How to Have Better Dreams

There is plenty to worry about now, and leaders are having nightmares. Techniques to manage can help them sleep better and lead better

- ROBIN ABRAHAMS and BORIS GROYSBERG

ONE OF US (BORIS) STARTED to wonder what was going on, when over a dozen of the CEOs in his executive education class wanted to discuss nightmares during office hours rather than corporate strategy. When people are overwhelmed and the news is full of terrifying images, it’s a perfect storm for nightmares and bad dreams.

Increasingly, leaders are coming to understand the importance of sleep for physical and mental wellbeing—but nightmares and bad dreams destroy sleep quality. The good news? It’s more possible than most people realize to reduce nightmares and have better dreams.

What Are Dreams?

What do you think about when your mind has a chance to wander? Your to-do list? World events? The people in your life? Events from your past? Art, music, stories? That’s what you dream about, too.

Because they’re your dreams, they’ll be composed of your preoccupations, memories and mental images. Because they happen during sleep, those elements get jumbled together, often making surreal associations your waking mind would not.

Dreams are not suppressed wishes or desires, nor do they have hidden meanings or symbolism. This doesn’t mean dreams cannot be meaningful or spur insight. It does mean no particular dream is inevitable.

Dreams can be roughly divided into three categories:

INDIVIDUAL DREAMS

The vast majority—75 to 80 percent— of dreams are about daily experiences and preoccupations. Dreams nearly always involve some kind of social interaction, and most, even non-nightmares, are emotionally unpleasant (80 percent of the emotions in dreams consist of anger, sadness and some form of fear and confusion).