Crazy, Surreal Dreams When your mind gets overloaded with anxiety and doesn't know how to process it, a bad dream can be its way to work through the stressful experience so it becomes less threatening, explains Dr. Barry Krakow, medical director of the Maimonides Sleep Arts and Sciences in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Nix It: Think of the dreams as free psychotherapy, a possible clue to what's making you tense, and a suggestion on how to deal with it. Focus on how you felt in the dream. If you were afraid or embarrassed, consider why. Then ask yourself what makes you feel the same way in real life. For example, you might realize you've said or done something embarrassing at work and need to apologize to someone or be more careful. If bad dreams are starting to interfere with your sleep, occur nightly, or are truly disturbing, you may need professional help to sort things out, says Dr. Krakow.

A retrospective study of 1,078 adults with PTSD treated at a sleep center documented round-the-clock sleep/wake disturbances. The higher their PTSD symptom scores, the more apt they were to report bedtime worries about losing sleep, racing thoughts, watching the clock, and restless legs syndrome.

Changing Nightmare Scripts The technique that Levy used, known as imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT), grew out of research conducted in the 1990s. It's been steadily gaining favor as a treatment for chronic nightmares since 2001, when a landmark study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that it not only curbed nightmares among victims of sexual assault, but also reduced PTSD symptoms. "Studies show that 70% to 80% of people who try IRT get significant relief," says Dr. Barry Krakow, director of the Maimonides International Nightmare Treatment Center in Albuquerque, N.M. He's one of the researchers who worked on the JAMA study and the author of four books on sleep medicine, including Sound Sleep, Sound Mind.