REM sleep all night long, wake up feeling awful?

Question

I've had a sleep disorder for several years. I dream all night long - vivid, bright, colorful dreams that I remember for weeks. Sometimes lucid.

I wake up in the morning feeling ultra-sluggish; dry mouth, dehydrated, headache, sensitivity to light, body pains. It's like I've actually LIVED out my dreams rather than passively watching them.

Because of this, I need 10-12 hours sleep a night, minimum. Any less, and I'm physically too tired to get out of bed. If I do, I feel like I haven't slept in days.

I'm a 23 year old male, physically fit, well nourished, no signs of any disease, diabetes, etc.

I've had this for years. Luckily, I work for myself so I don't have to get up at a specific time in the morning but still, it's affecting my work and life as a whole. I physically can't get out of bed any earlier than noon. If I try to sleep earlier, I just lie there awake.

What's going on??

Answer 1

Your biorhythms MAY BE a little off. Talk to your doc. There may be a sleep study that needs to be conducted to find the nature of the problem. Good luck!

Answer 2

When you sleep, you actually go through about 5 stages of rest. I've included a link that describes the stages, but it is to a website that prefers lucid dreaming, so it's not really medically accurate. But, it has an easy to read chart.
What seems to be accruing is that you have an abnormally strong stage 5 REM sleep cycle, and if you tend to wake up during that time, which being the deepest level, it will leave you feeling very tired.
The second link is to a product I've seen in TIME magazine that actually monitors your sleep cycles, and wakes you up at the optimal time according to your body signals, that will leave you feeling rested when it wakes you up. It's a wristwatch, so it's not going to be something too cumbersome like a couple of sleep-eyewear products I've seen that do the same thing. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Dreaming even in this way should not be seen as a disease. The dreams you have are special and the more you can balance such a rich and intense dreamworld with the waking world the stronger person you will be.

Many people don't dream at all and of those that do fewer still dream lucidly. Hang in there, enrichen your spiritual life with your dreams and soon you could be astral traveling where the dream bodies are just that one click more real than even a lucid dream.

Not knowing the content of your dreams i would say that your dreams may be tiring you out because that's what they are-tiring dreams. Let your imagination take root and experience vivid dreams in which you either transport yourself or are transported. If this tires you out as much as you say, i am sure you have dreamt of being drained. You have to get to a stage where your dreams are original enough to yourself, not to tire you but excite you. Don't take drugs for your dreams, the only way out is through and that isn't necessarily out at all. Basically my advice is give your dreams more relevance. Their are people that find the dreamworld fascinating- I am one of them.

Your dreams and the suffering you have experienced may have a spiritual purpose.

Answer 4

Don't ever take the sleeping pills route!!

1. They will damage your liver big time and you can get into serious health problems.

2. You will get hooked up on them and you won't be able to have a normal life any more if you don't take your pills everyday.

The sleeping pills industry is damaging our health by capitalizing on our ignorance, and by distracting people from effective and natural ways to deal with this problem. I had been taking prescription sleep medications [Ambien] for over 5 years. It stopped working and I simply took more. Still did not work. Nights were very difficult - medication put me to sleep but I would wake up after 2–3 hours with a strong sympathetic response (fast pulse, pounding heartbeat, wide awake alert). It was a very difficult cycle to break. I was really in bad shape due to lack of sleep.

After years of struggling I was able to cure my insomnia naturally and pretty fast. I followed the Sleep Tracks sleep optimization program, here is their official web -site if you want to take a look: http://www.insomniacure.net

Ohhh..and Good Luck!

Answer 5

How do you know it is related to REM sleep. It might be related to hypersomnia. Does anyone notice your eyemovements? Feeling sluggish next morning is one strong sign of a sleeping problem. There are many possible causes, including sleep apnea or hypersomnia (see the link at http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/hypersomnia/hypersomnia.htm). Other possible causes might be adhd related sleeping problems (it is a rather common problem of people with adhd to feel sluggish in the morning)
If you need more information about sleeping problems and / or adhd you might want to have a look at web4health.info (http://web4health.info/de)

Answer 6

i can relate to some of the things you said.i also have trouble in this department can sleep for 10 hrs and yet cant wake up properly just want to roll over and go back to sleep.ive tried all sorts going to bed at regular times , making sure widow is always open ,trying to regulate temp in room.like you as well ive been like this for years never went to doctor as always thought i was just bad at getting up.if you find a miricle cure let me know.

Answer 7

It also could be a w.i.l.d. lucid dream. It usually happens when you sleep for a long time such as 5-8 hours or more. Then a little while later you fall back to sleep. Your body starts to dream, but your completely aware that your just laying in your bed. You start to hear buzzing or in your case ringing noises, you can start feeling that you are vibrating, and of course be paralyzed (sleep paralysis) and you cant move or speak. Its when your entering your dream. Its feaky, but idk about ur corner of eye thingy.

Answer 8

The thing is that its not possible to tell what really goes on until you have been to a sleep laboratory where you will be tested for sleep disorders. After that, they may be able to offer some solutions.

Answer 9

Spirita explains your dreams
Visit http://spirita.blogspot.com/ and post your question as a comment. You'll get your FREE dream interpretation (as a comment, too) shortly. Just remember where you posted your question, your dream interpretation will be under the same section.