Our Dreams

We All Dream

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Dreams or nightmares. Our sleep is interrupted because of either one. Remembering dreams is not something that happens to me. It seems so real at the time; in the thralls of a nightmare, we want nothing more than to wake up. Experts tell us we cannot have a dream of us dying. We will wake up before the actual event. I’m quite sure I’ve never had a dream in which I die. But, how would I know I do not have a dream recall?

Dream or Nightmare

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At times our dreams can be sweet, funny, comical dreams. Nightmares are oftentimes fraught with tension and fear. Often caused by a scary movie, or book. Medication is also a factor. Or quite possibly an event that happened in our childhood that surfaces while we sleep. Stress also comes into play with nightmares. Anyone who has had the unfortunate fate of being involved in a war may have a symptom called PTSD. This alone will cause nightmares, taking them back to their worst nightmare, casualties, gunfire, and people dying.

Sleepwalkers

Recurring nightmares are the worst. Happening night after night. Oftentimes we will not want to close our eyes and fall asleep because we do not want to experience a nightmare. If it becomes impossible to sleep, seeking help with a therapist may be the next logical step. Before it affects your physical and mental health. Stress and anxiety are two common factors for inducing a nightmare. A feeling of being chased or falling are the scariest nightmares we can experience. Danger, darkness, two strong fear factors can pull us under and keep us there. Waking someone up from a nightmare is not advised. Like someone sleepwalking. Turning them around and steering them back to bed is the best course of action. Waking someone up in the middle of a nightmare will cause them to remember the event clearly and they will have difficulty falling asleep. Letting them sleep through it, they may not recall their bad dream.

Remembering

Dreaming, not always remembering what we dream about is most likely a good thing. My husband Gary recalls most of his dreams. Me, upon waking if I was dreaming, I do not remember any of the dream. Most times I do not recall even having a dream. I am one of those who if I did have a nightmare, I wouldn’t remember it. My husband gives me details of his dreams. It is so foreign to me since I am the exact opposite.

Creepy Giggles

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Along with dreams some of us shout out in our sleep. Startling the person sleeping next to us, we wait with bated breath to see what they say next. My husband giggles in his sleep, it is a weird and kind of creepy giggle. I’ve told him about this, and he says he remembers doing so, it’s like he is in between sleep and being awake. He tells me to wake him up the next time he does it. But I am not certain that is the answer. I let him sleep and eventually the giggling ended sooner or later. Meanwhile, I am lying beside him, totally freaked out by the entire thing. The joys of marriage. For better or worse, in sickness and health, including dreams and nightmares.

 Dreams interrupt our sleep, making us feel groggy and out of sorts the next morning. A dreamless sleep is a good sleep. Nightmares are worse, sleep interrupted while still asleep. Stress, anxiety and most of the time fear invade our sleep with a nightmare. While I love reading a great scary novel, replaying it in my sleep is not something I’d look forward to.

Familiar Faces

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They say every person we dream about we have met at one point in our life. No one is a stranger. Many of us have dreamt about someone who we do not know. Or do not recognize. So,we think, perhaps they crossed our path in the past and we didn’t interact with them. Our mind remembers them and places them in our dreams. Strangers, but not strangers. We do not know them, but we have seen them. The mind is an extraordinary thing. Full of memories, flashbacks of people who have entered and left our lives. Not all of them memorable, but all of them are stored somewhere in the back of our brains. 

So, I say dream away. Think pleasant thoughts before bedtime so those dreams do not turn into nightmares.

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