Nightmares

[Eleanor]

Yes - sounds like sleep paralysis.

I used to experience this at least once a week, sometimes more.

It is often triggered by stress, but not always. I used to feel like I was during, and that if I didn't fight against it, I would die. Eventually - once I understood what was happening, I realized that, if I stopped fighting it, I would just slide back into normal sleep.

Even so, my wife occasionally still wakes me up when she hears me making the sleep noises she recognizes.

Check these out:

https://aeon.co/videos/a-world-betwe...leep-paralysis

https://aeon.co/essays/the-terror-an...leep-paralysis

Thanks for the links! The article was very interesting. I love the science behind it.
It also described out of body experiences. I think I've experienced that once. I woke up, put my clothes on and when I turned around to face my bed I saw myself lying there. I remember thinking “Well... that's new” and then I decided to just take a walk outside. I walked pretty far before I woke up.
Maybe I can try to alter the state of sleep paralysis to lucid dreaming like the article explains.

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It sounds a lot like sleep paralysis yea. I get it rarely. But it's nasty. There's nothing to be scared of though, important to remember that. I usually feel like I'm awake but can't move, and can hear something breathing or talking in my ear, and then touching me. It can be a gentle touch or full on claws done my back and hands around my throat. Mine is linked to stress, especially if I'm stressed about someone very close to me.
I don't know if there's much to do about the dreams themselves. You could try a bit of meditation to relax before bed, or a dream catcher or something (seriously, even if it's a cheap one made of plastic, tell yourself "this will help". Placebo is proven to have some effect even when you're aware it's placebo. The mind is funny like that).
But really, learning to wake up and tell yourself that it was just sleep paralysis and shake it off so it doesn't affect the rest of your day is probably good too. Maybe keep a dream diary next to your bed so you can get it out of your system as soon as you wake up.

Thanks, iris. I don't meditate as often as I'd like. I will give it a try with the dream diary. Even if it's just funny to read my past dreams. The mind can come up with such weird things.
The placebo effect is something I like to work with as well. I like to create amulets to give me strenght for example. Even though I know they're just silly creations, my mind gets a boost from them somehow.

[faye_cat]

Sounds like sleep paralysis to me as well. I haven't had it, but I'm fairly certain my mom has.

I have dealt with severe nightmares: the kind that linger, or wake me up only to be terrified. Some things I've used with moderate success in the past to deal with them: using a salt lamp in my room, free writing before bed, drawing or doodling before bed, grounding myself as i'm in bed, mentally prepping my shields as I lay there, dreamcatchers, lighting incense in the morning to clear out the shadows of sleep, using certain music to fall asleep with.

[Prickly Pear]

I'm prone to sleep paralysis. I've found that never sleeping on my back helps reduce frequency by quite a lot. It has also increased since getting a softer mattress. I'm not sure how universal these triggers are though. It is a little better if you know what it is when it is happening, but it is still terrifying to be paralyzed.

[anunitu]

the amulet thing works for me,even as you said no real spell,more pl;placebo effect,but belief is strong sometimes, i alwas sleep on one side or the other,never om my back unless i pass out on my back watching tv..also not good to fall asleep with a program on. i have had dreams where i am in the tv prpgram,also at times my dreams are playing my video games,if you play a lot of video games they can bleed into your dreams

[prometheus]

I just never thought I had it. My colleague said he once experienced that, but he was fully awake when it happened and he couldn't move for like a minute. He didn't see any scary things though. I know I'm dreaming when this happens. So that's why I'm not sure it's officially sleep paralysis. I'm not going to any doctors though. I'm not very keen on taking medicine if I don't have to. The dreams can be scary, but it doesn't bother me that much as I can wake myself up.

The experience varies between, and even within, people: sometimes more awake, sometimes more dreaming, usually somewhere between those worlds. As you can see from the responses just here it's quite an individual thing.

I don't know of online resources; i can look around if you like, but you know the keywords to search for. I did get the book Wrestling with Ghosts which is mentioned in Corbin's link. It might be a bit dated now in terms of the science.

As well as the good advice given already you might find simply knowing its a sleep disorder is enough to alleviate the episodes. A common tactic to slip into lucid dreaming is to use a trigger to indicate you are in a dream : get into the habit of asking yourself, and answering, whether you are dreaming. When you ask in dream, you'll almost say no before thinking hang on a minute... I use the sense of dread as my trigger. I am still in the nightmare, but at least i am aware; i then have to escape the immediate context, walking through a wall or flying away works for me. Other triggers i've heard are people using music based alarms synced to when they should have REM sleep (modern apps can help with this, but you can work it out without them) - when they hear the music in dream, they know they are sleeping.

Just be aware that it's also possible to make the nightmare worse, especially as you learn what does and doesn't work for you. There's a few fail safes you could try to wake yourself up. Focus on moving your toes: it takes a lot of mental effort but it is possible to get some movement and once you do its easier to move the foot, then leg and that should be enough to wake you (can lead to OBEs though). Try doing some mental arithmetic, starting from 750, keep subtracting 7 - the mental effort might wake you up. If you have a sleeping partner you could tell them to be on the lookout for certain signals - breathing, grunting or fidgety foot.

Let us know how you get on.

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I've found that never sleeping on my back helps reduce frequency by quite a lot. It has also increased since getting a softer mattress. I'm not sure how universal these triggers are though.

It's quite standard advice not to sleep on your back for SP sufferers. It's the opposite for me though, if i can move my body onto my back during the dream i can often prevent an episode.

Not heard about mattress softness before though.

[Eleanor]

Thank you for all the great advice everyone! I certainly have enough options to try out now.

I prefer sleeping on my side, but I tend to roll to my back in my sleep. So I don't think I could control that. I do have a sturdy mattress, not too soft.

I bought a bullet journal today to write my dreams in as well as other things. Maybe I'll buy one of those salt lamps. Even if they might not work, they look pretty as well.
I'll also try asking myself if I'm dreaming or not. Hopefully I'll be able to ask myself while dreaming.

I'll let you guys know when I've had a nightmare again and how it went

[Eleanor]

A little update. I haven't had any nightmares, but I did wake up tired a few times because my alarm went off just as I was in a deep sleep.

So I started using an app called Sleep Cycle which registers your sleep cycles by listening to the sounds you make. You can set the alarm in a range of 30 minutes, eg between 7 and 7:30 and the app will let the alarm go off once you're in light sleep (or at the end of those 30 minutes.) Before you go to sleep, you can add notes about what you ate/drank that evening or how you feel.

I started using it last night, but I woke up before my alarm went off, which is good. The app will show you an interesting chart of your sleep cycle during the night. I remember waking up one time and I could see that in the chart. It's probably not very scientifically reliable, but I'm curious what it might show me when I have a nightmare.

[Tylluan Penry]

Sleep Paralysis, The Mare (or the Night Mare) or the Hag are often lumped together whereas they are in fact quite separate things. Did you hear footsteps? Was anything pressing down or sitting on your chest? Did you hear any words spoken?

There is also something known as SUNDS - where people who have been complaining of these attacks (which may well be sleep paralysis, I'm not disputing that) have actually died in their sleep.

It's good, I think that science is beginning to take a proper interest in these things and measure them. I think the app is a great idea. Do let us know how you get on with it.

[Austin.Apollo]

I was once prescribed Minipress when I was being treated for PTSD. They said it takes the nightmares away. I didnt take it though so I couldnt tell you for sure.

[Muramasa]

Can't call it nightmare, but I repeatedly have a dream of receiving IV.