[perrya18]

I have a question that is for anyone who knows anything about sleep disorders or dream interpretations. Anyone think they can help?

[fredg]

Hi,
What is your question?
Thanks.

[bizygurl]

Hi, Ask away, we will do our best to help you.:D

[JoeCanada76]

Yes, on both. What is your question?

[lilfyre]

Sleep disorder yes, dream interruptions not really, every one interprets them differently. Ask away so far there are 3 of us willing to try and help you all we need is the question.

[perrya18]

Its somewhat a long story and it has to do with both. It happened a couple nights ago, and I emailed someone about it so ill just copy/paste what I wrote her.

It is now almost 2 oclock in the morning. I got into bed at around midnight, read for an hour and turned my light off at approx. 1 am. I don't think I ever really fell asleep. I remember everything quite clearly although exactly how it happened is very vague. I know that I was half asleep half awake, but this whole time I was dreaming. The first thing I dreamt was that my radio was on playing very loud music, and I remember thinking what is going on, and then I became fully aware and realized that I was dreaming the radio was on, partly because of the fact that when the music was playing the radio wasn't where it actually is in reality. Then, after falling into this half and half state again, I became aware of everything around me. I heard my breathing as though I were breathing into a microphone. I was aware of every sound in my room, and yet it was only subconsience because I knew I was half asleep. That isn't what is causing me to write this however. Before I continue I should also say that during this entire episode I could think quite clearly. For example I was thinking to myself while asleep that maybe I felt like this because of the advil I had taken for a migraine before going to sleep. After I thought to myself that I had never felt this way before, I tried to pull myself out of sleep to wake up fully and maybe read for a while to get more tired. However, that is when something strange happened. I became fully awake, but I could not move. All I could do was breath. I could not open my eyes, and I could not move any body part, fingers, toes, toungue, eyes... nothing. All I could feel was a tingling sensation in my left forearm, and as I write this I can still feel the tingling. I was like that for about 30 seconds before I concentrated as hard as I could on moving my arm and without even realizing what I was doing, I shot my arm staright out and that is how I ended my episode. I have never had this happen to me, and to be quite honest, I am terrible afraid to go back to sleep.

[bizygurl]

This has actually happened to me a few times. What I think you may have expirenced was some sort of out of "sleep paraylisis" it usually accompanies a very intense dream which I have heard them called "Lucid dreaming" where your body is completely asleep and you are in a dream state.

Your dream mimics a reality that almost seems real like something you would expirence in your waking state. But what happens your mind knows your dreaming. So essentially your consiouce mind gets confused and your body goes into one of those "fight or flight" modes because your mind can't distinguish what's going on, so when you wake up abruptly its almost like your subconsoius hasn't turned off, since its your subconcous that keeps you from flopping around and acting out your dreams. So your body is a wake but your mind hasn't registered it.

For instance when you wake up naturally, your mind has had time to slowly "wake up" into a consouis state. It may seem scarey but there isn't anything wrong. I was dealing with these a lot a few years ago and decided to do some research about Sleep Paralyisis and what I expirenced seem to fit that.

I hope you were able to make some sense out of what I said. I tried to put it into the best terms without it sounding confusing.

[perrya18]

Thanks for your help. It makes a lot of sense and fits, however, how can it be explained that I was half asleep though? I never actually fell asleep. I kept waking up and it was like I was just dozing.

[JoeCanada76]

When your body is so tired, you may think or feel that you are up but your body is still in a sleep state, but your mind is alert and aware of what is going on. Your body needs more rest and you keep fighting it. You have to many things going on in your waking state it is actually impeeding on your sleep quality. Sleep Paralysis is very commen and can very scary. Like bizygurl said it does happen and it is normal. I would say if it was continuous or happening lots of times to get help because obvously not having enough sleep over long periods could be potentially harmful for your mind and body. Since it only happened once, it is mind and body telling you its not dealing well with not a lot of sleep.

[perrya18]

That actually makes a lot of sense because lately I haven't been getting much sleep. It seems like no matter how tired I am, its so hard for me to fall asleep. Would that be considered insomnia?

[JoeCanada76]

I sometimes believe that I suffer from insomnia. There are different types of insomnia as well. People will suffer from time to time some sort of insomnia but the only way to figure out what is going on is to go to a sleep clinic. Many people that I know that do not have good sleep is caused by a condition called sleep apnea. So my suggestion which was given to me but have not investigated it or even attempt to try it yet, is to go to a sleep clinic. I do not know if you need a doctors referral?

Some of the things that are commen in causing sleep disturbances that doctors recommend to try before going other routes.

Bedroom: IS FOR SLEEP ONLY.. and other personal things..
If you are tired and can not sleep do not stay in the bedroom.
Do not eat anything heavy before bedtime.
STRESS CAN BE A MAJOR FACTOR..
No caffiene products.
Make sure your sleep patterns are aligned around the same time everyday. Bedtime at regular time and waking around the same time.
MEDITATION is very important in relaxing both the mind and body and many people use different meditation teqniques to help them sleep better.
They also say increased activity through the day can help.
There may be more...

If you would like to know any mediatation teqniques that you would like to know or try I believe strongly that it will help you. Hoping that you get back to getting rest.

Joe

[perrya18]

Everything you just told me fits real well with the problem I have been having. Thanks for all your help(everyone).

Amy

[nonpocillovist]

Hi Amy,

One of Joe's suggestions was "increased activity level" I just wanted to reinforce this particular suggestion. Getting some good aerobic exercise each day (or at least a few times a week) can make a HUGE difference in getting good sleep. With good exercise, you may even need fewer hours of sleep, because you will sleep so much better.

I recently went through a horrible period of insomnia and getting more exercise has been one of the key changes I have made to recover and to normalize my sleep cycle.

I noticed that you live in Chicago. I just wrote a long post on my experience with Seasonal Affective Disorder. I don't think you necessarily have SAD, but you might find some of the information in that post helpful. See: https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showth...8858#post78858

Best of luck,
Julie