When Night Feels Unsafe: Bedtime Support For Trauma Survivors
For many trauma survivors, nighttime was never safe. It was the hour when silence screamed, when memories returned uninvited, and when the body braced for what it once endured.
For some, it was the very time their trauma occurred—making sleep feel more like a threat than a relief. What should be a time of rest instead becomes a battlefield of flashbacks, anxiety, and hypervigilance.
The body remembers, even when the mind longs to forget.
So even now, in a safe space, the body might still resist rest. The nervous system stays on high alert, making sleep feel like a war zone instead of a refuge.
If this is you, you’re not broken. Your body is responding in the only way it knows how: to protect you.
There was a time in my own healing journey when I dreaded going to sleep. I struggled with insomnia—not because I wasn’t tired, but because I was terrified of the nightmares that awaited me.
When I did sleep, it was often with the help of medication, but that brought its own pain. The dreams would become so vivid and visceral, and I couldn’t wake myself from them. It felt like being trapped in my own mind. It was absolute hell.
The only real relief I’ve found has come through the slow, steady work of healing my trauma somatically—through practices that helped my body feel safe again, not just my mind.
Healing begins by gently showing your system that rest is a safe state to be in. But that only happens when we equip ourselves with new tools and turn them into daily practices.
This includes:
Grounding Practices - humming bee breath, guided meditations, sleeping with a weighted blanket, focusing on the back of the body, spending time in nature each day
Nervous System Regulation - box breathing, yoga/mindful movement, neurogenic tremoring, daily walks, laughing, dancing
Patience - allowing ourselves to be where we are, instead of trying to rush the process.
It is possible to reclaim the night—moment by moment, breath by breath.
You deserve peace. Even in the dark. Especially in the dark.
Happy healing,
Teal
