I had a dream-mare...
...this morning which was a bit strange. I've had similar ones before, so I just wanted to see how familiar they seem to people (blogs can be research tools too, you know).
I had woken previously and drifted back to sleep. This is something I revel in when I can. This weekend is the first weekend I've spent in Leeds in a long time and it's been lovely and peaceful. I've had time to book all my tickets etc for San Francisco, go food shopping, tidy up; generally be domesticated then, as well as get a few hours of work in. Brilliant. Anyway, I likely felt guilty at having slept in for another hour or so and was probably trying not to let myself sleep too deeply. In my dream I was in bed, as normal, trying to get up. But I could neither move nor see myself. Firstly it was just my hands that were invisible, but this increased slightly throughout the dream. I was trying so hard to get out of bed and move to check some stuff in the flat and see whether I could rouse myself from this state, but alas, nothing could be done. The dream was quite lengthy. I also couldn't see; I was trying to reach for my specs but they made no difference. This is something reasonably common in my dreams.
When I woke I was alert, so I had very likely been in REM sleep. Maybe the lack of being able to see reflected this. I was trying to wake so was reasonably lucid, but clearly dreaming. I just wondered if anyone else was familiar with (a) not being able to see in their dreams and (b) this strange dream-wake state (when waking as opposed to falling asleep)?
Thought would be much appreciated.
I'm off to see whether it constitutes a nightmare or a dream. It was pretty scary.
Moon. xxx
(Incidentally one source would say it's a nightmare as it was more of a situation and a sensation (typical of stage 4 reports) than a narrative (typical of REM reports). I think that's crap. nightmares describe emotional content rather than sleep stage mentation. A better source says it is a nightmare, largely because it was so emotional it woke me. However it's the being on the brink of sleep-wake that's of interest. I'm not sure whether it was the emotionality or the general state that woke me. Help me out, someone, please! Are these dreammares common?
I had woken previously and drifted back to sleep. This is something I revel in when I can. This weekend is the first weekend I've spent in Leeds in a long time and it's been lovely and peaceful. I've had time to book all my tickets etc for San Francisco, go food shopping, tidy up; generally be domesticated then, as well as get a few hours of work in. Brilliant. Anyway, I likely felt guilty at having slept in for another hour or so and was probably trying not to let myself sleep too deeply. In my dream I was in bed, as normal, trying to get up. But I could neither move nor see myself. Firstly it was just my hands that were invisible, but this increased slightly throughout the dream. I was trying so hard to get out of bed and move to check some stuff in the flat and see whether I could rouse myself from this state, but alas, nothing could be done. The dream was quite lengthy. I also couldn't see; I was trying to reach for my specs but they made no difference. This is something reasonably common in my dreams.
When I woke I was alert, so I had very likely been in REM sleep. Maybe the lack of being able to see reflected this. I was trying to wake so was reasonably lucid, but clearly dreaming. I just wondered if anyone else was familiar with (a) not being able to see in their dreams and (b) this strange dream-wake state (when waking as opposed to falling asleep)?
Thought would be much appreciated.
I'm off to see whether it constitutes a nightmare or a dream. It was pretty scary.
Moon. xxx
(Incidentally one source would say it's a nightmare as it was more of a situation and a sensation (typical of stage 4 reports) than a narrative (typical of REM reports). I think that's crap. nightmares describe emotional content rather than sleep stage mentation. A better source says it is a nightmare, largely because it was so emotional it woke me. However it's the being on the brink of sleep-wake that's of interest. I'm not sure whether it was the emotionality or the general state that woke me. Help me out, someone, please! Are these dreammares common?
posted by Moon @ 10:33 am
4 Comments:
At 5:34 pm,
Lord G said…
I get regular occurances of something that I understand is 'sleep paralysis', though I imagine that you know much more about this than I ever will.
It scares me shitless every time...
x
At 11:37 pm,
Tombola said…
Moon, I was talking to someone over the weekend who mentioned getting sleep paralysis approx. monthly. He hallucinates that there is a witch or something nasty on his pillow and he can't move. Sounds freaky. I've never had it. Mind, I'm fuckin' top in bed. I never fall out.
Arf!
At 3:46 pm,
frankien said…
I dont get sleep paralysis or dream mares. But I have heard that a lot of people have lucid dreaming. And to some extent I think I usually know that I am asleep. I would categorise your experience as a form of lucid dreaming.
I love it when you start drifting to sleep when you've got a post lunch dip or something, then you wake up and realise you've had nonsensical thoughts for the last ten minutes. Its better in the summer when its warm.
At 2:38 pm,
Moon said…
Yeah sleep paralysis is scary. And you're right, frankien, there certainly is lucidity at the same time in these dream mares. But it's more than that as it lacks the clear narrative that usually accompanies lucid dreaming. I'm not sure what it is, but some kind of cruel concoction of all these things. Lucid dreams can be cool though, of course.
And the mind wandering; yes. Dreamy! Hurrah for there being a glimpse of warm weather to come. Perhaps not in Scotland, though.
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