Nightmares

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/8/09 at 11:52pm

I've been having some crazy one's lately. Anyone have any tips for overcoming really vivid, disturbing dreams that feel real?

[jessica0414]

Posted: 4/8/09 at 11:56pm

Do you watch TV or use the internet before you go to sleep? Sometimes that can contribute. I tend to have really vivid dreams also, and so (as lame as this might sound) I try to think happy thoughts as I'm falling asleep. I usually try to pick out one person or event specifically to focus on, from my day or just in general, and then sometimes I will dream about that instead of, for example, the class I'm taking on Hitler and the Holocaust that has some incredibly disturbing material. I also try not to watch TV before I sleep, as even previews for horror movies will give me nightmares. I read a book for about half an hour and then turn the lights out and "meditate" as I'm drifting off. Hope that helps! :)

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/8/09 at 11:58pm

I tend to use the TV to fall asleep. Maybe that's part of my problem.

[Q]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 12:04am

Keeping sex toys in place can sometimes keep your mind occupied. So I've heard.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 12:23am

Bobby, you might now have a nightmare of Q attacking you with a sheep!

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 12:26am

I've been having that dream for years, brdlwyer.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 12:28am

Talk to Joey McNeely.

He's very good at getting rid of Nightmares.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 12:29am

Dreams and Nightmares are your minds way of working through events , fears and emotions you have in waking life. Try to remember them, write them down in a dream journal when you awake. Understanding them is one way of getting over them.
I found it useful to instruct myself to realize when I was dreaming before falling asleep. Sometimes it would work and in the middle of a nightmare suddenly I would realize;" Hey, it's a dream!" and they would lose their edge.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 12:33am

Usually nightmares are subconscious manifestations of what we're ignoring or afraid to deal with during our waking hours. I used to always have dreams where I needed to be able to see but couldn't open my eyes. You might want to check out this website. It's all about symbolism in dreams and nightmares, and it might help you sort out any problems that could be causing the bad dreams. http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 12:35am

I tend to use the TV to fall asleep.

Me too. I've been told so many times that it's bad to fall asleep with the t.v. on, but I can't fall asleep without it. Silence freaks me out, and music keeps me awake.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 12:38am

I'd rather suffer a nightmare than the thoughts that come into my head from trying to fall asleep in a silent room.

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 12:44am

My mind always goes to the end of the world while falling asleep when it's silent. It freaks me out.

[BDrischBDemented]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 2:13am

I too have a tendency to drift to less pleasant thoughts when trying to go to sleep without a TV on. I'm just too used to it.

Generally, I've found personally if I watch lighter fare before bed, I have pretty good sleep. I usually have on a DVD of some comedy TV show, which generally keeps me entertained as I'm getting sleepy but also works if I'm not.

So, uh, I guess what I'm saying is, watch something fun and familiar if you can. It works for me.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 9:14am

Practically all of my dreams turn into nightmares partway through... usually the same nightmare. I have these dreams about going to a horrible, run-down zoo where all of the animals are kept in terrible conditions. Then, they inevitably escape and try to kill me, after killing my family... most of the time, it's pandas, actually.

But I also recently had a dream entirely in German about a Nazi concentration camp (and I'm not Jewish!), one where Cheyenne Jackson and two bald guys came to my house and systematically decapitated people with knives (while singing!), one about a weird communist town where everyone was Jamaican and locked in tiny cages except for me, and one about the Phantom of the Opera living at my local swimming pool and killing people, where my best friend drove taxis that dropped off the dead bodies at other people's houses.