Okay, on very rare occasions (like, once or twice a year if that much) I have dreams where I know that I'm dreaming and I will tell myself to wake up (because it's pretty much nightmarish) and it takes so long for me to be able to wake myself up...it's horrifying! So, here's the weird part. I'll be dreaming as if I'm awake. I'll be in my bed and everything will be the same. I actually just had one so I'll give an example. I fell asleep with the blanket over my head, my childhood toy next to my head, and my dog snuggled into my belly. I dreamt that all these things were there. I could FEEL them. I don't remember seeing the toy but I also felt it as well. But my entire body kinda felt...I don't know, tingly, I guess? Like, when your leg falls asleep and it gets all numb and has that tingly feeling. Except it was my entire body. Now, in the dream I kept my eyes closed because I can always hear scary shit happening. This time was eerily quiet until I opened my eyes and started to move. I couldn't move very fast or very far. I tried. And then my dog started making these horrible moaning sounds. Human-like moaning sounds. I eventually woke up after that, but it was really terrifying. I don't want to go back to sleep (even though I'm horribly exhausted) because I actually woke up from it and dozed back off into it again. I just want to know if there is some reason that I have dreams like these. So if anyone could help...that'd just be awesome. ---------- Post added 24th Jan 2015 at 08:14 AM ---------- I guess I should also include that I haven't felt right sleeping for a couple of weeks now. I usually get an hour of two of sleep before school and then I nap out on the couch for a few hours during the day...I try to avoid sleeping because I've just been so paranoid of my room lately. I get really uncomfortable in it and I honestly haven't slept with the lights off in so long...I just can't bring myself to turn the lights off while I'm in the room. So, lots of trouble sleeping lately. ---------- Post added 24th Jan 2015 at 08:14 AM ---------- I guess I should also include that I haven't felt right sleeping for a couple of weeks now. I usually get an hour of two of sleep before school and then I nap out on the couch for a few hours during the day...I try to avoid sleeping because I've just been so paranoid of my room lately. I get really uncomfortable in it and I honestly haven't slept with the lights off in so long...I just can't bring myself to turn the lights off while I'm in the room. So, lots of trouble sleeping lately.
It sounds like you are having symptoms of sleep paralysis, or 'night terrors'. That is when your body's signals get crossed and you are on a level that is neither awake nor asleep. It can vary in it's tilt. For example, you could be more awake than asleep and be perfectly conscious and lucid, but unable to move and dreaming into the room. It sounds like you are tipped more into sleep- but your sensations are still awake and your body can't decide what to do with it- hence the tingling and the feelings. This is usually brought on by stress or certain events in your life; but can also be hereditary. Unfortunately, resting more and decreasing stress levels around you is really the only way to get rid of it. I understand it's easy to get paranoid and fear your dreams. I'm a grade A insomniac and have also suffered from sleep paralysis, though with me, I usually am dreaming into reality and hallucinating. I can testify that light does help the situation, because your brain cannot imagine things into the darkness. Another solution is to talk to your doctor about it. You can get some medication to help you sleep and combat this, though I would only recommend getting on it until you are back to normal with your patterns and feel comfortable in doing so. It's a pain to be on sleep medication. I hope this helps, and if you need any more information or perhaps think I'm wrong, I'll be around! c:
Do some psychological rituals to clean the room. Get litter out. Clean up. Get some incense or essential oils (lavender, citronella... you can look up some, suitable for cleansing and soothing). Use the scent, then open up window and door and let old air out and fresh air in. You could fan the old symbolically out with a pillow. When you feel the air is clean, close door and window, and use a scent you like. This gives you a kind of safe feeling. A few drops of essential oil in a paper towel might do. Careful, maybe put it on a tray so nothing gets stained. If you have central heating, you could put it near the heating. You could place electric or electronic devices away from the bed, may 1 or 2 m away. A radio clock also. You might even think about changing the place of the bed a little. You could meditate daily on white light. Just imagine yourself filled with white light. You could try the same in your sleep, when you feel unsafe imagine yourself filled with light. Take daily a few deep breaths, slowly inhaling, slowly exhaling. Usually people breathe very shallow. Do some exercises, if you sit a lot. A walk a few minutes daily, or a few situps twice a day. Don't eat heavy one or two hours before going to sleep, or drink high sugar drinks. And avoid disturbing pictures half an hour before going to sleep. Like from tv... or from games. You could try to relax and come down, and think of something nice. Maybe reading a nice story ? You could drink some warm milk with honey, or have a small portion of cereal half an hour before sleeping. Here might be some further hints, but above are already many of them. http://emptyclosets.com/forum/anonymous-discussions/166237-nightmares.html If you belive in god, you might pray for protection. Just one or two moments a day. That might additionally soothe you unconsciously. And you might do one or two things that brighten up your room. Maybe taking dark posters out, if there are any. (*hug*)
I agree, sleep paralysis is part of this and may be related to a change of diet. Paralysis is normal when dreaming but changes in metabolism can prevent your body from entering sleep completely and that can cause some really weird dreams. Also, the room terror thing is a sign of insecurity or more specifically, it's a desperate attempt to gain better control of your life. It's a little bit like PTSD in that you anxiously don't want to let go of control for fear your life will go horrible wrong if you do so and that in turn keeps you in this constant state of alertness. You should get to the bottom of whatever the root problem is and resolve it. It can be very exhausting to keep on this way.
