If you are looking at ICBCI's book list, I thought that Mark Bubeck's books were not very practical... kind of religious... just my opinion]

[advancewithcourage]

I get nightmares  from unexpressed emotions or anger I have not dealt with that I should have.

For example, if I do not feel that my children were adequately supervised by my husband (I can be overprotective!) I will often have a nightmare that one of them got injured.

Sometimes my fears that I have not given over to the Lord will come out in my dreams like this.

[petrimama]

I could not have said it better!.  On the same line of thought, maybe limiting exposure to things that are not of the Lord would be helpful while she is struggling with this.  (I don't mean to make assumptions...I'll share where I'm coming from...)  We haven't had TV for years, but we did recently allow our two oldest kids to see a movie (which we researched beforehand.)  The movie was fine - a documentary, but unfortunately, one of the previews was about a possessed house (who makes this garbage?!).  For several nights afterward my kids were waking up with nightmares about this very thing.  The preview was not especially scary (meant more as amusement) and only lasted about 60 seconds, so many would think it was harmless.  In fact it made a huge impression on my kids and the experience cannot be undone.  Granted my kids are younger, but it may not hurt to try to pinpoint possible triggers.  I believe the enemy can use nearly anything to trigger our fears, but some things are more likely and can be limited.      ~Layla

[curlzz6504]

I was excited to find this thread.  My niece & sister have been suffering from nightmares for the last couple of weeks.  (Much to our complete shock, my brother-in-law left the family the week before Christmas)  My sister and brother-in-law have played the Bible in her room at night since she was born and her mama reads to her every night...the Bible and other story books.  We figure that it is all the trauma going on around them that is affecting their sleep.  I was wondering if there are any herbs that could help with this.  I am making a pitcher of Sleepy Time Tea for tonight.  Any other suggestions?

(P.S.  Have I posted lately what a blessing this forum is for our family?!!!)

[healthybratt]

Right after Gabe posted, we tried his suggestions and the nightmares have been a thing of the past for me and the kids.  They were infrequent before but enough to cause anxiety.  Now they only come if we forget to say our prayers before bed. 

Thanks Gabe.  Something so simple and yet we missed it somehow.

[MommyGus]

This may be too simple a solution... but my brother and sisters and I always had bad dreams (and still do) when we are too hot at night..."[

I find that interesting.  My 6yo DS woke with terrible screaming the other night.  A couple of the other children woke up frightened by his screaming, and it took me a while to wake him up an convince him that everything was allright.  We had a problem a while back when we allowed our older son to listen to a book on CD that we hadn't adequately checked out, (our 10yo DD actually saw one of the "bad guy" characters walking down the hall, CREEPY).  We have been more careful since then and haven't had a problem, and I wasn't sure what could have caused the problem this time.  Our son had a fever that night now I wonder if the fact that he was too hot could have been it ??

[born-an-okie]

MommyGus, your son sounds like he had a night terror, which isn't quite the same as a nightmare from what I understand.  Our oldest son has had them at times and it is like he is awake, but he really isn't.  He is asleep with his eyes open and screams.  As for the cause, they do happen more at times of stress (like when we were getting ready to move).  Also, the fever may be part of it.  My kids always have to urinate more when they have a fever.  The thing that has worked the best to get them over the night terror fast is to send them to the bathroom.  They aren't awake enough to understand much, but they can go potty.  It is as if the body is trying to wake them up to go potty, but they aren't fully awake yet.  For some reason they feel very frightened.  I don't know if that makes any sense.  Going to the bathroom doesn't always bring them out of it right away, but it usually does, and at least it helps wake them up sooner.  My son always wants to go to sleep right away once he has woken up completely.  As a parent it can be very frightening to see your child screaming for you, but not understanding that you are right there with them.  Praying helps a lot for both of us, but don't underestimate the bathroom trip!  I don't know if that is what your son experienced, but it sounds very similar.

[steadygirl]

I was excited to find this thread.  My niece & sister have been suffering from nightmares for the last couple of weeks.  (Much to our complete shock, my brother-in-law left the family the week before Christmas)  My sister and brother-in-law have played the Bible in her room at night since she was born and her mama reads to her every night...the Bible and other story books.  We figure that it is all the trauma going on around them that is affecting their sleep.  I was wondering if there are any herbs that could help with this.  I am making a pitcher of Sleepy Time Tea for tonight.  Any other suggestions?

(P.S.  Have I posted lately what a blessing this forum is for our family?!!!)

If there is a lot of trauma going on that could be it. If it is a child try to make them feel loved, secure and let them know you and God will be there for them at any time.
Sometimes certain foods can cause nightmares. I remember as a teen having bad dreams after eating the proverbial pizza. Sometimes I would wake up SO scared, because they were such vague dreams with only this feeling of horror because I felt like I was in the presence if evil. I would make sure I stayed awake for a little while after I woke up and would pray and sing myself to sleep with hymns or turn on a station that played some of the beautiful traditional hymns at night. Oh, and I would go potty(even if I didn't feel like it) and get a drink of water. These always helped me sleep better and kept the nightmare from coming back.

[jaemom]

This isn't necessarily about nightmares, but I was wondering if anyone knows a reason for this:  Every time I sleep on my back, I dream.  If I sleep on my stomach, I never dream.  Just curious.  I have had horrible nightmares, but I often can trace them to something I've seen in the news or a movie (or tv show) I've watched or something that has happened in real life.

[healthybratt]

This isn't necessarily about nightmares, but I was wondering if anyone knows a reason for this:  Every time I sleep on my back, I dream.  If I sleep on my stomach, I never dream.  Just curious.  I have had horrible nightmares, but I often can trace them to something I've seen in the news or a movie (or tv show) I've watched or something that has happened in real life.

You're probably not as comfortable and therefore not sleeping as soundly and therefore, remembering or having partially lucid dreams.

[SarahK]

JaeMom-

I have the same sort of thing.  Sleeping on my back or Right side gives me dreams.  When I am pregnant, I dream no matter how I sleep, but I am more likely to have nightmares on my back or Right side.  If I remember to take my SuperMom/SpecialTwo - I don't have nightmares much at all.  Weird.... and no help to you I suppose. 

Sarah K

[YoopreMama]

This thread has focused on children, but I'm wondering what I could recommend herbally for a 36 year old male w/ nightmares and poor sleep.  He's been on a variety of powerful medications for this...any thoughts?

Passionflower?  Skullcap?  Valerian?  Hops?  Super Chamomile?

Part of it, too, is his spiritual background and current situation, but we won't be going there.   

[ladyhen]

This thread has focused on children, but I'm wondering what I could recommend herbally for a 36 year old male w/ nightmares and poor sleep.  He's been on a variety of powerful medications for this...any thoughts?

Passionflower?  Skullcap?  Valerian?  Hops?  Super Chamomile?

Part of it, too, is his spiritual background and current situation, but we won't be going there.   

I make a tincture for insomnia and restless leg syndrome that has equal parts valerian, St. John's wort, and passionflower.  It's terrific and it's not habit forming.   
For me, it seems to just turn my brain off.   (I think too much when I oughta be sleepin'!    )
Don't know if it would help with dreams, though.

Another thing that occurs to me is to take a calcium/magnesium supplement at bedtime and EFA's during the day.  Good fats can help sleep. 

[herb fever]

This thread has focused on children, but I'm wondering what I could recommend herbally for a 36 year old male w/ nightmares and poor sleep.  He's been on a variety of powerful medications for this...any thoughts?

Passionflower?  Skullcap?  Valerian?  Hops?  Super Chamomile?

Part of it, too, is his spiritual background and current situation, but we won't be going there.   

Valerian can actually promote nightmares in some people so I would keep that in mind.

[mommyjen]

Valerian can actually promote nightmares in some people so I would keep that in mind.

Yes, valerian root gives me nightmares IF I take too much.  I find that a half dose works well for sleeping minus the nightmares.

[floydian]

Calcium/magnesium just before bed has helped me sleep much better tho some say you aren't supposed to take them together. 

Good fats.