My Nightmares

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Sounded a little like sleep paralysis but I'd need to know more before I assumed
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

Do you know if you lash about, bolt awake, are vocal (panic) when you're dreaming/awakening?

If not you just needa cut down on junk food before bed

 

Or sometimes it depends on something you have seen or watched before you sleep may also cause it.

 

Like Rwm, could be sleep paralysis. It happened to me only once, and holy heck it was scary. As Elena said, what are you doing before you go to bed? Are you watching scary movies, etc.?

If I were you, I would enjoy the day awake with positive vibes, then I would sleep on either my left or right side, and also play to soft jazz/classical music from a radio/ipod when going to bed. (Really helps me here). Hope you get a good nights rest!

 

A trick that's used is drinking warm milk before bed because it calmed you down, taking away the bad dreams/stress.
Also it's not just junk food that effects you, it's all kinds of food, so don't eat before bed.

 

Junk food/food in general before bed disrupting sleep is just a myth. Granted, there has been some psychology input that it may have a psychological effect (i.e. you THINK you slept worse, but you still got the same amount of sleep and REM sleep.) Foods with tryptophan can actually HELP your sleep! Just throwing that out there. As for the sleep paralysis part, you can read my 2 cents just abit below.

Wrong, the thought that dreams are incorporations of daily events has been disproved time and time again. If you wear an EEG all day, then you will see that when in REM sleep (dream sleep), you will not experience the same patterns of electrical activity as you did during the day, or in fact as you did during the prior weeks! This means that your days activities/events are not repeated in your dreams. As in, something you watch before bed will not lead to having a scary dream. You might attempt to disprove me, but hear me out. Activation Synthesis is a much more viable reason behind dreams. Random neural firings CAN incorporate past events/sensory stimulation. This can be seen by someone or something on your lap, and a scary movie where birds flew away/attacked you (batman begins etc). This is why dreams are not always sensible and you do not always understand your dream. (As for Freudian dream interpretation, don't get me started on Freud's bogus).

So therefore, you could watch a serial killer murder your family and you could have a pleasant dream (assuming you could fall asleep and did not experience PTSD which could have a link to effecting your neural firings). So unless you have experienced a horrific trauma that seems to haunt you, family member dieing in front of you, a girl stepping in front of an oncoming car etc, your dreams are most likely not affected by what you saw/did the day before.

Sleep paralysis is just a neurological issue branching off REM atonia. The best way to describe REM atonia is "paradoxical sleep" during REM sleep (dreaming), your brain is 100% fully operational, however you cannot move muscles. This happens to everyone during REM sleep, and if you try to awaken yourself you will not be able to move for several minutes until your brain "restarts" your limbs, this can be scary, but you DO still wake up although you cannot move.

Listening to stimuli before bed will NOT HELP. You sir, may have habituated to sleeping with these sensations, however most people's sleep patterns will be disturbed for weeks before it helps them get to sleep. The only reason that it helps then is because it is a conditioned stimulus. Read more on classical conditioning

False. Just don't eat a heavy meal before bed. It is hard to go to bed on a full stomach, but harder to go on an empty stomach. It however does not eliminate stress or bad dreams at all.


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Go to your doctor and ask about taking a sleep test. In many cases, insurance providers will cover up to 1/year. Ask about Night Terrors. Although it usually occurs in young boys, it can and does occur in adults as well. Usually you cannot remember why you are fearful/screaming upon awakening, but it has been reported with this condition that you do. There are many types of treatment from medication (1 kind), to psychodynamic therapy, to anxiety relievers. A consultation with your doctor can help provide you with more information

 

From what you've told me in your dreams, it sounds like you may feel slightly out of control in your life (correct me if I'm wrong, but its just a guess), maybe try to work on that . If you're having night terrors, what sometimes helps to stop them is to confront them and defeat them in your dreams. If you know you're dreaming, just closing your eyes or cringing in the corner will do nothing. The next time your have a night terror, try to confront the girl or whatever your problems may be. This may help stop them.
If you're having a recurring dream, when you're falling asleep repeat to yourself over and over "when this happens, im dreaming" or "the next time I see this, then this will happen". If you tell yourself this enough, it can help you realize that you're dreaming, or it can manifest things in your dream that will make it obvious that you were dreaming. My psych teacher said that when he had night terrors, he told himself that when he was going to sleep that he would see a face on his nightstand the next time he was about to be attacked. Sure enough, he saw the face and he was able to attack whatever it was that was after him.