Do You Ever Get Mixed Up Between A Dream And Reality?

Question

For some time I have not been sleeping properly, due to streess I suppose. I now tend to sleep for aboout 2 hours then wake up and drift in and out of sleep for the rest of the night.The problem is I am having trouble sorting out what has been a dream and what has really happened.The other morning I woke up convinced that I had killed someone, but I don't know who or why but I dreamed I had ..I think.

Answer 1

Sleep depravation can play havoc with our brains and it is weird but if we are sleep deprived it is often harder to sleep.

This can cause our brains to manipulate truth and imagination and this can result in a blur between reality and dream. It could even be some of the stress that you are interpreting in your subconscious in the bizarre way that only our brains can create.

There are a few tips that I can suggest about trying to get more sleep and hopefully some of them my help.

Try not to do anything too brain strenuous in the last hour or so before you go to bed. Do something mindlessly boring rather than watching a fast action tv programme or reading a book which involves lots of thinking.

Try sprinkling some lavender on your pillow (you can normally get radox pillow spray or something similar from a good supermarket).

Have a relaxing soak in the bath before you go to bed and use a few lavender scented candles or some lavender oils in the water. Lavender is a widely accepted relaxent.

Have a milky, caffeine free drink - Horlicks, Ovaltine or hot chocolate - before you go to bed.

If you are in bed but struggling to go to sleep. Get out of bed and make yourself uncomfortable - for example go to the back door and get yourself a little cold - this makes your bed more inviting to your brain - it wants to comfort the body therefore the warmth of bed compared to the cold of by the back door will be more inviting.

If you are a smoker - try not to have a cigarette before you go to sleep. It is a stimulant and the last thing you want to do is stimulate your brain

By your own admission you are under stress so try talking to someone about the situation. It doesn't have to be face to face - there are many anonymous helplines that you can speak to if you don't feel comfortable talking to someone who knows you such as family or doctors.

If you are still struggling to sleep I would defintely suggest talking to your doctor to see if he/she can offer you some advice.

The more sleep you get the more likely you are to sleep more soundly so even a couple of mild sedatives can go a long way to helping you back into a good sleep routine.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Ditto. You are not alone my friend, I've been in your situation for around 7 years now and to be honest i've grown quite accustomed to it.(Not quite sure if thats a good thing, but it didn't do Spike Milligan, Tony hancock, L. Ron. Hubbard, to name but a few any harm) I'm putting my illness to good use. Am currently in the process of writing a book based on confusion and chaos but with a "twist"...pardon the expression. It gets a bit spacey. Anyway, look, if things get desperate and you find it harder to cope, go and see your doctor ok? and remember this old saying from a very influential prophet of the 15th century "One has to wait until the evening to see how splendid the day has been" ~ Sophocles

Take care. AM

Answer 4

Wow! Can't believe but so pleased that no-one gave the "your dreams are an interpretation of issues that are important or troubling in your life" c**p.

I think stress plays a part in so many areas incl bad sleep patterns (plus of course the usual suspects - overstimulation with cigs, coffee, alcohol,choc,whatever) and because you are exhausted your mind is working slower when you wake and so you find it difficult to differentiate between dreams and reality. When my brother died in 2002 I had a dream where I was talking to him and when I woke up I was so confused as to whether I had dreamed he was dead (and he wasn't) or was he? - very upsetting at the time.

Some people make a living or a pasttime out of interpreting dreams - as far as I'm concerned your brain is floating free while you sleep aand so disjointed and weird scenarios will happen but are...... just dreams.

Answer 5

yeah, i've had a few experiences where i've thought i've woken up then i've woken up again. once it happened about 8 times in a run and by the time i'd actually woken up i really didn't know if i was awake or not. i kept waking up and getting ready for college then i'd wake up whilst on my way to college and start the whole thing over again.

i've had memories that i thought were real but found out at a later date that they couldn't possibly be real.

there are also the ones that sound quite similar to what you describe, where you wake up with a horrible feeling of something but aren't sure what.

i think it's probably quite common, most people i talk to about this have had similar experiences. i doubt it's anything to worry about.
it's all a bit freaky but kinda interesting i think. i quite like these headf*** dreams.

Answer 6

Yes i agree when you are more stressed your dreams tend 2 be more vivid.....i have the most real and vivid dreams....some are so much that i wake up upset and confused cos one minute i'm somewhere, then i'm in bed!

Some dreams i have on my mind all day....they are so real that i'm sure i'm there!!

Once i dreampt i could pedal my feet and fly...when i woke up i had to actually try it and for a few minutes i actually BELIEVED i could do it!

Last night i dreampt dinosaurs were walking bournemouth and putting their heads thru windows....was such a long and vivid dream when my mum woke me up i asked her 'Are the dinosaurs gone?' !!! (and i was serious)

I guess u have things on your mind....try and relax b4 u sleep, hot choc/warm bath/nice video or book/lavender pillow spray?

Hope this helps but u r not alone..i dream vividly every night and u wouldn't believe the places i go haha!

:-)

Answer 7

My actual dreams yes, they're usually so freakingly vivid I can't remember whether it happened in real life or my sleep. My friends often have to set me straight. Jack Kerouac had the same problem, which makes me happy, as it happens so did Eric Blair. I'm just too good. Truly.

Answer 8

Yes lack of sleep has strange unpleseant effects.
Believe yourself you have not klilled anyone, but you can always check it out with the Police to see if anyone dead was recently found, if that puts your mind at rest.
Pop down to the chemist and ask there what is in stock for sleap help. They do have something that should get your sleap rythmn back in order.

Pleasant dreams.

Answer 9

Hi Delroyd,

The nature of "reality" is a can of worms that it's best not to open unless your grasp of these things is better than mine.
As you say, you may be suffering from stress. My experience is that I have had trouble in sorting the real from the dream until fully awake (or dreaming I'm awake). It's best to go with what happens in our daily lives, what our subconscious throws at us is attempted at by Freud, or Jung or Adler, but they called it something else, I think, or do I?

Answer 10

Hi the worst i have done is dreamt i did the shopping then got home and saw i hadnt. My sister suffers like you, its called night terrors. She gets terrible ones and panics after, and sometimes before bed dreading the prospect. The doctor gave her a short course of sleeping tabs to get her through the finals at uni, and then it improved after as she withdrew safely from them. I dont ask too much now in case she has put them to the back of her mind, but she hasnt mentioned it since last summer. Try the pills is my advice.