I have really bad dreams which affect my mood the following day; I can be depressed, angry, have existential dread.
It’s frustrating but I also think a lot of it centres around people i know and people i used to know - so my brain is creating situations with people i don’t want to & won’t interact with ever again, just to make me feel bad.
My favourite dreams have just been me roaming around and exploring places - sometimes travelling by car or boat. Usually by myself. If i went running in the woods more, could i leverage my brain to give me more pleasant dreams like that?
Probably yes. Both running and being in nature are known to improve the overall state of mind, and having your thoughts in the right place makes it less likely to have bad dreams. But every person and situation is different. Just running in the woods will not make trauma go away even if it can lessen it in most people, for example.