Published on 12, July, 2020
Do you dream? (or at least, do you remember your dreams)..
Do you have recurrent dreams?
Do you assign meaning to your dreams?
One recurrent dream I have is of being somewhere where I need to use a phone urgently and all the numbers I need aren't on it, so it's a very frustrating panicky situation.
Last night I dreamt I was trying to take a shower in someone's loft. Someone was already in there + came out so I stepped in but the shower curtain didn't fit and the water was going all over bags of belongings.
Then I found I didn't have a towel to dry myself.
Then I remember saying these words: do you think that all the organised people in the world who are trying to control their lives, who lead quiet lives, who like everything in order, who notice fine details and are careful in what they say and do are autistic and the rest are not?
In my dream I'd decided that half the world was autistic.
I tend not to remember my dreams at all.
Sometimes I will wake up incredibly anxious and panicky for no apparent reason. That may or may not be related to a dream but if it is I have absolutely no memory of it.
If they are memorable it tends to be for the wrong reasons. On more than one occasion as an adult I have dreamt that I needed the toilet, found one and felt the relief. Shortly afterwards the waking realisation that I was not on the toilet but still in a (now wet) bed
When I was on SSRIs they gave me vivid and horrific nightmares whenever I did manage to get some sleep.
I wonder why some people remember dreams and some don't.
I think I've read previously that we remember dreams if we wake up during them.
I tend to wake up every hour so maybe that's why.
Interesting re the SSRI.
I believe it's something to do with REM sleep states. If you wake up during or shortly after one of those phases you are more likely to remember them.
There is an interesting article on the topic here https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190516-why-cant-some-people-remember-their-dreams
The article suggests drinking 3 big glasses of water before bed makes you more likely to wake up at the end of an REM cycle of sleep and remember the dream.
I won't be doing that as I don't want any more of those dreams that are memorable for the wrong reasons!
Thank you for that article.
I shall take a look.
My husband has REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder (+ sleep apnoea).
The 1st evidence of this was when he hurt his foot on the wooden bed whilst dreaming about kicking a ball during a football match.