Dreams = Anxiety/Depression/Stress?

[Okaishi]

Has anyone else ever had a similar problem to this?

I have extremely vivid dreams. Lots of them. They're very real, very long and involved, and can run the gambit from totally ordinary to off-the-wall, Freudian-territory stuff.

I don't know if I have the dreams because I don't sleep well, or if I don't sleep well because I have the dreams. All I know is that I have these excruciatingly vivid dreams nightly, and I rarely, if ever, get a good night's sleep.

I wouldn't call myself a depressed or stressed out person, but it occurred to me this morning, after having an extremely vivid and involved nightmare about the photographer not showing up to my wedding, that these dreams, combined with the lack of sleep, could be causing me an inordinate amount of stress that I fail to really notice. But I don't really know what to do about it. I can't go to sleep any sooner because there simply aren't enough hours in the day, and I can't stop the dreams from happening. I don't have apnea or anything like that; my fiance has confirmed that I at least LOOK like I'm sleeping peacefully and I don't snore, weeze, or anything like that.

I'm starting to think I'm just mental and my brain has to release itself at night, but it's not doing me any favors, that's for sure.

[CHANDLERS WISH]

Sleep, means your brain switches off and relaxes.

Lack of sleep, dreams means it's still extremely active and can't switch off and all that happened that day or over a short period of time, swirl in the thought patterns and create dreams, nightmares.

photographer not showing up to my wedding

For instance at present, you are planning a wedding that is only a few weeks away and your mind can't switch off, did you organise this, that, what if this goes wrong, what if the photographer doesn't show and sub-consciously, un-beknown to you, you wake remembering only that the photographer didn't show up, and how you felt about that and the picture you see in front of you.

It's fantastic that you can remember dreams..

It's not good that you can't switch your mind off.

You can get sleeping tablets that will let you drift off without thought but you need to train yourself.

Try meditation, deep breathing thinking of nothing, and practise this method every day for 10 minutes to start with, so you can train your mind to switch off.

It's active 24/7 and needs rest so you in turn can rest.

CW

[Joy]

Weddings are stressful events and that stress is mainfesting into your dreams aka nightmares. Is there conflict over this marriage or mother and mother inlaw making demands. Being pulled to please everyone 's demands on your wedding day is stressful as well. IF everyone has their say and hand in the planning of this wonderful event.

You need your rest so you look beautiful that day so i hope this subsides for you so you can get some much needed rest

[niko]

its probably because you think a lot about the wedding and in some part of your mind, all the chaos is bothering you. i have a problem with having weird dreams too, but they fascinate me and are quite interesting. i have had several dreams about killing people and burying them so that no one finds out, i have robbed banks in my dreams, i have gone on vacations in my dreams even had dreams about kidnapping people or me being kidnapped. i know a lot of people would think those are some ed up dreams but i have just learned to see them as a form of entertainment! my friends think its just because i watch too many suspense movies and read too many suspense novels. dont worry its not too big a deal and dont worry about the wedding! im sure even if something gets ed up you too will have each other!

[ItsASecret]

There are 5 different stages of sleep. Each stage of sleep can be monitored through a EEG (electroencephalogram) which just records the electrical activity, via waves (like the lines you see on a lie detector test on tv), of your brain at different times. Stages 1 and 2 consist of light sleep, like when you first fall asleep. Your brain is still quite 'awake' even though you are asleep so the waves (beta, alpha, and theta) that the EEG picks up on are high frequency, low aplitude. Generally you can be easily woken up during these stages. Stages 3 and 4 are when you are slowly getting more into the lower frequency, higher amplitude wave lengths (delta), this means you are falling into a deeper sleep. Stage 5 is called REM sleep. REM stands for rapid eye movement. This is the considered the 'deep sleep' that everyone has heard of. Typically this is when your dreams are most vivid, most active, and very prominent. The waves produced in this stage are low amplitude, and high frequency-which means lots of activity going on. When people are woken up from REM sleep and asked to recall their dreams this is the time when they can remember most of the dream if not everything. If woken up during the stages researchers have found that dreams are not easily recalled and if they do they only remember tiny bits and pieces. Typically at night we go through 3 or 4 cycles. Starting at stage 1 to 4 then REM, and then back to stage 1 again...each time REM sleep gets increased because as the night progresses you are falling into a deeper sleep. What is likely happening to you is your body is deciding to spend more time in REM sleep than the other stages (even though you will still be going through the 3 or 4 complete cycles at night). This would be why you can remember your dreams so well and with such detail.

As for your dreams themselves, they are the work of your unconscious, you have zero control. Even if you are thinking about skipping through a field of daisy's on a warm summer day right before you go to sleep that will not guarantee that you will dream of that. You may see a daisy on top of an elephant's head and wake up saying "what the **** was that about", but it literally means nothing unless you want it to mean something. General stress from the day is plenty, at night you should just teach yourself how to relax and just go to bed with nothing on your mind so that you can get a good nights sleep.

[Stressless06]

I believe that you have been quite stressed over some things as photographer's not there something like that. You get easily stressed out of simple things and you know, i think you don't have to take them seriously. You lacked of sleep because you're thinking about it too much. Just don't think too much, and try to open a verse from The Bible, and pray before you sleep, i think it would help.

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[eleni]

whats your routine before you go to sleep?
i have very vivid dreams too even with lots of meds so they're not the foolproof answer.

if you find yourself stressing about the wedding or whatever while you're trying to get to sleep its unlikely that you're going to feel rested when you wake up.
if its that situation then i would recommend getting your hands on some diazepam which i think is valium.
it doesnt cure all your problems but kind of turns the volume down on them so you can be objective and they dont actively bother you.
i find that half a pill can be enough to stop my mind racing with all the what ifs.
so thats an option.

how organised are you? because if there are *real* things worrying you, like you havent...i dont know, ordered the cake or something then try and make a plan so you'll do set things on set days.
give yourself a realistic set of goals for each day which will allow you to do everything you need to do.
that way you know that its all under control.

are you trying to organise the whole thing by yourself? or are other people helping you out?
if they're not then make them.

another good trick if you're finding it hard to switch off is to, when you're in bed trying to sleep, start saying in your head
'i relax my toes, i relax my toes, my toes are relaxed' then go up your body saying the same thing about your heels, feet, ankles, knees etc
until you get up to your head then you do your face, your head, your mind, yourself.
i find doing that once then counting to a hundred slowly three times, then doing the body again works really well.
its meditation so at least you're calm.

good luck x

[hunibunihuman]

I have recently been getting vivid dreams but I think it is a positiv thing because I suffer form depression and previously I was so numb in life. I find it helps express my unconscious self and makes me feel more human, even though at times I can get confused as to whether they are real or not :S