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Nightmares every night
ninzorjons
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm writing this thread because I really don't want to go back to sleep anymore.
Almost every day of the week I have terrible nightmares that wake me up and really just make me not want to sleep ever again.
Most of the time I dream about stuff as if my house was haunted, (i'm gonna name some examples off the top of my head) like theres a walk-in closet in my house and something not normal will occur like a book will be open, or a shadowy figure (usually a little girl) will be standing there. Other times its completely random stuff, like (a dream i just had) I was in this random house and my mom told me I was supposed to navigate through a maze of chairs but the chairs kept moving, and eventually I exited the room and I woke up shocked when a voice basically whispered "HI" into my ear.
Hell, I just had a nightmare where I was explaining the nightmares to my brother in several instances and every time something we go wrong and frighten the hell out of me. I'd rather not post them because I don't really ever wanna remember them at this point.
The more I think about it, the shadowy girl figure is pretty predominant in my dreams. Probably because when I was younger I played F.E.A.R., watched the Grudge, and The Ring. All of those scared the shit out of me and I had terrible anxiety about seeing scary little girls. But, now it really doesn't affect me in life so I can't understand why my dreams still bring it up.
I was trying to come up with why this happens to me and here are some theories:
A> Hunger. Before bed, all I usually have is a protein shake because I go to the gym in the evenings. However, I woke up early tonight starving and then ate a bunch of shit and went back to bed, had worse nightmares than before.
B> Eating before bed. Is it an old wives tale? But I really can't say if this is a factor because regardless of eating/not eating I'm having these nightmares.
C> I hear stress is a factor. I go to school, yet it doesn't really stress me out on a day-to-day basis. I broke up with my girlfriend a few weeks ago, and I find myself pining for another relationship because she was my first and it was a 4 year long one. Am I in relationship withdrawal? Is that a type of stress?
D> I know it's not easy to diagnose yourself but I've always found myself to be a very neurotic/emotional person. Does this have anything to do with it? In times of my life I have plenty of dreams that aren't nightmares, and whenever I've talked to people nobody has really ever had a dream like mine before? As if mine were unique. (Y'know, people usually talk about the usual dreams that everyone has such as falling or being chased, but I've never had any of those)
I apologize for the length of this post but I'm really just typing as I come up with shit because this has been something that has been bothering me since I was a young child. It seems to just happen within periods of my life and become worse than other times at certain points. Like I said, I don't know if there are specific factors that cause this.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Almost every day of the week I have terrible nightmares that wake me up and really just make me not want to sleep ever again.
Most of the time I dream about stuff as if my house was haunted, (i'm gonna name some examples off the top of my head) like theres a walk-in closet in my house and something not normal will occur like a book will be open, or a shadowy figure (usually a little girl) will be standing there. Other times its completely random stuff, like (a dream i just had) I was in this random house and my mom told me I was supposed to navigate through a maze of chairs but the chairs kept moving, and eventually I exited the room and I woke up shocked when a voice basically whispered "HI" into my ear.
Hell, I just had a nightmare where I was explaining the nightmares to my brother in several instances and every time something we go wrong and frighten the hell out of me. I'd rather not post them because I don't really ever wanna remember them at this point.
The more I think about it, the shadowy girl figure is pretty predominant in my dreams. Probably because when I was younger I played F.E.A.R., watched the Grudge, and The Ring. All of those scared the shit out of me and I had terrible anxiety about seeing scary little girls. But, now it really doesn't affect me in life so I can't understand why my dreams still bring it up.
I was trying to come up with why this happens to me and here are some theories:
A> Hunger. Before bed, all I usually have is a protein shake because I go to the gym in the evenings. However, I woke up early tonight starving and then ate a bunch of shit and went back to bed, had worse nightmares than before.
B> Eating before bed. Is it an old wives tale? But I really can't say if this is a factor because regardless of eating/not eating I'm having these nightmares.
C> I hear stress is a factor. I go to school, yet it doesn't really stress me out on a day-to-day basis. I broke up with my girlfriend a few weeks ago, and I find myself pining for another relationship because she was my first and it was a 4 year long one. Am I in relationship withdrawal? Is that a type of stress?
D> I know it's not easy to diagnose yourself but I've always found myself to be a very neurotic/emotional person. Does this have anything to do with it? In times of my life I have plenty of dreams that aren't nightmares, and whenever I've talked to people nobody has really ever had a dream like mine before? As if mine were unique. (Y'know, people usually talk about the usual dreams that everyone has such as falling or being chased, but I've never had any of those)
I apologize for the length of this post but I'm really just typing as I come up with shit because this has been something that has been bothering me since I was a young child. It seems to just happen within periods of my life and become worse than other times at certain points. Like I said, I don't know if there are specific factors that cause this.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
"Be excellent to each other."
ninzorjons on
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TLDR: Evaluate your dreams for what scares you, and reason out why it scares you/why it shouldn't.
Not really nightmares, but my brain was definitely all over the place - I was pretty upset about it all and it manifested itself whenever I went to sleep.
FYI I almost never dream (like maybe one or twice a year that I can remember), so this occurrence was extremely unusual.
The break up could definitely be a factor.
You mentioned protein shakes and the gym. Are you taking any other supplements?
Are you taking anything to help you sleep? Ambien, melatonin, valerian root, unisom etc? Even something like tylenol PM would count.
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By the end of the day, after school + the gym I'm usually so tired that I fall sound asleep almost instantly.
Honestly, I can't think of any serious factors that stress me out. The only possible factor could be school. But, I'm in a film program, so I'm doing something I really enjoy and we hardly ever have homework. Also, I figure going to the gym would relieve me of any minor stress I was feeling over the course of any day, but I could be wrong.
Same deal with me, rarely dream and after my break up this year I could hardly ever get a good nights sleep (nightmares and just general restlessness). Deal with the stress and see if it gets better.
Second, keep a dream journal, every time you wake up from a dream or a nightmare, immediately write it down in vivid detail, as much as you can remember. Often times, doing this for an extended period of time will start allowing you a little more control (possibly, it's not exact science or anything) over some aspects of your subconscious and you might be able to have better dreams.
If none of that works, you can consider speaking with a doctor or psychiatrist about prescription sleeping pills, but that's a tricky and possibly dangerous road depending on your lifestyle.
I hope this helps.
so maybe go see a psychiatrist and tell them you're hearing voices?
sorry that's all I got.
I only know of one technique but there are more out there.
In dreams clocks don't tell time properly. The numbers are all scrambled and nonsensical. Make it a habit during your day to day life to regularly check a clock to make sure you're not dreaming. If you do it regularly enough eventualyl the habit will carry over into your dreams. You'll check a clock, realize you're dreaming and BAM. lucid dream.
Lucid dreaming has always sounded intriguing. Maybe i'll do some research and give it a shot.
I think at this point I might just have to learn to live with this problem. I've tried both sides of the hunger/eating before bed and have bad dreams regardless, and I'm not a huge fan of prescribed medication.
Does that actually work? Because that's amazing.
I check the time fairly regularly (cell phone, habit) but I don't think I've ever even had a phone in a dream.
And so this isn't totally off topic: Have you thought about the temperature of your room? I always notice that I have extremely bizarre dreams when it's colder, but they are usually just weird and fun. When it's hot, however, I can easily have several nightmares in a night, waking me up at all odd hours in need of a drink or a smoke.
Hahaha oh my god I laughed so hard at this
As for the OP: It doesn't have to be something major to cause you to have nightmares. Just going over things that have bothered you can help. If there's something you have trouble thinking about, think about it anyway, long and hard until it throws its hands in the air and walks away in a huff.
Also try forcing positive thoughts into your head as you sleep-you're in a film class, so you're creative, right? Put on a really inspiring album and think of rad adventures that'll carry over into your dreamworld. Or something simple: when I was having bad dreams/anxiety as a kid I imagined the dragon from Spirited Away was protecting me, and always swirling over my bed. Sounds cheesy but it was comforting as all hell.
Also, do you sleep in silence or with a radio/tv on, try switching ( like to silence if use sound or some light sound if use silence)
The technique I've heard (though it hasn't actually worked for me) is to look at your hands, rather than clocks. If your hands aren't there, you're obviously dreaming. If they are there, your brain has a really hard time rendering them accurately in dreams because they're so complex, so it can tip you off.
What I did was force myself to confront the terror. I would train my feeling about the dreamstate to go straight for the bathroom and stare into a mirror. Yes the terror feeling would start and get quite strong but nothing else would happen. I could soak up the fear, be completely awash in it and find a strange sense of comfort and interest in being there.
Eventually the dreams stopped and I haven't had a nightmare in years.
I think it can help if you feel you have nothing to be seriously afraid of.
Also I've always been interested in lucid dreaming, I remember reading in an old fortean times magazine which said one of the techniques was to carry a bit of paper around with you in your pocket with some memorable numbers on. Frequently, throughout the day, check the paper. You'd get in to the habit and do it in a dream too, if the numbers were different, you knew you were dreaming.
One of my recurring dreams/nightmares is:
Sometimes when I wake up I get up and go to the bathroom, splash some water on my face then look up in to the mirror and see the same thing stood behind me in the bathroom, the knife comes down again and I actually wake up. Sometimes the second bit doesn't happen and I just wake up, unsure if I'm still asleep.
It's become so common now that rather than be scared my mind tends to think "Oh, not again". I guess due to the repetition I've sub-consciously come to recognise it as a dream. It's not quite lucid though as I can't change anything.
Anyway, I realise I haven't helped you in the slightest. It's been said before but are you eating anything/drinking anything before going to bed? It really can make a difference.
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And as far as the lucid dreaming thing goes, maybe such a thing can help. For me, however, as soon as I realise I'm dreaming (which isn't much, to be honest) I either don't care and let it happen or I force myself awake. And any time I've tried to consciously exert control, I wake up instantly. So I can't say if it would really help.
Are you taking Melatonin (sp?). It's a sleep aide providing what your body naturally produces but in some people it can cause nightmares. My brother would rather deal with his insomnia than take one of these because he'd wake up from horrific nightmares.
The situation in your spoiler is called Sleep Paralysis and actually quite common. The reason is that your body doesn't move while you dream (so you don't end up like that youtube video of the dog running in his sleep) and sometimes you can wake up while still paralyzed. This leads to the strange sensation of having a weight on you that prevents you from moving, while it's actually your own body. Sometimes you keep on dreaming in this state, even with open eyes.
Thanks for that! It's nice to know it's not because I'm crazy. It's definitely a weird feeling.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
I don't take any kind of sleep aide.
I tried that lucid dream thing last night...I'm not sure how deep of a sleep I was in because I had the strangest thing occur. When I was asleep I was dreaming of people and as if my point of view was a camera, I kept zooming into clocks behind their head. Sure enough, they were blurry and didn't show a time. I even looked down at my hands too, and I guess at that point it kicked in that I was dreaming. Suddenly, it felt like I entered bullet time (I swear I heard the noise too, haha) and I felt awake but my eyes were closed, and everything was super slow but my heart started pounding incredibly fast. I had to wake up thinking I might get stuck asleep forever.
Anyways, I suppose you could consider this "solved" as much as this issue could be solved. I know it's such a complex matter that it's hard to pinpoint the exact cause, but you guys are probably right that even the smallest minutiae of the day play a factor in how my dreams turn out. Even just talking about it, I feel has helped me. So, thanks.
Watch it today.
You have several dreams every single night. Everybody dreams. Not everyone remembers their dreams.
That is, unless you have a chronically disturbed sleep pattern where you never enter REM sleep, but that would be apparent in your inability to function at all during the day from lack of restful sleep.
Sleep paralysis is indeed weird. Most people find it profoundly unpleasant, so I'm assuming you would rather it not happen. The most common cause of sleep paralysis is oversleeping; I tend to get it a lot when I don't have to wake up for anything and I end up sleeping for like twelve hours. Also I've heard alcohol use can have an effect. If you find yourself sleep-paralyzed, however, one good way to wake yourself up is to wiggle your toes. During sleep, the paralysis (atonia) is not fully enacted on smaller muscles, so it's possible to make facial expressions and such. Moving the smaller muscles might provide to stimulus to wake you up. Personally, I sometimes enjoy sleep paralysis though. Once you get over the weirdness of it, it's kind of fun.
ninzorjons:
I am of the opinion that nightmares are due to stress. Perhaps you are underestimating the amount of stress you are under, which means maybe you should talk to a therapist, or at least a friend, about your problems. Maybe you'll find that you're affected by these 'small' stresses more than you think. Maybe not. Still, if you just want straight-up relief, lucid dreaming might be a good way to go. For me, the light-switch method worked well to initiate lucid dreaming. Light switches almost never work in dreams. Get into the habit of flicking them on and off, or at least pay attention to when you're turning lights on or off. Also, I tend to lucid dream most effortlessly if I just read about or talk about lucid dreaming a lot. And if you manage to lucid dream and you feel yourself waking up, try rubbing your hands together in your dream. Should get you back in.
Good luck!
Personally I enjoy my dreams as I am in full control of them (only have nightmares during a fever) to the extent where I consider myself lucid-dreaming (and what a blast. It's like your personal matrix).
I've found this, ok the "dream" can be scary as shit but I still weirdly kind of enjoy it. Sometimes I put down all my nightmares to a childhood of watching purely horror movies but it at least lets me enjoy them.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
1) Eating before bed. Its true. Eating a lot before sleeping fucks up your sleep. Your body is digesting food and cant concentrate on sleeping.
2) Uncomfortable bed. If i have to sleep in a weird bed, i dream more and wake up more often. If youre not tossing and turning, you'll sleep more soundly.
3) Noise. If my roommate is home and making a shit ton of noise in the morning, ill have like 10 dreams in 2 hours, waking up between each.
4) Light. If its too bright, you wont sleep well. This isnt true for everyone though, but most people dont sleep well if its bright.
There are lots of other things as well, but your major problem is most likely eating, especially since you say you woke up and ate a shitload of food and then went straight back to bed and had crazy dreams. Thats awful for your body as well, and when you get older, you will get fat.
Worry less about having nightmares every night, and more about the fact that youre remembering dreams every night. Try and work on getting an all around better sleep. You could try some OTC sleeping pills but those are incredibly easy to get dependant on, which would suck.
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Try to avoid sleeping on your back.
PSN: Broichan
So this sucks: not only do stressful things cause me to have bad dreams, but so do things that I look forward to. Today I am attending a screening at my school. Last night, I dreamt that I was late and missed the screening. I can recall several other times this has happened to me.
I guess I do just need to get better sleep because I am almost ALWAYS able to remember my dreams.
Do some exercises so that you go to bed a little tired, your body will function better once you wake up in the morning.
Do not drink coffe, tea containing caffeine or Coke at least 3 hours before you go to bed.
From time to time write down your nightmares, your experiences could be used in a movie called "While I am asleep".
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Very doubtful, he hasn't have prophetic dreams, he is unable to hear a voice from a god or angel calling him by his name while he is awake.
Oh, I didn't mention the voices? Must've forgotten.
Anyways, My schedule looks like this:
7:30-8:30ish go to gym
8:30-8:45 shower
8:45 ingest protein shake
10:00 time for sleep.
Is that not enough time to allow for digestion? Also, for a few days this past week now I've been waking up at 4:30am starving hungry. So I feel like I can't push back taking that protein shake any earlier.
And if you're waking up starving, then you need to examine what you've done or changed in the last few weeks that might cause that. Personally, I'll sometimes go for days at a time eating only once per day but I've never woken up in the middle of the night starving for food.
The common rule is to not eat after 7pm, assuming a bedtime of around 10 or 11pm. And when they say dont eat after 7, they mean more like "Be done and doing something else by 6:45".
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That's just because your body is storing the majority of the energy from your single meal during the day. Yes, you can become accustomed to eating a single meal per day and not feel hungry, but you'll probably gain weight because of it.
OP: I know this is against the usual routine of gym+protein, but try taking your shake an hour before you go to the gym for a few weeks and see what happens. Also, protein is the least "lasting" form of energy, if I'm not mistaken, so it's not surprising that you're hungry when you haven't eaten for 12 hours.
Well, there's your hunger problem. Eating a Protein Shake as a meal/dinner is not sufficient. I've done the protein thing before back when I lifted weights. Shortly finishing the protein shake I would not be hungry. However, given 2-3 hours suddenly my hunger would return in force. It is no surprise that you are hunger when you wake up in the middle of the night.
Try eating around 6 pm - 7 pm (no later than 8 pm) and have a substantial meal. Drink the protein shake an hour or earlier before the gym and instead eat a banana or a glass of milk after the workout to provide your body with an instant source of protein if you must.
Sorry I didn't specify that I do actually have dinner too anywhere between 5:30-6:00, but I suppose I'll try and squeeze in the protein before the gym as well to give myself that optimal digestion time before bed.