Could you kill yourself with a dream?

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to do this.

Alright, so.. where do I start?

I have really vivid dreams. I don't know why, maybe it's an outlet, I need to play games more or watch movies, something. But in these dreams, I can make choices, decide what I do. Some of them are really nice, and some not so nice. I go into REM sleep a lot, deep sleep rarely. REM sleep is when you dream I think. The first hour or two of sleep? I have at least 3, maybe 4 of those per 24hrs, yet rarely sleep for longer than 2 hours at a time. Get it checked out, see a doctor, etc etc. Hey, it seems to work for me. In old times, they slept multiple times and not for very long.

I had one recently that stuck with me. Have you ever had a dream while laying in the wrong position so there was some kind of pain or numbness going on because of circulation? Laying on your arm or hand wrong, so in your dream, your hand or arm is injured, something painful is going on with it? It's your brain creating a story about why you're having discomfort. Well, in a dream recently, there were these beings, something out of a super hero/super villain thing. I don't know who they were, why they had powers, but they were attacking people.

It's a recurring theme, at least in my dreams but I've read in others too, that inflicting damage on anyone is pretty hard to do. I call it molasses punches, where you try to hit or kick something but it goes in slow motion despite all of your strength and lands softly. Unrelated, another theme is electronics not working like phones, computers and the internet. That actually makes sense because there really isnt service in your dream world. If you can dream that there is service, I envy you because the possibilities are endless. My brain is too literalist for that, it knows somewhere in there that it would be lying if it pulled that off.

So the beings that attacked. Well, at some point someone or something told me that if they kill you, you die in real life. This was terrifying, understandably, so the fear index went through the roof and the rest of the dream was escape at all costs. They had some throwing weapon, small shards or knives, and some hit my fingers. There would be little cuts bleeding, and if I put the fingers of my other hand on them to apply pressure, they'd stop bleeding, but instead of clotting they'd form some weird green scab stuff that was particularly bothering. Do not get wounded at all costs, flee because they can kill you in your sleep. I escaped, started having some serious jumping powers and lept from building to building through a city until my brain couldn't come up with new terrain fast enough for me to run through. Then it formed a scene where police found me under a dumpster and that was the end, even though they would've made short work of the police.

I was relieved when I woke up, I'm sure you know that feeling, but what really messed with my head was the part where if you die in the dream, you die in real life. Do you think this could actually happen? Many people die in their sleep for unknown causes, and pain translates into dreams and vice versa. I've woken up hurting in certain spots because of an injury in a dream that I received. There's some form of crossover.

I guess it is possible to have a heart attack if you have a weak heart and having a nightmare, would be rare but it could trigger a heart attack. But killing yourself by choice in a dream would not kill you in real life, because it would not be a nightmare then.. I had a dream once where I knew I was dreaming, and I made a truck run me over so I could wake up, it worked.

a reply to: Thrumbo

I hardly dream anymore, but there was a time when I remembered multiple dreams every morning. I also used to have a lot of nightmares in which I became aware of the dream.
Like the poster above me, whenever I couldn't wake up from it, I jumped off buildings or dive down the stairs, smash into something,... because that would wake me up before I actually hit the ground or walls.

Never experienced death in a dream, or woke up with injuries...

To say that when you die in a dream, you die in reality as well? I've heard that before but I always thought it was and old wives tale

a reply to: Spacespider

My mother died in her sleep and had some heart condition, prolapsed mitrovalve. She was also on medication but had gotten really into the church channel, had it on 24/7, believed in miracles, the rapture and all of it. Actually had me getting into the bible but I liked the old testament, prophecies and history, ancient aliens maybe being fallen angels, etc. She had a catholic upbringing but fell out in adulthood for some time.

I'm sure her heart and breathing just slowed too much, but if she were dreaming of an experience with Jesus taking her from her pains, or a light at the end of a tunnel thing, I wonder if she accidently died. It would've been during REM sleep because I was just with her 4 hours before. We had returned from an errand and had plans to go back out later that day which is why I found her so quickly. I'd drive her around.

a reply to: Thrumbo

So, this was a lucid dream? You knew you were dreaming? As you say that you knew that you'd "die in real life," it seems like you were lucid dreaming.

Do you do that often?

I had it happen once. I was riding a bicycle in my dream and I knew I was dreaming, so I thought I'd make the bicycle fly. It did. I was pedaling through the air way above the ground. Then I thought, If I stop pedaling, will the bicycle fall?' So, I stopped pedaling and the bicycle fell to the ground. That's when I woke up.

There was no concern about being hurt when the bicycle fell because I knew it was in a dream the whole time. Really weird. I can't remember ever having had a lucid dream beside that one.

originally posted by: KindraLabelle2
a reply to: Thrumbo

I hardly dream anymore, but there was a time when I remembered multiple dreams every morning. I also used to have a lot of nightmares in which I became aware of the dream.
Like the poster above me, whenever I couldn't wake up from it, I jumped off buildings or dive down the stairs, smash into something,... because that would wake me up before I actually hit the ground or walls.

Never experienced death in a dream, or woke up with injuries...

To say that when you die in a dream, you die in reality as well? I've heard that before but I always thought it was and old wives tale

I heard if you smoke a lot of cannabis, you don't dream at all. I vaguely remember a time when this was true 😂

a reply to: Thrumbo

Given the current understanding regarding the nature and source of dreams (and, by extension, their purpose, and thus, usefulness), I'd say something of the reverse is more likely the case.

The "dream" is not killing you, the dream is warning you that their is something physiologically wrong with your body, that you are not consciously aware of, that is potentially harmful.

Dreams can serve as our "Check Engine" light; telling us of a problem or concern, but in such a vague, symbolic way that the warning often goes unheaded.

a reply to: Thrumbo

I have known people to go too sleep and not wake up.

I don't know if or what they were doing at the time of death. If they were dreaming or not.

Buy I did have a very strange event that happened to me about 30 years ago. I had been working nights, so it was normal for me to sleep during the day.

I dreamt I had been walking and a guy in a truck stopped and offered me a ride in the bed of the truck. I accepted.

The bed of the trucks had crosshatch wood railings. I sat in the corner of the truck right behind the driver that was in the cab. The bed also contained several large burlap bags that were tied off.

After a few miles I noticed that the bags continued something that was moving. The bags turned out to all contain numerous huge rattlesnakes, that were escaping from holes in the bag.

I knew to be still, and I pressed myself up close and tight against the truck railing. I woke up with the imprint of the crosshatch railing on my side, shoulder, and the side of my face.

Nothing in the bed or in the room could have made the imprint. My mother and brother were in the house when I woke up. I asked them what they saw, both of them rubbed their fingers over the indentations, acknowledging they were there, but they could not find anything in my bed or in the room that would have made the marks.

Never happened again that I recall, but that event still puzzles.

a reply to: incoserv

All the time, but the choices I make aren't truly free, it's not a chill sandbox scenario where you're calmly just walking around in a virtual world doing anything your heart desires.

The choices you make are always relative to the scenario playing out and they don't always succeed or work right. If I'm looking for something I lost, I can choose to go here or there, look at certain things trying to find it, but I still never find it.

a reply to: Mantiss2021

Well thats reassuring, I'm at risk of death. There's definitely no way to figure out what that might be.

Must be this tooth infection that has my jaw sore, except I'd expect some form of relative injury in the dream. The green scabs from the small cuts do indicate infection though.

I was a heavy smoker for years and I had no dreams at all. Then I stopped smoking. It took weeks but suddenly I'm starting to have dreams again.

Molases punches! I had those a lot. Needing to defend myself and not causing any harm at all. It frustrates me so much so that it wakes me up. Then I feel weak, not physically, mentally, knowing of my capabilities but not performing, landing harmless punches. I think it's a part of the brain that keeps you paralyzed from moving while you're dreaming. Keeping us from harming those around us in the real world. Then it translates to soft worthless movement in dreams. Though I've done jungle gym movements easily in a dream. Maybe it's the subconscious knowing you don't want to harm others so you don't harm others?

I can see how a nightmare plus weak heart can kill.

Experimenting with dream suicide doesn't seem like a good thing to try. I wouldn't count making yourself getting run over the same as hanging or cutting. Man... It's a good question but there's that 'What If' that makes it alarming and not worth trying.

a reply to: Thrumbo

I have dreams all the time where I’m standing over a really steep cliff well some force is trying to push me over and I’m fighting with everything I have to not fall. But then sometimes I realize I’m dreaming and just deliberately jump over the edge.

I’ve obviously never died from it and always wake up before I hit the ground.

a reply to: Thrumbo

An infected tooth can, actually, spread infection throughout the entire body. Which, in rare, extreme cases lead to septicimia, causing the body's organs to shut down. And death.

Even a "low-grade" infection caused by a bad tooth, or more often, untreated gingivitis (gum disease) can result in inflammatory-related diseases like heart disease, kidney failure, type 2 diabetes etc.

I've occasionally had vivid nightmares after which I woke up with heart pounding, shaking and very anxious.

I think it's very possible someone could die from a dream.

I recall one in particular. I 'awoke' to find a Chinese man shaking the foot of my bed and laughing at me. An announcer proclaims 'The Terror of the Tongs!" like it was a movie. maybe I had read a Fu Manchu book recently. really shook me.

I believe that if we were to compare 'notes,' we might find many similarities.

I too have dreams which haunt my subsequent day with questions.

I have died in my dreams (with an aftermath that was truly unexpected,) I wake with nagging echoes which leave me convinced that I was supposed to "get something" form the dream structure, content, and/or even subject matter. Frankly, I have even been struck awake with the idea that I was being "taught" something I could not quite grasp. Hunting for "people," scouring a location for a way out (or in,) participating in efforts to secure people or things, even making a "last stand" - like some sort of Gandalph-esque sacrifice against an unseen metaphorical Balrog - vaguely aware that my survival was not really at risk, where anyone else's would be...

Sometimes my dreams are so intense and convoluted (and seemingly of very long duration) that make me wake in a physical state of confusion. The "plots" of my dreams are often as complicated as a spy novel... beyond my ability to fully grasp... And yes, I have even suffered injury that 'followed' me out of the dream (which no one I have shared that dream with really believing me.)

I can't say that any one answer has ever satisfied me about the actual cause or purpose of the experience. Multiple interconnect plot lines, awareness that "my last dream' was as a prequel to the one I am experiencing, or that this one is a continuation of some previous unrecalled dream... sometimes it even extends to the point of being aware that the truth will be found in a "next" dream, I even get temporary awareness that I am in a dream state at the "time" of the dream.

It is not so much nightmarish as it is confusing. One thing it mostly isn't, is restful.

As I grew older, and was free to ponder dreams at length upon awakening ... I even entertained fears that I might be losing my mind. But I wasn't, I haven't (although my wife might disagree,) and they were - in the final analysis, dreams from which I could 'walk away.'

Practitioners of the supposition filled strategies to analyze dreams seem to fail to reach me with their theories... I don't have much faith in the ancient, or even classic masters like Jung, and Freud when it comes to dream analysis...

But to answer you directly; No, I don't think that death has any direct connection to dreams... other than as a subject of influence. I used to ask "If you die in a dream - you die in real life; Is that true?" My experience says no.

But then, dreams are so intensely personal - a play written, produced, and directed by an author who knows you intimately - it's no wonder we are driven to try and figure them out.

Ironically, to prove that theory wrong is to make it impossible to communicate - with the dreamer dead - who's to tell?

a reply to: Thrumbo

They had some throwing weapon, small shards or knives, and some hit my fingers. There would be little cuts bleeding, and if I put the fingers of my other hand on them to apply pressure, they'd stop bleeding, but instead of clotting they'd form some weird green scab stuff that was particularly bothering.

Are you vaxxed? I have read that some of the jabs contained
graphene hydroxide, which some have described as
nano razor blades . The molecules are an atom thick with jagged
edges. They cut whatever they come into contact with.
Death by a zillion tiny cuts.

originally posted by: RavenSpeaks
a reply to: Thrumbo

They had some throwing weapon, small shards or knives, and some hit my fingers. There would be little cuts bleeding, and if I put the fingers of my other hand on them to apply pressure, they'd stop bleeding, but instead of clotting they'd form some weird green scab stuff that was particularly bothering.

Are you vaxxed? I have read that some of the jabs contained
graphene hydroxide, which some have described as
nano razor blades . The molecules are an atom thick with jagged
edges. They cut whatever they come into contact with.
Death by a zillion tiny cuts.

Lmao. No, I'm proud to say that despite taking public transportation during the pandemic five days a week for a full time job, working in the resturaunt industry, that I did not take the jab.

When the administration tried to make it mandatory to be vaxxed to be able to have such a job, it was pretty scary but I knew it was unconstitutional so I'm glad good reason prevailed.

Most think I'm a closet liberal troll from my political mud-pit replies so this might come as a surprise if you've read those threads. I'm very proud that I didn't permanently change my physiology with experimental vaccine for a virus that I wasn't at risk of dying from, despite the media doom pr0n. I don't wear it as a badge, I'm definitely not active in those threads, but I see where you are going.

Had I been vaxxed, and was active in those threads, the subconcious fear of imminent death would be in the back of my mind "because people are dropping like flies" from the "depopulation agenda". Now that you mention it, I feel sorry for the ones who got the jab but also believe in that conspiracy. Quite the mind#.

a reply to: Thrumbo

I've died a few times in lucid/vivid dreams. I'm still here.

In earlier life whenever this happened I'd get a 3D birds eye view of the death and eventually wake up, usually with a headache or a migraine.

I've had a couple experiences where I thought it might have been it, just laying there dead and still for what felt like hours, those were first person view.

I've picked up a few tricks over the years that can be used in dreams if you remember them, I think the trick is to use muscle memories although thought processes can achieve similar things, it's more of a realisation that you're dreaming and within that process you gain autonomy. You can use this to get out so to speak but the potentials are endless I'd imagine.

For me closing my eyes in the dream and focusing on thought makes things happen.

To add: Emotions are the molasses of dreams? Suicide is actually a quick way out but I wouldn't necessarily advice it. Play along or refuse to play, things tend to change then.

Idk if that's a learning process thing and the brain is teaching or if emotions are the driving factor of dreams.

a reply to: Thrumbo

yeah I've killed myself a few times in my dreams, and been killed a couple times. Either it's a birds eye view, i'm guessing the birds eye view thing is because of thats what you get when you die in a video game usually; or, my mind just goes blank and i wake up. It's like, you're dreaming, and then kinda like a TV goes black... the images stop, and then that's usually when you wake up because it was just an end to the dream.

a reply to: Thrumbo

You absolutely...can die in dreams. People can sleepwalk, react, jump out windows.

And Ambien for sleep? Yep. People will dream and find themselves in dangerous scenarios.

I myself was woken in a hospital having a cardiac event in my dreams: AFib