Sleep Paralysis, Night Terrors, Lucid Dreams: Your Sleep Experiences

[Cachoo]

Your experiences while you sleep:

Night Terrors: My sister had them until she was an adult. She would stand on the bed, her eyes open, screaming at the top of her lungs. She never remembered any of this the next day.

Sleep Paralysis: I've met a surprising number of people who have some experience with this. All experience the inability to move and a few talk about something evil and other worldly near them when this happens. One is a down-to-earth friend who is not religious or superstitious but she her experiences seem to include another being. She also believes the brain is capable of a lot while you sleep.

Lucid Dreaming: The ability to realize you are dreaming and direct the dream. This one sounds fun.

I have the conventional, nonsensical dreams. Since my parents have died I see them in my dreams when they (and I) are much younger. It is comforting.

Et vous?

 

[Vagabond]

Your experiences while you sleep:

Night Terrors: My sister had them until she was an adult. She would stand on the bed, her eyes open, screaming at the top of her lungs. She never remembered any of this the next day.

Sleep Paralysis: I've met a surprising number of people who have some experience with this. All experience the inability to move and a few talk about something evil and other worldly near them when this happens. One is a down-to-earth friend who is not religious or superstitious but she her experiences seem to include another being. She also believes the brain is capable of a lot while you sleep.

Two or three times in my life, I have woken up in the middle of the night and not been able to move for a few seconds. Not pleasant, but after the first time, I knew what was going on and that it would end almost immediately.

Lucid Dreaming: The ability to realize you are dreaming and direct the dream. This one sounds fun.

It's usually not very fun at all for me and involves a recognition that things within the dream are so out of kilter that I must be dreaming.

The last time it happened was last summer, after George Floyd was killed. I dreamed that I was a teenager again, awake and lying on my stomach on my bed in the house where we lived at the time. In my dream, one of my abusive older brothers was on kneeling on my back and covering my nose and mouth, trying to smother me. In the dream, I tried to scream, "Stop! You are killing me!" but the words stayed within my closed mouth. I realized that the only way I could stop him from smothering me was to wake up.

I am still trying to figure out how to "wake up" from the reality that my brother is, in the waking world, still trying, metaphorically, to kill me.

 

[Coco]

Glad to see this thread because I've been thinking of starting one as I've had some real whackadoodle dreams lately. Thanks @Cachoo

@Vagabond that sounds horrible. I'm sorry.

 

[once_upon]

Sleep paralysis- my son's best friend has this. He says he wakes up most days unable to move and has had a few panic attacks thinking he won't ever be able to move. It usually lasts for 1-3 seconds upon waking up. Sometimes longer 10-30 seconds

 

[made_in_canada]

Lucid dreaming isn’t that fun. In my experience those aren’t fun dreams.

My son has night terrors. Also not fun, though now that we realize what’s happening and aren’t trying to wake him up it’s easier. My daughter has also woke up screaming and not really awake, so I think she might end up with them too. But if that’s what’s happening with her they are far less frequent.

 

[quartz]

I have great dreams, mostly of the Alice down the rabbit hole or Bilbo Baggins - I’m going on an adventure! sort. I’m free, I frolic, I express unrepressed whimsy, and I’m in control. No shame, no apologies. Then I wake up and realize who I really am and the daily grind against despair begins.

Most of my dreams seem to be right before I wake up and then I am disoriented and go through a hovering stage where my head feels removed from my body for a bit.

Rarely do I have nightmares, and I wouldn’t even call them nightmares, just the occasional bad dream.
When I had my first child, I had dreams of drowning, which I took to mean that I was feeling overwhelmed by the expectations of being a mother, and once I realized that, I was fine and those dreams stopped.

Like Steve Walsh sings in Closet Chronicles, “daydreams filled his nighttimes, and night-dreams filled his days” - my sleep brain tends to be a happy place, and my awake brain is where I fight my fears.

 

[skategal]

I have a recurring dream about going to Worlds or another figure skating event and when I get there my seats are crap and I can’t see the ice.

I mentioned this to DH last week and he says he has a similar dream except he is at a NHL hockey game.

Anyone else have similar?

Back on topic, I have had lucid dreams before and DS had night terrors.

 

[Cachoo]

I think I need to revisit what constitutes a lucid dream.

 

[BlueRidge]

I have a recurring dream about going to Worlds or another figure skating event and when I get there my seats are crap and I can’t see the ice.

I mentioned this to DH last week and he says he has a similar dream except he is at a NHL hockey game.

Anyone else have similar?

I have this dream! I have it for skating and baseball. Its annoying!

 

[Japanfan]

I had a few lucid dreams many, many years ago. But IIRC, was not able to direct them.

For many years I had dreams about being in an apartment hell. Looking for an apartment. Or finding myself in an apartment in Toronto and wondering why Mr. Japanfan was in Toronto. I assume this stems from years of housing insecurity.

Also, I used to work in market research, door-to-door. I used to have recurring dreams about leaving all my work on the bus after I'd got off, and the bus driving off.

 

[jadingirl]

I have very vivid dreams some wonderful some horrible.

A funny one that I am sure people here would appreciate. After watching skating of the SLC Olympics my husband complained I was kicking him all night - he was like "what were you dreaming about you feet were going non stop and you kept kicking me in the shins!" I had dreamed that I was skating at the Olympics like Michelle Kwan. Guess my feet really believed it!

 

[Cachoo]

I have great dreams, mostly of the Alice down the rabbit hole or Bilbo Baggins - I’m going on an adventure! sort. I’m free, I frolic, I express unrepressed whimsy, and I’m in control. No shame, no apologies. Then I wake up and realize who I really am and the daily grind against despair begins.

Most of my dreams seem to be right before I wake up and then I am disoriented and go through a hovering stage where my head feels removed from my body for a bit.

Rarely do I have nightmares, and I wouldn’t even call them nightmares, just the occasional bad dream.
When I had my first child, I had dreams of drowning, which I took to mean that I was feeling overwhelmed by the expectations of being a mother, and once I realized that, I was fine and those dreams stopped.

Like Steve Walsh sings in Closet Chronicles, “daydreams filled his nighttimes, and night-dreams filled his days” - my sleep brain tends to be a happy place, and my awake brain is where I fight my fears.

You make me think of the film "Inception" and other stories when people have a second "realistic" life when they sleep and come to prefer their life in sleep over their waking life.

Once upon a time I had a particularly stressful job and I would have the same stupid dream....I'm chewing bubblegum and then to my frustration it turns into those green erasers we used to take to school and it keeps growing and growing and I can't spit it out. The dream stopped when I left that job.

 

[puglover]

My husband and I had a "discussion" about unplanned spending and not ordering unnecessary items online. Not going to say which one of us tends to do that but he is still wearing a red/blue shirt that he has owned for decades. Anyway, somehow that concern must have stuck in my brain because I had the most vivid dream that I had gone out and spent $2,000 on a puppy. I then remembered we now live on the fourth floor of a condo (we don't own) so a puppy would be majorly inconvenient. And - just how was I going to justify this obviously unplanned expenditure? No problem - thinks me in the dream - I'll just sell it. I then go through what information I have on the breed, etc. and find out it is just old baby clothes. As I am trying to hide this puppy behind my leg so nobody knows I have it - I fortunately wake up. What a relief to not hear little scampering puppy paws! I love dogs and we have had a number as you can see by my profile name and picture but right now a puppy would truly be a nightmare.

 

[Buzz]

I suffered from sleep paralysis quite often as a teenager but thankfully rarely ever happens anymore. I remember being absolutely terrified and feeling like I could see and hear everything around me. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone ever.

 

[skategal]

I thought I had sleep paralysis a few years ago (either that or a heart attack).

I half woke up and couldn’t move at all and had a crushing heaviness in my chest. It was terrifying.

Turns out DS had crawled in our bed and was sound asleep with only his head on my body but it was right on my chest.

I was so relieved to realize what it was but Holy Cow who knew kid’s heads were so heavy?!?!

 

[AxelAnnie]

. Nothing exciting happens when I sleep......well sometimes the dog sleeps on me. Not very exotic.

 

[quartz]

Heh, so I had an interesting dream last night where I was gifted tiny little gold penis ornaments for my Christmas tree.

 

[Lilia A]

I get sleep paralysis if I fall asleep in an awkward position. For example, half sitting half laying down, but not in a good way like when you lay down on a recliner. More like, if it's a position you wouldn't consider comfortable. It's almost never scary though, I'm just fully aware of what's happening around me and want to move but can't. I also really want to wake up but can't unless something or someone wakes me up (suddenly, slamming doors isn't a bad thing).
The only time sleep paralysis was ever so slightly scary was once when I was visiting my grandparents. I was exhausted and my grandmother told me to go lay down on her bed. Her (gazillion) pillows were so nicely organized I didn't want to make a mess, so I half laid down on top of everything. There were people right outside the bedroom talking and I heard everything, I even remember details of their conversation (including some embarrassing things, hehe, my cousin wasn't too happy about that), and I even remember my mom and uncle entering the room to retrieve some documents from the closet. Anyway, while all of this was going on, I was hallucinating that another person (not a demon or a ghost, a living person whom I don't exactly get along with) was pushing down on my chest and I couldn't breathe, I was sinking into the bed. I remember trying to move my arms to push his (imaginary) hands away but I couldn't move. Finally, a loud noise woke me up. Apparently I was asleep for about 30 minutes, but I was more tired after waking up.
And if anyone's wondering, the person trying to kill me in my sleep hallucination was not even at that family gathering.

Never had night terrors, but a lot of family members did when they were little. Apparently it runs in my family and I'm one of the rare ones who never had an episode according to my mother (not even as a toddler).

Lucid dreaming? Hmm, I'm not too sure. I think it may have happened with a dream I had last year with a family member who had just passed away, but I'm not sure if I knew that I was dreaming or if I knew his presence in the dream wasn't real. I don't remember dreams often, so the fact that I even remember that dream is pretty big.

 

[skateycat]

Lucid dreaming isn’t that fun. In my experience those aren’t fun dreams.

My son has night terrors. Also not fun, though now that we realize what’s happening and aren’t trying to wake him up it’s easier. My daughter has also woke up screaming and not really awake, so I think she might end up with them too. But if that’s what’s happening with her they are far less frequent.

Young Skateycat regularly had night terrors for several years. Fortunately they happened before midnight, so we hadn't gone to sleep yet.