The Green Room - Bad Dreams

Aug 8^th, 2010 at 9:30am

Silent Knight Offline
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I find that my sleep is marred by unpleasant dreams more often than not (pleasant dreams, or at least pleasant dreams that i remember, are almost non-existant occurance).

Does anyone know of anything you can do to avoid bad dreams? I've never bought any of the stuff like "don't eat before you go to bed", etc (I know there are other reasons for that), but I'm fairly desperate to figure out something at this point.

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Reply #1 - Aug 8^th, 2010 at 1:06pm

Mister Grinch Offline
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Well, as far as I've understood it, dreams are just the way your brain processes stuff in your life when you're not around, so...

Lead a different life? I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't have much to offer. Interpreting them can perhaps speed the processing and then get it out of your system.
Beyond that, what you put in is what you get back, loosely. Maybe if you've got any talent as a lucid dreamer (I do not and can barely comprehend such a thing), spend 5 minutes after climbing in bed, constructing the way you want a dream to go, and see if you set it off like that it'll continue in the same direction? I don't know, unless you're a lucid dream I always figured you get what you get.

There is one thing you never put in a trap, if you're smart - if you value your continued existence - if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow there is one thing you never EVER put in a trap.� Me.

Listen, I don't know what sort of kids you've been flying around with in outer space, but you're not telling me to shut up!

As long as I don't bleed or cry, I'll do it!

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Reply #2 - Aug 8^th, 2010 at 3:14pm

Silent Knight Offline
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Mister Grinch wrote on Aug 8^th, 2010 at 1:06pm:

Well, as far as I've understood it, dreams are just the way your brain processes stuff in your life when you're not around, so...

Lead a different life?� I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't have much to offer.� Interpreting them can perhaps speed the processing and then get it out of your system.�

That doesn't always work, unfortunately. I have no trouble interpreting the meaning of any of the dreams that bother me.

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"The power is not in the mask. It's in whether we chose to wear it."
-Peter Blustrinsky

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Reply #3 - Aug 8^th, 2010 at 3:18pm

Silent Knight Offline
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As to lucid dreaming, I've had some success with that, mostly in the distant past, but I don't see it doing as much good in this case. I suppose you've actually hit on the real problem, which is the real life events and emotions the dreams reference.

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"The power is not in the mask. It's in whether we chose to wear it."
-Peter Blustrinsky

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Reply #4 - Aug 8^th, 2010 at 5:13pm

Krumpson Offline
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Different approach to this:

Probably the best way to decrease "bad" dreams is to work on whatever it is that causes you to wake up during REM sleep.� �You can't remember dreams if you don't wake up during them, and perfectly natural sleeping patterns allow you to wake up in stage 1 sleep when you aren't dreaming. Unfortunately, we have time schedules and use alarm clocks and we have lots of other things that interrupt our sleep (from noises, to discomfort to various sleeping disorders to health issues) so we remember our dreams more often than we should.� �If you are remembering a lot of bad dreams, you might be having trouble getting a good night's sleep, and that's a bigger issue to your emotional well-being than the content of your dreams.�

Kiss

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Reply #5 - Aug 8^th, 2010 at 5:18pm

Silent Knight Offline
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Krumpson wrote on Aug 8^th, 2010 at 5:13pm:

Different approach to this:

Probably the best way to decrease "bad" dreams is to work on whatever it is that causes you to wake up during REM sleep.� �You can't remember dreams if you don't wake up during them, and perfectly natural sleeping patterns allow you to wake up in stage 1 sleep when you aren't dreaming. Unfortunately, we have time schedules and use alarm clocks and we have lots of other things that interrupt our sleep (from noises, to discomfort to various sleeping disorders to health issues) so we remember our dreams more often than we should.� �If you are remembering a lot of bad dreams, you might be having trouble getting a good night's sleep, and that's a bigger issue to your emotional well-being than the content of your dreams.�

Kiss

So, just the feeling's of dread, worry or sadness in a bad dream shouldn't be waking me up? I'm very much aware that the lack of good sleep is abig part of my problem (and the fact that the past couple of weeks the dreams make me avoid TRYING to sleep), but I guess I'm not very knowledgable about what wakes me up. When I do achieve lucid dreaming, I tend to deliberately wake myself to get out of the dream.

Maybe what I really need is a totem.

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"The power is not in the mask. It's in whether we chose to wear it."
-Peter Blustrinsky

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Reply #6 - Aug 8^th, 2010 at 5:32pm

Silent Knight Offline
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Thank you, Krumpson, that is the sort of practical advice for which I was looking.

http://www.maniccity.tv/

"The power is not in the mask. It's in whether we chose to wear it."
-Peter Blustrinsky

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Reply #7 - Aug 8^th, 2010 at 6:52pm

Krumpson Offline
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Silent Knight wrote on Aug 8^th, 2010 at 5:18pm:

Krumpson wrote on Aug 8^th, 2010 at 5:13pm:

Different approach to this:

Probably the best way to decrease "bad" dreams is to work on whatever it is that causes you to wake up during REM sleep.� �You can't remember dreams if you don't wake up during them, and perfectly natural sleeping patterns allow you to wake up in stage 1 sleep when you aren't dreaming. Unfortunately, we have time schedules and use alarm clocks and we have lots of other things that interrupt our sleep (from noises, to discomfort to various sleeping disorders to health issues) so we remember our dreams more often than we should.� �If you are remembering a lot of bad dreams, you might be having trouble getting a good night's sleep, and that's a bigger issue to your emotional well-being than the content of your dreams.�

Kiss

So, just the feeling's of dread, worry or sadness in a bad dream shouldn't be waking me up? I'm very much aware that the lack of good sleep is abig part of my problem (and the fact that the past couple of weeks the dreams make me avoid TRYING to sleep), but I guess I'm not very knowledgable about what wakes me up. When I do achieve lucid dreaming, I tend to deliberately wake myself to get out of the dream.

Maybe what I really need is a totem.

It sounds like it could be stress that's interrupting your sleep. The feelings you have during your dreams can be magnified feelings that you are having about stuff in your life. Stress can definitely cause nightmares, especially for people with severe trauma, which in turn can cause a vicious cycle of sleep deprivation. If it's a huge problem, you might want to talk to your doctor about breaking the cycle with sleeping medications or other remedies. You've been through a lot this last year or so, and it would make sense that you are losing sleep because of anxiety.

I hope you find help! Sleep deprivation can cause depression and make you lose your ability to concentrate and wreak havoc on your immune system and emotions and energy and pretty much everything!

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Reply #8 - Aug 8^th, 2010 at 7:30pm

Silent Knight Offline
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Krumpson wrote on Aug 8^th, 2010 at 6:52pm:

[quote author=6559546E7550435A6E7A5F58565945310 link=1281281421/5#5 date=1281309516][quote author=655E445F585D69705944424F70594344360 link=1281281421/4#4 date=1281309238]wreak havoc on your immune system

Ugh. Since my immune system is being surpressed by medications already, I find that disconcerting.

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"The power is not in the mask. It's in whether we chose to wear it."
-Peter Blustrinsky

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Reply #9 - Aug 8^th, 2010 at 11:25pm

Silent Knight Offline
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The dreams are definitely related to real issues in my life, and the feelings are definitely magnified feelings about them. Thanks for giving me some ideas on dealing with it.

http://www.maniccity.tv/

"The power is not in the mask. It's in whether we chose to wear it."
-Peter Blustrinsky

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