I am afraid of darkness, during night. So tell me what should I do to avoid or decrease it.
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Hi lybrate-user, One way to help yourself get over your fear of the dark is to make sure to give yourself enough time to wind down before you go to bed. You?ll need to work on shutting off all electronic devices at least half an hour before bed, avoiding caffeine after noon or so, and doing something nice and relaxing, whether you read for a little while or listen to some soft music. Getting yourself in the most restful mindset possible can help you ease the anxiety you feel when the lights turn out. Try 10 minutes of meditation. Just sit down and focus on the breath rising in and out of your body as you relax your body parts, one at a time. Focus on thinking about your body and breath only and banishing all anxious thoughts from your mind. Find a groove that works for you. It can be drinking chamomile tea, listening to classical music, or cuddling with your cat. Avoid doing anything that will make you more afraid or anxious, such as watching the nightly news or a violent television show. You should also avoid anything that will be likely to stress you out and make you more worried at night in general, such as last-minute homework or a serious conversation. You don?t need to shut off all of your lights at once to get over your fear of the dark. First, you should know that sleeping in darkness leads to a deeper, more restful sleep than sleeping with the lights on. Use this as a jumping off point to encourage yourself to sleep in darkness. If you sleep with all the lights on because of your fear, you can start off by dimming the lights a little before you go to bed, or even shutting off some of the lights if you wake up in the middle of the night. This can help you slowly get used to sleeping in darkness. You can set a goal for yourself, like deciding that you?d be okay with sleeping with just a nightlight, or only with having another light on in the other room. When you get into bed at night, ask yourself what you?re really afraid of. If you think there?s someone in your closet, under your bed, or even hiding behind a chair in the corner of your room, then you should go and check that place. Show yourself that there?s absolutely nothing to see and nothing to be worried about. If you do this, you?ll be proud of yourself for facing your fears and will be able to sleep more at ease. If you wake up with this fear in the middle of the night, tell yourself that the sooner you check on it, the sooner you?ll feel better. Don?t spend all night worrying about the unknown. Change your ideas of darkness. One of the reasons you may be afraid of the dark is because you feel that darkness is evil, awful, darkly mysterious, chaotic, or any other number of negative things. However, if you want to start embracing the darkness, you have to work on forming positive associations with it. You can think of it as calming, cleansing, or even comforting like a thick, velvet blanket. Work on changing your perception of the dark, and you?ll soon be able to embrace it. Write down all of the things you associate with darkness. As silly as it may sound, you should cross them out or tear up this piece of paper. Then, you should write down new, more positive associations. If this feels too corny, you can say it aloud instead. When you are feeling scared try to see the funny things that happen in your life or about something you saw or read, like if someone runs in to a glass door and they get back up look around and walk into it again and then opens the door. If you're scared, try to think of funny things that happen in your day or during the week. Remember: the room is the exact same thing in the dark as it is in the light, so there's nothing to be afraid of. It's just your imagination! If you hear a noise, try to come up with a pleasant reason for that noise happening. Such as if you hear creaking, tell yourself it's your pet looking for a late night snack. If you're afraid of the dark and are wide awake try not to let your eyes dart around the room looking for anything that might get you but instead, just focus on your breathing with your eyes closed. Make sure that you don't have any scary posters or something in your room at can trigger your fears. Sleep with a pet if you need to. Have something to think about so you can talk to yourself at night in your head. Try to think positive. Perhaps you saw an amusing cartoon earlier in the day, you could think of that. Distract yourself when you have your eyes closed. For example, plan out what you're going to do tomorrow. If you play relaxing music all night, be sure not to put the volume up too high. Play your music loud enough for you to hear it, but not so loud that it will bother your sleeping family. Remember sometimes anxiety is helpful and required for your survival. Your fear may be the only thing that is keeping you out of danger. Keep a journal about your fears. If you want to you can share your journal with your family so that they can help and support you. Consult psychologist.
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