Oh my goodness! This is something that I struggled with so much for a long time and still do on occasion. My nightmares were so severe that I hated sleeping. And when I did sleep I would wake up and not be able to back to bed. Here is my trick!
listen to an audiobook and have it play all night while sleeping. When you wake up, your brain goes right back into the story and draws you out from focus on dreams/flashbacks/triggers.
listen to nature sounds or music during sleep
play a constant run of sleep meditations
meditation before bed or even sleep meditations
thinking of things I’m grateful for as I fall asleep. It makes your brain focus on positive things and gets it out of negative stuff. Brain hack!!
Practicing mindfulness. I found that practicing mindfulness, and working on it everyday, impacted my sleeping.
Write your dream narrative. What do you want to dream about? How do you want it to go? Write it down before you go to bed. This takes time to work but it does work! Eventually, it will break the nightmare cycle. I think you could probably do this for how you want to feel around bed time. Ie “I am going to lay in bed and feel the softness of my sheets. Breathing in fresh air from the open window and listening to the night’s sounds. I will feel calm and relaxed. I will enjoy laying down for bed because I am tired. My eyelids feel heavy and I welcome them closing…”
i really hope this helps! I’m so sorry you are struggling with resting at night. It is such a frustrating experience and impacts quality of life massively. I wish you wellness and I am send positive and restful energy your way!