I need help, bloggy friends. And I'm afraid to turn to the almighty Google, for fear of what it will tell me. So I'm asking for your wisdom and experience.
I'm dreaming again.
For years I didn't dream. With the exception of the occasional nightmare, I stopped dreaming. The only times I would have the bizarre and vivid pictures flashing through my head at night were when I took Melatonin to help me sleep, which was mostly last summer when I started working nights. My body adjusted, I no longer needed a sleep aid, the dreams were gone again.
I haven't thought much of it till lately. Who misses their dreams? For so many years, most of my dreams were horrid nightmares anyway. Even those stopped, for the most part, and I'll tell you straight up that THAT didn't make me sad. Phew!
Last week I began dreaming again. I thought it an anomaly. But it's been every night now. All night long. And when I half-wake in the early morning, then pass out again, they continue.
As far as I can tell, these are run of the mill dreams. Some are just the daily stuff of life, with enhanced color. Others are bizarre, funny, just weird. None frightening. Nothing really to write home about.
But it has me wondering. Why did I stop dreaming? For so long? Why am I dreaming again? Why now?
Like I said, I'm afraid to Google this. It will tell me I have a tumor. If I have a tumor, I don't want to know it. So tell me what YOU know. Have any of you experienced this before? Know someone who has? Tell me what it means, please?
Until I write again ...
Flea
14 comments:
Many times, I cannot remember what I dream, for long periods of time. Then I have a period of whopper dreams, usually while I'm strung out on prednisone and immediately after. Then I'll go back to pretty much no dreams. I don't worry about the no dream times because I'm pretty sure I am dreaming but they're so full of wretchedness that my phsyche is protecting me. If there's a tumor, I don't want to know about it.
Its not a tumor. And you do dream all the time, the ones you dont remember still happen but in a different sleep state .. like you are in OK and the dream is in New Mexico
I am only halfway kidding
The dreams remembered most are the ones that happen right before you wake and the wake and back to sleep resuming of the dream .. well, you werent fully awake ..
I dream all the time ... I can even program my dreams. Yup. I am that crazy. I snuggle into my comforter, turn on my side and think about what I would like to dream .. and I fall asleep . its like reading a story that lulls me into sleep ..
Dreams. I dream every single night. Most days I just forget the dreams and go on with my life. Sometimes they are so amazing I remember them and think they should be made into movies - they would make a fortune!
Unfortunately, a lot of my dreams are actually nightmares. It isn't unusual for me to have four or five a week - sometimes even four or five a night! Eeks!
As for not dreaming . . . I wish I could do that!
My husband used to never dream, then we found out he had sleep apnea (I am NOT saying that is your reason) but I read that dreams happen in a certain stage of sleep and some people for whatever reason don't get there. Were you a restless sleeper before? Are you sleeping better? Could be just that.
Sleep patterns change as you go through life. You are probably just on that slippery slope to premenopause that scrambles all sleep for a couple of decades. Not good news but pretty normal.
I'd ruther not dream, if I can avoid the creepy and bizarre dreams I get sometimes during the month.
Ah, but the good news is, if I have one of those, I know I won't have hot flashes and cramps.
Okay, yeah, that's TMI.
Dreams come when you're getting good deep REM sleep. That's a GOOOOOD sign. Glad you're not having nightmares.
Looks like it's been said already here but if you want the clinical on this then I'd say instead you're probably sleeping more lightly right now for some reason.
Apparently we all dream, you get into that stage 4 REM state of sleep and you dream and your brain cycles through the stages 1-4 all night, slowly decreasing in length until morning when you wake up. That last cycle before you wake is the shortest and when you wake from a dream it's the brain's way of gently letting the dream/deep sleep state go. A gentle wake up thing if you want.
Anyway, if you remember your dreams it's called "lucid dreaming" and it happens usually when you are in that shortest cycle state. You must be having more of these.
If you aren't dreaming at all it's because your brain isn't getting into that deep REM state and it's unhealthy. You don't get the real full rest your body and brain needs and they've found that if they wake people up before they get to that state they become fatigued and irritable.
So unless you've been going around utterly exhausted I'd guess you're just getting more lucid state.
I took a couple psychology classes on sleep. Sorry.
I agree that for the most part we all dream unless there is something really abnormal going on. I have dreams where I find myself drinking and smoking a pipe. In thsoe, I normally say to myself that I do not do either and change the dream to good things. I find that I do a lot of problem solving in my dreams and do some of my best work there.
Last night we got back to Topeka about 1 AM and I have no recollection of any of the dreams as I slep hard and deep.
A ver smart person once told me that we all have wierd thoughts and only crazy people worry about them. Not me, I'm as normal as, I'm as normal as, I'm as normal as.... MUD
I pretty much only dream when I am pregnant. The rest of the time I am irritable and under-rested (kidding - sort of).
Just make it a good excuse to take it a little easier.
Whatever you do, do not google anything. Those searches will scare you and you won't be able to fall asleep at all. LOL.
I stop dreaming for weeks at a time when Im stressed/anxious/over worked. It's like my bodys natural way of getting rest.
I almost never remember my dreams, haven't for years.
I wonder if bcp's have anything to do with it, being hormonal and all that...
I second (or third or fourth) what some others have said. People who have studied such things claim that we do dream; we just may not remember what we've dreamed.
On that note - sweet dreams!
Even though it's already been said, I can't resist throwing my 2 cents in: You're not sleeping as deeply as you could and that could be due to diet, hormones or stress. Try taking a power nap-- literally a power nap, not a two-hour mid day sleep, and that might help you get the rest you need at bedtime.
Is it just me or does everyone hear Arnold when they see the word "tumor"?
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