How The Calm App Helps Me with My PTSD Nightmares
After experiencing a traumatic event nothing is worse than reliving it when you are seeking rest.
For weeks and months, I experienced nightmares of being chased or hunted down. If I wasn’t being chased, I’d wake up frozen in sleep paralysis, certain that someone — or something — was in the room with me. These episodes weren’t just vivid or unsettling. They were terrifying.
It felt like the more I was healing in my waking life, the more haunting my dreams became. As if my subconscious refused to let me forget what I’d survived. Like I had suppressed my trauma so deeply that it had no choice but to surface at night.
At first, I tried everything except facing the problem head-on. I avoided sleep. I kept the lights on. I scrolled mindlessly through my phone until my body finally gave out from exhaustion. But the nightmares always returned, and the toll was brutal: emotional exhaustion, brain fog, and an ever-growing sense of fear around bedtime.
I knew I needed help but I didn’t yet feel ready for medication, and talk therapy, while helpful, couldn’t be there with me at 3 a.m. when I woke up crying.
That’s when I found the .
A Digital Lifeline
I had downloaded Calm years ago but barely used it. Back then, it was just a trendy tool people recommended for mindfulness. But one particularly bad night, I opened it out of desperation. I wasn’t looking for a miracle just something that would help me feel less alone in the dark.
I started with a sleep story. I remember picking “Blue Gold,” narrated by Stephen Fry, not knowing what to expect. The story transported me to a peaceful lavender field in Provence. His voice was slow, soothing, and kind — like a friend gently ushering me into rest.
That night, I didn’t have a nightmare.
The Power of Soothing Structure
After that, I began building a sleep ritual using Calm. I’d listen to a sleep story, or sometimes a gentle soundscape like “Rain on Leaves” or “Crickets in a Meadow.” On nights when my anxiety was particularly high, I’d start with a short breathing meditation. Just five minutes of box breathing or a guided body scan helped me feel grounded enough to close my eyes.
The Calm app didn’t “cure” my PTSD — and it never claimed to — but it gave me a tool to feel like I had a choice in how I went to bed. It helped me feel safe, even if just for a few hours. That small sense of agency was everything.
What Changed for Me
As I continued to use Calm, a few things shifted:
- My nightmares became less frequent.
- I no longer dreaded going to bed.
- When I woke up from a bad dream, I had something to reach for besides panic.
Eventually, I even began using the app during the day — on lunch breaks or walks — to regulate my nervous system. I noticed that the more calm I cultivated during daylight hours, the more peaceful my sleep became.
Healing Requires Tools
There is no one-size-fits-all path to healing trauma. But if you’re someone who struggles with PTSD nightmares, I want you to know that you’re not alone — and that healing doesn’t always come in the form of grand breakthroughs. Sometimes, it’s about creating a quiet corner of peace where your brain can rest.
For me, that corner began with a calm voice, a lavender field, and a phone screen glowing softly in the night.
