Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» If you have nightmares on occasion are you ever aware of it WHILE YOU ARE HAVING THEM? Do you KNOW you will awaken soon?
As someone who used to be troubled by occasional but very dangerous nightmares I can assure you that you don't know you are dreaming until it wakes you, and even then there may be a few moments before you realise it was only a dream.
There is though a curious dream state in which you are not fully asleep, and I have found those very unsettling because the vision is working but not the thinking bits. What they meant for me is seeing something in the near-darkness and interpreting it as something threatening or deeply unpleasant; when really it is something innocent and familiar such as a picture or a heap of clothes.
I think sleep-walking is somewhat similar in that whatever the sleep-walker "sees", his or her vision is functioning enough for moving around; without using the old cartoon trick of extended arms as antennae.
I recall a startling example of that when once staying overnight in a caving-club's hostel. A groups of us sitting up late in the lounge, were interrupted by a man who'd come downstairs from the bunk-room, entering the lounge by one door, walking normally but rapidly across the room, into the kitchen and through a further door into a corridor leading him back to the stairs - he did not re-appear. He was completely oblivious to us. "Oh, he's sleep-walking", said one of the others, adding casually, "He does that sometimes." He must have been able to see where he was going as he did not walk into any obstacles, but evidently not aware of where he was - nor that he was stark naked.
Yes, when I was young I would know I was in a dream, perhaps a nightmare, but not necessarily. I remember specifically running for my life knowing that I was dreaming and when I woke I was sweating and my sheets were in a bunch at the foot of the bed. I think I was running in my sleep. I don't miss remembering those intense dreams. I'm sure I have them from time to time.
Thank you for your reply Durdle and Happy Friday. For many decades I have had two recurring dreams. Both filled with anxiety but not really threatening. The first one is that I am somewhere strange to me among people I do not know. Nothing is familiar. Then things begin closing and people leave to go home and I am trying to find where I parked my car and hope when I locate it I will remember how to get home. It get darker and l'm alone still searching. Then I wake up. The other is that I'm getting ready to leave the house for work and something keeps happening to delay me. I keep looking at the clock and realize I'm going to be late and will have to call in and say I'm delayed or I won't be in. In the awake state I get extremely anxious if I think I'm going to be late for an appointment..almost in a panic but not quite. I have no idea why or what the dreams mean and I try to remind myself that if I have one of them it is just a dream and I will wake up. Weird? Are dreams how we clear our head of cobwebs? I wonder? I shall ask. :)
This post was edited by RosieG at October 2, 2020 1:54 AM MDT
I don't try to analyse dreams, or find "meanings" in them. I suspect if you do, you would only start worrying about things! I don't think serious neuroscience and psychology attempts to "explain" dream stories, only to find out why we dream, and what the brain gets up generally to once it's made us stop thinking about it by sending us to sleep.
Owners of dogs and cats often say their pets appear to be dreaming sometimes, but short of brain-scanning it is very hard to know if the animal is dreaming or just muscle-twitching to ward off stiffness and cramp, and to keep the throat clear of accumulated saliva - we do much the same, usually by rolling over and by swallowing, but we don't know we are at the time. Also their senses are tuned differently to ours and might be more sensitive, so the apparent dream might be a reaction to some odd sound we had not noticed. A cat will become alert from sleep in an instant, but if it thinks it is safe after all, soon goes back to sleep.
The brain is actually very busy during sleep, and sleep is vital to it. It seems to work in shifts so some departments have a rest while others are active; and of course some areas of the brain are doing Very Important Things like overseeing staying alive and mending damaged bits, including within itself as best it can. It closes down the senses but very carefully, so though taste and smell are switched off and our eyes are closed, and our vision, hearing and touch are turned down to alarm-level, with our eyes shut, but not completely off - an important safety-precaution. (Our eye-lids are slightly translucent, so we notice a sudden bright light; and our bodies are tuned to a diurnal life, not to struggle with artificial light for hours at a time at night.)
The "waking dream", when we are in a sort of brief limbo but cannot grasp reality, must need the eyes open for the imagination to turn familiar objects into something threatening. I have noticed many of my dreams are in very subdued light with a grey-scale effect like an antique photograph, and I wonder if my eyes are open and the dream-scene becomes set against the near-darkness of the bedroom.
So I have no idea what dreams really do other than I accept current thinking on basically why they happen; and I do not believe in "analysing" dreams in the prescriptive way of glossy-magazine columnists. Even so, we all know they sometimes reflect reality by including people or places we know, and sometimes they are set off by anxiety or stress in daily life - and of course, some people dream "flashbacks" - memories of dreadful personal experiences.
The accepted theory for dreaming at all seems to be as a by-product of the brain sorting and refreshing memories. Yet most of mine create highly-detailed but drastically altered versions of real places, or are just as finely-detailed but totally invented, non-existent places. Perhaps it's the dream's theme that matters, and then only in a very general way, reflecting some particular worry.
The nightmares I had, whose common theme was of being trapped by a vehicle or, in one, a train coming off the line, seemed to be set off by stress and frustration at work.
I never actually dreamt about work while I was working, as far as I recall, save for one rather odd impression of returning after a holiday to find my work area had been converted into an open-plan office and a large tank of water it contained, was now an ornamental lily-pond. Ironically I dreamt that while on holiday! Since retiring I have often dreamt about work and work colleagues. Those dreams are never alarming but more and more surreal, and seem to becoming less frequent.
What I have read, and realised for myself, is how much dreams compress time. They cover in moments, what in reality would take much longer. Certainly in mine, they sometimes abridge the story, rather as in a radio drama, suddenly switching from one location to the next; and often in odd ways. So for example a dream of visiting another town would omit the travelling and show just the destination. Perhaps the brain relates only the important parts of a story that is often very thin or ludicrous anyway!
Why nightmares though, and other unpleasant but not frightening dreams? And why recurring dreams or dream-themes? Ah, I have no idea but would guess that the theme becomes so implanted in our memories, and is so worrying, that it is very easy to find and arouse when the bit of brain that says "Stop and think" is asleep - so the dream feeds on itself.
You can't remind yourself it is a dream while you are dreaming, only when you wake and realise that's what it was. The brain does not work like that.
I'm SHOCKED at your reply Durdle. "I don't try to analyse dreams". Could be your inner self trying to communicate with you. Sending you a letter perhaps. You wouldn't open the letter? I think there is a reason/purpose for what we dream. I think there is a reason/purpose for everything we experience and if we can figure out what it is we are better off for it. But to not even try to make sense of it? That I cannot do Durdle. I ask questions all the time because I want to find out about whatever crosses my mind. It's how I learn and learning has always been my cuppa tea. That is why early on I was always drawn to those who are very knowledgeable and very smart who are willing to share what they know what they think and what they imagine. I have always tried to surround myself with people more intelligence with more wisdom than I have because I feel SAFE with them. I know I am in good hands so to speak. "The unexamined life is not worth living". I think that's true. Many people NEVER EVER review themselves to see if they need repair or if something is broken that needs to be replaced. I do it constantly. I am always examining everyone and everything especially myself and my motives and my intentions. Of course I cannot know if I'm being honest with myself. Not really. I know what feels right and is comfortable. I also know that we always give ourselves the benefit of the doubt no matter what. So within the confines of being a human being I'm always in the shop for repair or maintenance. Aren't you? Thank you for your thoughtful reply! :)
Durdle 