How often do you have nightmares?

As a feverish child with throat and ear infections, I spent a good portion of my youth suffering from very strange dreams and nightmares - all the archetype's - such as losing teeth, losing parents, monsters in the wardrobe, falling down stairs, walking through glue and exploring strange, haunted houses as well as very strange nightmares from the depths of my imagination such as choking on balloons inflating in my throat, or being trapped inside a video screen that is being deleted or stuck in a room with slowly moving shop display dummies.

These days, I tend to only dream once or twice a week, and i probably only have a nightmare once or twice a month, although I now suffer from sleep paralysis, which in some ways is scarier.

I have nightmares almost every night I also often argue with people in my sleep and I will actually be shouting in real life, my girlfriend doesn't appreciate it one bit.

A lot of my nightmares are about being lost in unfamiliar landscapes but I've had some really strange ones that just come out of nowhere.
The most freaky one was probably when I was sitting in a room with a lot of my dead relatives and my granddad appeared but he had black holes for eyes...
My girlfriend tried to convince me that I had encountered "an elemental"

Ahh the magical world of dreams

Originally posted by davespanners

The most freaky one was probably when I was sitting in a room with a lot of my dead relatives and my granddad appeared but he had black holes for eyes...
My girlfriend tried to convince me that I had encountered "an elemental"

Ahh the magical world of dreams

That is VERY strange. I had a dream where i saw my grandmother with no eyes, just black holes.

How odd.

reply to post by Spacebound


Every night for more than a year.

The first of that kind ended by a tsunami of molten rock approx.100 feet high. It was 15 yrs ago and the memory of that "happy ending" is still vivid.

They're also increasing in intensity, which sometimes leave a strange impression lasting all day.
More precisely the feeling that everything, from man to animal, has just left the planet.

reply to post by ldyserenity
The last time I traveled was when I came to this country and I was young. I haven't been to a hotel yet, so it's not that. It must of been something I brought in the house that had bedbugs in it.

I think 3-4 per month is normal for me. But I forget most of my dreams really quickly, so I could have had more nightmares than I know of. Sounds a bit strange to have them every night. I won´t say that it´s not normal, because I don´t know that it isn´t under certain circumstances. But I hope they are replaced with beautiful ones. And soon.

The most vivid dream I had recently involved a large hotel. An old timey, elegant and luxurious one. There was a staircase that ended mid air in one of the rooms, and a car was parked beneath it, hanging in the air. Suddenly I was on a flying tricycle and went to explore the library of the hotel. While floating above the bookshelves on my little tricycle I noticed a door in the wall with no steps or anything leading up to it. Not a door that the regular visitors would see, but one that apeared especially made for little flying tricycles.

Another staircase awaited. I knew that wherever it would lead I was probably going to regret climbing it... At the top floor I found myself in a modern looking dining area, in stark contrast to the rest of the hotel. The first thing that caught my eye was that the walls were draped in black fabric and I then saw a huge Nazi swastika. Intuitively I knew that I had stumbled across a fully functioning, modern version of the SS.. that no one knew existed! Several people were seated at metal tables, having lunch. I tried to sneak past them, but a woman looked up and alerted the others to my presence. One of the supervisors approached me. I ran.

The hotel morphed into a shoppingmall. And this is when I bump into Winston Churchill!! He doesn´t believe what I am telling him, and probably thinks I am insane, but agrees to pretend that I am his daughter. Then, finally, I am seated on a bench in a large park. It´s a beautiful summer day but something is wrong with the people who pass me. They will not make eye contact and they are in such a hurry they are almost running. One man is clutching his forehead and the expression on his face lets me know that he to has seen something absolutely horrifying. I get the feeling that both him and I are going to be disposed of soon.

I don´t think that I´ve had any dreams of this sort before.. And no, this was actually before I joined ATS

Originally posted by davespanners
I have nightmares almost every night I also often argue with people in my sleep and I will actually be shouting in real life, my girlfriend doesn't appreciate it one bit.

A lot of my nightmares are about being lost in unfamiliar landscapes but I've had some really strange ones that just come out of nowhere.
The most freaky one was probably when I was sitting in a room with a lot of my dead relatives and my granddad appeared but he had black holes for eyes...
My girlfriend tried to convince me that I had encountered "an elemental"

Ahh the magical world of dreams

My mother sometimes tells me I talk and laugh in my sleep when I go to bed. Even worse I act out my dreams, which is REM sleep as stated previously.

Originally posted by mr-lizard
As a feverish child with throat and ear infections, I spent a good portion of my youth suffering from very strange dreams and nightmares - all the archetype's - such as losing teeth, losing parents, monsters in the wardrobe, falling down stairs, walking through glue and exploring strange, haunted houses as well as very strange nightmares from the depths of my imagination such as choking on balloons inflating in my throat, or being trapped inside a video screen that is being deleted or stuck in a room with slowly moving shop display dummies.

These days, I tend to only dream once or twice a week, and i probably only have a nightmare once or twice a month, although I now suffer from sleep paralysis, which in some ways is scarier.

Mr. Lizard, I even had a dream of your avatar! It was a Ufo war (one of many ufo
wars in my dreams) I was trying to get in a car with someone else to try and get
away. The car was parked in front of an apartment and the car would not start,
just as I was going to get in I hear this sound like air escaping from a vacuum
and I see this sheet of very light Tin foil drifting down from the sky which I catch in
my right hand. I form it into a ball and we ran back inside the apartment. When inside
the apartment I take one look at the surrounding and turn around and there is this
7-8 foot tall Reptilian dressed in a black leather (battle armor / space suit?) and pissed
as hell. I got the distinct impression his UFO had gotten shot down. From the time I grabbed
the tin foil outta the air (Ufo piece) to the time we ran inside, presto the reptile was standing
behind me. I woke up after that. Mind you I had not really read alot about reptilian aliens
at that time which is strange.

reply to post by Spacebound


I am also quite an insomniac (have been all my life) and have strange random sleep patterns so I guess they may well be related as you said!

reply to post by davespanners
I was a semi-insomniac because I slept really late, but dead when I was actually asleep. Ever since the bedbugs I had become insomniac to a whole new level; plus I developed bags underneath my eyes, which has been really difficult to get rid of. I now sleep like I used to, but only with nightmares.

reply to post by Spacebound


Maybe you should try learning to lucid dream then at least you could make the dreams enjoyable.

I tried for a while but never got very far

reply to post by davespanners
I will definitely give that a try; as a matter of fact tonight before I go to bed. Until then, I bid you adieu, pussycat.

I don't class them as nightmares, they're just dreams. If I've had a smoke then I don't dream I'm dead to the world but when I've not had a smoke, boy do I dream. My advice to you, smoke some bud.

I started developing mentally in big leaps 2-3 years ago and especially during this time I've seen particularly cool nightmares. I even hold a diary of dreams which I sometimes remember to update after waking up from one of these strange dreams.

I also have lucid dreams now and then. Latest was today. A really nice dream, I could travel in a visually beautiful place, this time some kind of water place. One time I was in a forest and it was an amazingly beautiful lucid dream that lasted for what felt like one and a half minutes. It was awesome.

I thought they were supposed to last for 5-15 seconds, but I was wrong. Or is it possible dreams distort your realization of time?

But is lucid dream after all just "dreaming of knowing you're dreaming" and you don't actually 'know' it?...

As for nightmares, yes I have them often.. they're the best.

I only have nightmares when I take Nyquil, craziest most random dreams ever. I think I remember hearing that marijuana suppresses dreams. Just sayin.

reply to post by Spacebound


Deprivation of sleep is not a good thing. It causes all that you listed in your OP.

On topic, I have nightmares very rarely and when I have, I feel no terror.

Dreams are important messages about the state of your psyche. They are messages from unconsciousness and uninterpret dream is like a letter left unopened.

-v

Originally posted by nerbot
reply to post by Spacebound

 

Incredibly rarely, but my ability to lucid dream helps.

I used to wake up from nightmares, now, I kick ass to any monsters and change bad things to create good outcomes at will.

Being out of the rat race helps and having peace of mind negates most negativity in my dreams. Took some knocks getting to where I am now, but practice, trust in myself and knowing that everything in dreams is of my own making helps.

Next time that big orange ball comes hurtling towards you, rather than think 2012 and doom and gloom, imagine you're on a beautiful sandy beach and the sun is beaming a big smile on you while you relax and watch the people running around and playing on the beach....."aaaah", here comes the waiter with your pina colada.

It's your dream, do it how you want, all you sometimes need is a trigger to realise that, maybe reading this will help.

Sweet dreams dear Spacebound.

edit on 6/12/2010 by nerbot because: stuff

Wow! I found someone here who thinks like me.

I don't have nightmares simply because I am a lucid dreamer and I have already removed my fears a long time ago. If you don't have fears in your waking life, what event in your dream can cause you a nightmare? The answer is none.

I do dream of vampires or thugs or other demons but they don't bother me. They are busy chasing everyone else and I am just an observer of what is happening. They cannot actually touch me because I can easily kill them. I do not run from them. You also should not run from the monsters in your dream so that they will stop chasing you.

A few years ago I was diagnosed with restless leg syndrome, something I always laughed at in the medication commercials. The doctor put me on Requip to help me sleep better. Yeah, that didn't work! I started having very vivid horrible nightmares, so vivid they felt real. One was of a home invasion, my throat was slit and I could feel the blood spilling out of me. As I was dieing one of the invaders whispered something in my ear. I looked out the window to see 3 children dead on a bench outside, their throats slit too. It took me months to get over that dream. I eased myself off the medication and warned anyone I knew to stay away from it. The nightmares started to ease up over time.

This past summer they came back with a fury. Every single night I was fighting off something. It was so bad I was punching and hitting my husband in my sleep. Then I landed in the hospital with diabetic ketoacidosis. Turns out I had developed Type 1 diabetes. When getting discharged from the hospital after a 3 day stay, the doctor told my husband that if I wake him up in the middle of the night having a nightmare, I could be going hypoglycemic. To wake me up and check my blood sugar. My husband and I both looked at each other and was shocked. I then told the doctor about the nightmares and he said it could be tied in to what my blood sugar was doing. Since I've been on insulin, about a month and a half, I've only had about 3 nightmares. All of those after late night TV. I'm sleeping much better now.

I truly believe that some of our dream states are tied into what is going on inside our bodies, something like an early warning system. There are other dreams tho that can't be explained. Like my mom, she will have a dream about the cemetery where many of her family members are buried about 2-3 days before someone dies. In the 15 years she has been sharing those dreams with me, she has yet to be wrong.

My nightmares always has a mansion in it, like the one from Resident Evil (the first game) and there is always something evil chasing me and whoever I am with.

As a kid I didn't just sleep walk, I was acrobatic and never got hurt doing it either; including doing somersaults through kitchen units and jumping from appliance to appliance.

TYVM after nearly two decades without nightmares after reading this thread last night I had one. But, thankfully the lucidity came for me as well, so I changed the circumstances and changed it to a normal dream. Weird the lucidity only came when I needed it desperately...lol!