Strange dream - always the same, but only in the afternoons?

Question

At the weekend I take a nap in the afternoon and I always have the same dream. It feels so real I'm never sure if I am awake or not:
basically I'm sleeping and I feel someone walking into the house. Most times it's my boyfriend and I can hear him walking upstairs (although this afternoon it was some woman and it scared me) so I think 'I have to get up' only I can't move my body, my arms won't move to check my watch, I can't roll over, I can't even really open my eyes. Whoever is coming up the stairs never quite gets there and there's no conversation, I don't ask for help or anything.
It feels so incredibly real that I wake up for real eventually feeling confused, sometimes a little freaked that someone may be in the house and I can still feel how heavy and paralysed my body was.
It happens at every afternoon nap, never at night and as I really need the extra sleep it's just making me more tired.
Does it mean anything?

Answer 1

Agony Aunt is ridiculous, I was never raped as a child and I have these same occurrences of SLEEP PARALYSIS quite often, and most of them happen late afternoon if you don't normally sleep in the afternoon (which is when I've experienced), or when I am sleeping out of my regular sleep pattern. If you draw two circles on a piece of paper, let them halfway touch each other. The first cirlce would represent your consciousness (Awake) and the second circle would represent your unconciousness (Asleep). The section where the two circles overlap is when you are inbetween being awake and asleep. If your body and mind are both relaxed and tired, the time your body is in the "middle" section is quick and you won't even realize you are falling asleep when you are falling asleep... Sometimes when I experience this, I can feel my mind try to fight off the middle stage and my body will jolt, making it feel like I'm rolling into the bed. If it happens at night and the experience is intense and scary, you are probably stressed about something, that has also happened to me, but in your case, your body just isn't used to taking a nap everyday- so your brain will try and fight off that middle stage. (When I take afternoon naps and it happens, I can usually see my family members walk into the room and I can see that the room I'm sleeping in is just the way it's supposed to be, and I want to tell my mom or my sister so bad to grab my hand and wake me up, but I can't even speak... They usually walk in, look at me and then walk out.)

If you can see your surroundings, it's like you're dreaming in reality... Your semi-conscious body and mind can see the room you're in, but it's fuzzy, your eyes are part-way open letting some light in, and part of your sleepy brain, wanting to dream, puts the images there, while the other part of your sleepy brain says wait am I awake or am I asleep and this is when the experience gets strange.

Answer 2

How long have you had this dream, and were there any significant changes in your life before you started having it?

In general, symbolically, dreaming that you are paralyzed may mean you are feeling helpless or pinned down in some aspect or circumstances of your waking life. You may feel overwhelmed in dealing with a situation or that you can't do or change things in your life right now. Alternatively, you may feel emotionally paralyzed. You may have difficulties in expressing yourself, or have a concern that people are not listening/taking you seriously. Maybe this relates to your boyfriend or perhaps a significant male in your life-father, brother, boss, etc. It could also represent authority in general-

The woman in your dream-an intruder-generally represents your own feelings of guilt-whether they are founded or not. What is it you may feel guilt over? And is it necessary? Try to find ways to release that-because guilt is a very useless emotion that does drain us of all our energy-no matter what we did, or think we did, we always have to move forward. . Consider also what unfamiliar feelings or thoughts may be breaking into your peace of mind. This may be why you only have the dream in the aftrenoon-you are not fully "asleep" and your subconscious mind is trying to guide you. Let it, and don't be afraid. It will tell you how to work through it all.

An intruder can also symbolize self-indulgent behavior or unwanted sexual attention.

The fact that it is recurring tells me that your subconscious is telling you that now is the time to work through it. I hope this answer was helpful!

Good luck to you!

Answer 3

I believe you are experiencing sleep paralysis, and it's not as bad as it sounds, it's nothing to worry about. It can be very frightening until you get used to it. I had it a lot some years ago when I was under stress, but it has now passed.
I have studied it at length. You are not dreaming, what you see are known as "hypnagogic" if they occur when you are falling asleep or "hypnopompic" if they occur when waking. They become frightening when they persist for a brief time into full consciousness, especially when you are awake and cannot move. Try not to worry, relax, they will not last for ever.

Answer 4

First -you received two great responses from "Amethyst M" and "dialing4" that are certainly worthy of pause and reflection on your part. It seems possible there is something relatively "new" in your life that is of significance ... that is, i) relationship, ii) child, iii) home, iv) location [neighborhood], v) surgery ... even a miscarriage. My point is that your sense of vulnerability is quite heightened, your faith has been shaken, and you feel as if "things aren't what they seem to be." The underpinnings of feeling exposed, of feeling unsafe and unprotected typically comes from our sense of trust. It's not that you are -consciously- testing or questioning you or someone else's trust, it's that your unconscious is alerting you (through your dreams) that somehow, somewhere an event or series of events has undermined your sense of trust -even while you're doing your absolute best to maintain a "nothing wrong" position in how you present yourself to others (including your family). Don't fret and allow yourself to get crazy with this ... simply take it as a signal (basically, our dreams are trying to alert us to some underlying issues that our conscious life tends to avoid) and, instead of feeling frightened or out of control, reflect on what is currently going on in your life (by current, I don't mean today only). For example, how old is your child? what changes have happened in his life recently -health, daycare, etc. How long have you been married? How long have you been in your home? Did someone new move into the neighborhood? Do you feel as if your husband (or you) might lose your job? Does the recent economic crisis impact you and your family severely? Of course, the list of questions or events to consider can go ona and on ... but that's not the point. Instead, spending some time thinking through these things will most likely lead you to an event (or many events) that give you a real-time (rational/logical) reason to believe and understand that your dreams are not as frightening as they seem. Good luck!

Answer 5

I had several similar experiences when I tried to induce an out-of-body experience. All that happened was that I panicked but was paralyzed. I knew I was asleep and I wanted to wake up but my limbs would not move and my voice was a whisper. It felt incredibly real, even hyper-real.

Answer 6

This is normal!
My mother gets this as well we found you can't sleep in the day or for more than half an hour i think its too with sub conscious vulnerability of some description or conflict that makes you feel vulnerable.
There is some sort of fear you have or something happening in your life which is filtered into your subconscious and it is played out into your dreams. (my Doctor friend told me this, he tells me ihe should charge for the advice hahaha -pokes him-)

Answer 7

I have a similar dream where I am on a golf course and cannot scream or move. Who wouldn't on a golf course? Apparently it is a physiological thing. When you are starting to wake up but your brain wakes up before your body.

Answer 8

This is a wild guess but mabye your conscience fears someone if you rub them the wrong way that day, or mabye you fell guilty of something you did to someone,

(someone being the person walking into the house

Answer 9

I'm not a doctor, but this sounds like classic sleep paralysis; had this myself. And the possible causes? One of them listed as irregular sleep patterns, such as napping.

I think it's a strong possibility and you should talk it over with your doctor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

Answer 10

No, not really, though if you're paralysed in dreams, it could represent a vulnerability towards a fear you have, and how you feel fear towards the world.
I hope that I helped.