Vivid dreams

[Heathcliff]

Lately I seem to be having more vivid dreams than usual. For the past few months I seem to dream almost every night- before anyone corrects me on this, I have read before that we dream every night, but don't always remember our dreams. That's what I mean, I seem to remember dreams almost every night.

Last night in particular I had some intense dreams. At one point I seemed to know I was dreaming- in fact (in the dream) I thought I was sleepwalking in real life and was worried that I would fall down the stairs without knowing it (although that wasn't rational because there aren't any stairs in my flat!) Then the dream changed completely, and became erotic... I won't say anything else about that as this isn't the adult board (but it wasn't fetish-related).

Don't get the wrong impression here- I wouldn't call these dreams nightmares (although some of the dreams feel stressful). Also I'm not saying I dream about chopping people up with a chainsaw or anything like that! But it is something I've noticed lately.

I was wondering if anyone has any similar experiences, or knows what might cause it? I do drink alcohol and my diet is probably not the best- but I'm not depressed, and I don't take any illegal drugs.

[Skiffy]

sounds pretty normal to me, although, maybe I'm not the best person to give advice on what "normal" dreams are. I once did dream about murdering my family (but it was only because a watcher guy from Buffy told me it was the only way to save the world from Lord Voldemort, and, after I stabbed them all in their sleep, time reversed and Voldemort was defeated so none of it had ever happened) and once I had an entire dream in anime. It had it's own flash-back sequence.

[Anonymouse]

My dreams can be vivid and intense or just a bunch of random events all blurred together that don't make any sense or don't elicit any emotions. It doesn't seem to follow any pattern.

I will say that I rarely have nightmares and I attribute it to the fact that I have dream-catchers with me every time I sleep. It's really bizarre. The one I had above my bed fell down while there was construction going on outside my house. I never bothered to put it back up (it fell behind my bed somewhere) and I've had more bad dreams than usual. I also just got over mononucleosis so I don't know if being that sick for so long just wore my body down and changed the way I dream.

In the past couple of months I've woken up screaming from one horribly graphic dream where my mother got murdered trying to save my sister from a rapist, and I've woken up crying tears from another dream where my aunt died. I've never woken up feeling so deeply emotional before, it's really intense. Looking back I kind of like it. It just shows how raw and powerful dreams can be.

They're not all bad though. I've had some really vivid good dreams but I can't think of any recent ones.

I do drink alcohol and my diet is probably not the best- but I'm not depressed, and I don't take any illegal drugs.

Well I'm pretty much the opposite of you on every point there. So again I don't think anything really exacerbates it, it might just be random.

Do you dream in color? Someone once told me that only a small percentage of people actually dream in color but out of all the people I've asked, none of them told me they dream in black and white or anything like that.

ScotGirl, an entire dream in anime? That sounds so awesome! When I was eight or nine I had a dream I was in a Dr. Seuss book. Dreams can be fun.

[snuffle-bunny]

I have two or three nights in a row every so often where I'll have very vivid dreams, always in colour. I have no idea what causes them and they're usually good dreams. Sometimes though, the dream won't leave completely when I wake up and it seems to haunt me all day. Does this happen to anyone else?

[SusieQusie]

I was wondering if anyone has any similar experiences, or knows what might cause it? I do drink alcohol and my diet is probably not the best- but I'm not depressed, and I don't take any illegal drugs.

Do you eat a lot of cheese? Cheese affects dreams, especially if eaten right before bed. Different cheeses produce different results. Gotta love that cheese.

[Heathcliff]

I was wondering if anyone has any similar experiences, or knows what might cause it? I do drink alcohol and my diet is probably not the best- but I'm not depressed, and I don't take any illegal drugs.

Do you eat a lot of cheese? Cheese affects dreams, especially if eaten right before bed. Different cheeses produce different results. Gotta love that cheese.

Wow, are you serious? I thought that cheese thing was an urban myth! Seriously, I think eating shortly before bed might be one of the causes. I often do that, but maybe it's not a good idea.

[obsessed]

You can read a lottt about lucid dreaming on the internet.

If you're aware you're dreaming, you can get rid of the stress by having fun in your dreams!

[Sneezyhugsandkisses]

I actually had a weird dream once...I was asleep and I thought like I felt someone's arm draped around my stomach ... I dunno I live with just my grand parents and they are always to bed at 10 and me 12...or something depends on school.

Anyways an arm was tightly around me the arm seemed thin just because of how it felt and I am only assuming it was a guy's arm but I'm not sure...since in the dream I think I wasn't 'allowed' to turn around so I always faced the wall it was really, really weird just because the fact is the scene never changed.

I just couldn't move I was starring at the wall in my room my actual room and this "guy's" arm was around my stomach...I know because I could never look down, up or turn to see the person but I felt it and I kept feeling things which was weird but everytime I wanted to turn around I couldn't like I knew if I turned around something bad would happen...and so I just remained facing the wall and his hands moved lower and u know...well r-rated but it felt really tense and uncomfortable because I wasn't allowed to move.

That was how vivid the dream was oh and of course when I actually did wake up I didn't see no one and I was just alone in my room...

[Skiffy]

I wanted to turn around I couldn't like I knew if I turned around something bad would happen...and so I just remained facing the wall and his hands moved lower and u know...well r-rated but it felt really tense and uncomfortable because I wasn't allowed to move.

Jeez, that sounds really creepy, that dream would definitely freak me out.

[Sneezyhugsandkisses]

ya and the worse part is that the actual setting didn't change I could see everything so clearly...like I was awake and this was happening to me but I wasn't I was asleep...I've had a lot of weird dreams like that where the setting does not change

[Chanel_no5]

If I sleep at all (I usually suffer from insomnia), I have the most vivid, colourful (read: bloody) nightmares. They often involve how my cats are getting squashed under car wheels, or find my patent medicines and eat them before I can stop them, then die from it.

I also dream a lot of stuff that seems like "movies", actually it feels as if watching horrible movies only I can't turn away or turn them off. I've seen atomic bomb detonations, I've seen ebola-like diseases spreading by blood cough and blood vomits in the best (or worst) Stephen King's The Stand-spirit. I see the people in them clear as the day, every line of their face, it's exactly like watching a movie. - they're always stranger to me. Actors.

Even people I care about seem to be hurt and violated in a thousand different horrible ways, and I can see every angle. It's awful and certainly doesn't cure my insomnia, frankly I'm rather awake through the nights instead of seeing this over and over again. It's so real I can't even explain it.

I have actually always lived with this, so it's not until now that I've gotten myself some prescripted drugs to help me sleep. They do help, and despite what it says on the label, (that it usually adds to vivid dreams), I never dream when I sleep on them.

Oh, and two interesting side effects from the sleeping pills - they make me hungry, so I can eat about anything after midnight. Plus... they make me sneeze. And I can't restrain the sneezes, I let out huge, violent, throaty, spraying AAAHHHUHEESSHHAHUH!"-sneezes, long after midnight. Poor neighbours.

[Anonymouse]

If I sleep at all (I usually suffer from insomnia), I have the most vivid, colourful (read: bloody) nightmares. They often involve how my cats are getting squashed under car wheels, or find my patent medicines and eat them before I can stop them, then die from it.

Ugh those are the worst. Poor pets. Before my first dachshund died I had horrible nightmares like that. I remember when I was probably nine or ten I had a dream I had this candle. I dropped it on the floor accidentally and my dog ate it and her snout fell off and she shriveled up. It was so weird.

I recently had another dream about my two new dachshunds where they ate grapes (I remember talking that day about how grapes are poisonous to dogs) and died.

[Skiffy]

I have actually always lived with this, so it's not until now that I've gotten myself some prescripted drugs to help me sleep. They do help, and despite what it says on the label, (that it usually adds to vivid dreams), I never dream when I sleep on them.

That sounds pretty unbearable , I'm glad you can finally get nightmare-free sleep with the drugs. My friend once told me about how you can take advantage of the cycles of sleep at night- get woken up at the right time in a cylce and have a better chance of remembering dreams. Maybe the technique could be used to avoid remembering your dreams?

[snuffle-bunny]

Does anyone else get recurring dreams? Since my teens I've had dreams several times a year about statues in churches. In the dreams, I'm always terrified of these statues and I always have to walk past them. They're never particularly frightening statues in themselves, mostly they're of Jesus or Mary but once there was one of a horse; it was utterly huge and I had to keep crossing the room it was in. I'm sure there's something there that my subconscious is digging away at, but I have no idea what!

[ILoveTheSound]

I am an extremely vivid dreamer and I don't think it's caused by anything but an overactive imagination, in my case. It seems as though I can taste, feel, smell...I've dreamed in languages that I don't even know truly exist. Black and white, color, sometimes a combination of the two. My nightmares are horrifying, but the pleasurable ones are...well let's just say I can "finish" from them without any physical touch. And I remember a great deal of them, even the ones from childhood.

So if you're a big fantasizer like I am, this could be the case for you too. HTH!

[SweaterWeather]

Does anyone else get recurring dreams? Since my teens I've had dreams several times a year about statues in churches. In the dreams, I'm always terrified of these statues and I always have to walk past them. They're never particularly frightening statues in themselves, mostly they're of Jesus or Mary but once there was one of a horse; it was utterly huge and I had to keep crossing the room it was in. I'm sure there's something there that my subconscious is digging away at, but I have no idea what!

Oh ya, those dreams. When I was little I always used to dream about me and my family relaxing on an, old fashioned beach setting I guess? Like the kind that you see in 50's movies? Anyway, in the dream I am always running towards the ocean, playing in the water, when a huge wave sweeps over me and im pulled out to sea. I swear, everytime I have this dream (which hasn't been that recently actually) and it comes to the part were im actually deep down in the water, I feel myself sinking into my bed. EVERYTIME. Don't know what this dream could mean...

[Chanel_no5]

Guys, I have to share this dream because it was very vivid and AWESOME!

It was split in two parts, in the first part, for some reason I was in Alaska and met up with DaylightStarr, and we had a great time, sitting on a café and talking for hours.

But wait! The dream continues... apparently I was in the US travelling, because later in the dream I met up with Nicole, Sneesee and Dawnie, all in different places but everything was just awesome and lots of fun. Funniest of it all was probably the fact that the most I know you guys are from posts on the forum, and not private chatting, but in this dream, it was like we were great friends and had known each other IRL forever.

Don't ask why, but it was a great change instead of the nightmares I've been having for years. Perhaps it means that I'll go travelling in America some day?

[Nicole]

But wait! The dream continues... apparently I was in the US travelling, because later in the dream I met up with Nicole, Sneesee and Dawnie, all in different places but everything was just awesome and lots of fun. Funniest of it all was probably the fact that the most I know you guys are from posts on the forum, and not private chatting, but in this dream, it was like we were great friends and had known each other IRL forever.

Oh my! Was I hot?

[Chanel_no5]

But wait! The dream continues... apparently I was in the US travelling, because later in the dream I met up with Nicole, Sneesee and Dawnie, all in different places but everything was just awesome and lots of fun. Funniest of it all was probably the fact that the most I know you guys are from posts on the forum, and not private chatting, but in this dream, it was like we were great friends and had known each other IRL forever.

Oh my! Was I hot?

Oh you BET!!!

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Yup, but not too often lately. I used to have very vivid dreams as a kid... I remember they started when I was about 6... one recurring vivid dream that was usually in colour (predictably enough that one was about sneezing ), one recurring dream that kept switching between black-and-white and colour and ended up with me being terrified (kids got chopped up in a machine and all that was left was their brain on a spoon... I don't know why... ) and a couple that were very vivid and I can still remember bits of them years later that were situated in real situations but everything always looked so different...

[Chanel_no5]

Heh, the night before last night, I dreamed that I was being stabbed to death by Hot Shot. Yikes!!

I don't know if it was a symbolic warning that I should stay away from her, or simply my own mind being afraid of taking chances.

It was difficult talking casually with her today, however, because I kept expecting her to pull out a knife and kill me.

[taotao]

I'm always having vivid dreams. They seem so real that in the morning I wake up and am so so so confused when the room looks different or so.

Sometimes it's been scary (when I've for example seen a dream about my sister dying or something) and I've woken up in panic, but some dreams have also been... ummmm... very nice.

[Jorm]

My dreams are almost always vivid and intense. They also frequently involve more than just sight and sound, the sense of touch is particularly common in my dreams, but I'm also smelled and tasted things. On the whole I think I'd prefer it if my dreams were less vivid.

[Akahana]

I used to have those kind of dreams all the time (I don't seem to remember them much anymore, kind of sad) I remember this one reoccuring dream I used to have. I started out in this mansion type thing with 4 other people, and we were all holding swords or guns. We would go through the mansion and solve puzzles and stuff, and then we would get to this huge room. The room was a light pink and smelled like oranges, with pictures of pokemon all over the floor. The picture would slowly start to disappear, and if you didn't step on all of them before they disappeared, it sent me to this dark room with nothing but a huge door, alone. It smelled of sweat and blood. I would go through the door, and it was almost like a boss from a Zelda game. The room was full of deep water accept for the slab of land in front of the door. Then, this gigantic monster squid would come up out of the water screaming, and lung at me. That's where the dream always ended. It was kind of like a game sequence, where each time you tried something different, tried to move a little faster, but I never made it. I stopped having that dream about 5 years ago, but I still remember it. I almost feel like making a manga storyline out of it!!

[cheech]

ALL THE TIME!

I often mistake my dreams for events that happened in real life. I lately also tend to dream about whatever it was I did that day.

Example, if I went in my friend's pool, I'll have an extremely realistic dream about being in the pool, just with a few different details.

WEIRD!