a night with bad dreams...

[Kristen B. Scherzinger]

When a I went to college, I started to have nightmares. It was the scariest happenings in my life. It's about 2 or 3 nights in one week that i will have that nightmare. It was so clear to me while I am having those dreams. I remember when somebody will look for me and all I  see is a man trying to kill me and I was running without stopping.  My heart beats so fast that I couldn't breathe. Suddenly, my mom will wake me up several times but my mom  said still i am asleep and she will slap me many times to wake me up. When i was awake she'd asked me "Are you awake now? What's happening to you?" and all I want to say  is "ANOTHER NIGHTMARE!!"

I was avoiding watching horror movies because it might be one of the causes of having nightmares. I am always searching on the internet to be able to find a solution but still i can't. Then, it will happen again, another night I was running again trying to escape from snakes (which i fear most) but then,  I was bitten my leg, my arm, my foot. I couldn't stand up  I was so scared and crying . When my mom wakes me up I just thought shit i hate my nights!!.

But most of all, FALLING is always been my dreams every time i'm having nightmares. It was like i'm falling into abyss place that i couldn't imagine and see. Thank God, I have my mom to wake me up when i am having nightmares.

 

These are just one of the nightmares that is so clear and hated most!!!

 

[Kristen B. Scherzinger]

Wow!! Thanks everyone for the great advice. I was out for 3 days, so i just read it now!

I'm gonna try to apply all your advice. Hope it works!

@julie: That is so great advice.Well, it's not boring i like it by the way!. :)

 

[Angel]

Julie talks about analyzing your nightmares... this is something that really helps me.  Most of my dreams are very vivid, so are my nightmares.  I have the typical ones like falling into nothing, my teeth falling out/crumbling, and some that are very specific to my real life experiences.  If you have the latter, it may be useful to talk to a therapist or another professional who can help you interpret what the meaning was.

For example: I had a nightmare back in February about a woman who really had a bad effect on my childhood.  For the next couple weeks I was very depressed.  In the dream it seemed she had gotten the better of me, over powered me.  So I talked to my counselor about it.  She explained that some of the details I had given proved the woman to be the one lacking power and that I came out of the situation with what I had been looking for while the woman couldn't do a thing about it.  Her explanation made so much sense, I felt a lot better after that.

I know the details here are pretty vague, but I wanted to keep it from being too long.  =P 

[Julie]

I don't want to be boring, but let me try to explain your dreams in semi-scientific way :)

 

This is not about HORROR MOVIES. Well, it can be the case with children before age of 6-7 or something, but a healthy adult brain, even the brain of the most empathic and creative person, still differentiates them from reality and they shouldn't appear in dreams. Unless you want it, at least on subconscious level. Documentaries and social dramas are much more dangerous. I remember, when I was 10, I watched a horrible documentary about people selling human organs. Really, there was a court case, where people killed other people to sell their organs. For a few nights in a row I saw a man with a bucket full of human hearts and he wanted to take my heart, literally.

 

There is an interesting mechanism with recurring nightmares, which I call the VICIOUS CIRCLE. Our brains tend to reflect in dreams real life events. However, for a brain it doesn't matter if a certain event was real or imagined with all details. The second one is as real as if it was true. If one had a vivid nightmare and continues to analyze it in real life, the poor brain thinks, it was a real event and may reflect it in a nightmare. Then it repeats. I guess, the answer, how to stop this, is obvious. Especially, you should try not to think about the nightmares before falling asleep. Yes, this is hard, it takes a few months, but it works. C'mon, people can overcome claustrophobia and other irrational fears. If you're on this network, you might be a day-dreamer, with a brain tending to have pleasure as often as it can get it. Why not to stop chewing the nightmares and think about something better? Or, as the girls say, try music and lucid dreaming tricks. You might be interested in advanced lucid dreaming techniques to tell the man and snakes to disapper, again, it takes time and self-training, but it works. Just google it to check the stories.

 

Some interpretations:

 

There seems to be a lot of fear, and getting rid of fear is the way to get out. If this is a rational fear, we should solve the problem. If irrational, we should stop caring about it. A real day-dreamer would find a third solution - to stop caring despite the rational fear. But this is what we're trying to flight :) I know, it's easier to say than to do, but it's always worth trying.

 

FALLING is one of the most common night dreams and there is nothing to be afraid of. For some people (including myself) falling is just an indicator, that you're just falling asleep or moving to a deeper sleep stage. And yes, we're usually fall to nowhere or to abyss. I used to be afraid of this, now I don't care. Another interpretation (most common) is that falling is a sign from your subconsciousness, indicating fear. Falling is a common indication of insecurity, instability and anxiety. You might experience something, which hurts your self-esteem. Or, you faced some challenge and not sure, if you'll cope with it. You might have irrational fears in waking life and falling may continue before you either solve the problem (which might be hard) or you stop caring about it (easier). Last but not least, if falling usually appears as the end of the nightmare, then there IS A LINK BETWEEN FALLING AND NIGHTMARES. What is happening with your body, when you have a night dream about falling, is that you have slight spasms in all your body. This is how the body gets prepared for quick awakening and staying alert in case of danger. This is a very good mechanism, by the way.

 

SNAKES may either represent hidden threats and worries. You might also be afraid (again, at least on subconscious level) a person close to you. Feat of snakes has some sexual meaning, also related to fear. But the simplest interpretation is that snakes simply represent your fear of something. The brain is afraid of something, then it thinks "but what am I afraid of? Ok, she's afraid of snakes. So, there IS a snake". It may sound like a joke, but this is a real mechanism.

 

CHASING is also about fear or facing a challenge in real life, which you're not sure you can cope with.   

[Jane Wilson]

I am one of the rare people who can count the number of nightmares they have had on one hand.  But both of my children develop anxiety disorders and suffered from nightmares.  Intense fear is generated by stress, when you try to sleep your body believes you have been in danger all day and your mind reacts accordingly.  That is at least my theory for those who suffer with axiety disorder.  If you have faith in a religion that can be used as a counter to the state that causes you to suffer nightmares.  If the religion happens to be Christianity, I can help you with that.  If it is something else you may want to consult a trusted mentor.  If you do not have a resource of that nature you might want to try techniques that calm your mind and body before trying to lay down and go to sleep.  There are some yogi exercises that involve breathing properly and focusing on that, calming your mind down to one thought and slow stretches to relax the body.  I hope that there is something helpful for you there.