BlameThePixel!

I had a dream I was at a restaurant and I fell asleep there. Then I had a secondary dream I was back in kindergarten and the whole classroom tipped over, then I woke up back in my primary dream, then to reality.

And yes Bullseye I did have dreams like that. Where I drowned, fell off a high factory area, oh you name it...

I had a dream I was at a restaurant and I fell asleep there. Then I had a secondary dream I was back in kindergarten and the whole classroom tipped over, then I woke up back in my primary dream, then to reality. And yes Bullseye I did have dreams like that. Where I drowned, fell off a high factory area, oh you name it...
________________

I did that, and it's a pain in the ass too, because eventually you don't know whether you're really waking up or not. Yes, the line between reality and fantasy really starts blurring when you wake up from a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream (that's waking up five times in a row, with only the last one being a real wake up).

Anyone here ever have a night terror (not nightmare, night terror)?

define...

This sort of dream (if you can call it a dream) usually happens rarely, if ever, in your lifetime. However, there are some people (such as my cousin) that suffer from this regularly. Guess what that will lead to? That's right, insomnia. The brain can't handle the tramau, and thus won't let the person sleep.

Hmmm, when I waS A KID I once had a dream where I fell from the sky then hit the ground only that I woke up and was totaly breathless....

Does this count?

Another time when I was younger... We installed a smoke dector in the house... only the next morning it was set off by steam from my parents bathroom... I was alseep the intire time... yet I could hear the alarm.... but it became a part of my dream... too weird.

I too get dreams that are not really dreams... It really is hard to define... Way it happens to me is that I am in a rested state.... but my mind is firing off like a fire-cracker... I want to sleep but all these odd thoughts and images pop into my brain... It is like a "wide-awake day dream" but you can wake up whenever you want...

This is gonna be a big thread.... I can tell already.

EDIT: I always have dreams when I go back to sleep after waking up (becuase of my LOUD LOUD FAMILY).... So I will sleep in in the morning and see if I getta dream I can remeber. (FYI, working odd hours at work have left me unabale to 'sleep in' anymore... I cannot help it... I am used to waking up) I will try to 'sleep in' however. Wish me luck! My dreams come rarely... but they are so messed up...

My dreams make me feel like I am in a hollywood movie...

Well, I think the basic difference is how the body reacts. In a nightmare, you may thrash around a bit, moan, scream (not very loudly), and so on. But in a night terror, you fully act out what's going on in the 'dream' (ex: you don't sleep walk, you sleep run), and you seem to be aware of your surroundings, but you just can't break out of that little subconscience bubble of hell that your mind has created.

Edit: Okay, throw everything out the window before reading the following (yes, you can go pick it up later ). This is from a site that's all about (you guessed it) night terrors:

excerpt from the Night Terror Resource Center

Although night terrors can occur anytime in a persons life span, the most common is reported in children between the ages of three and five. (However more recent studies have turned up showing that many adults as well as children as young as six months experience night terrors on a weekly basis.) Night terrors usually occur fifteen minutes to one hour after going to sleep. The longer the person is in NREM (the stages before REM) before the night terror strikes, the more petrified they will be when it occurs. Keep in mind though not everyone falls to sleep in the same time as others. This makes a sleep study about the only way of determining what stage of sleep you are in when these events occur.

Night terrors have been shown to appear in stage 4 of sleep. This is what separates them from nightmares which can occur anytime in sleep. It is possible to make a night terror occur in some people, simply by touching or awakening them during stage 4 of sleep. Why night terrors occur is still a mystery. The mind is supposed to be practically void during the deeper stages of sleep. The subject will awake gasping, moaning, crying but more often screaming. Breathing rapidly they will sit up in bed with a wide eyed terror filled stare. This panic will often last anywhere from five to twenty minutes. I find the most amazing aspect of night terrors is that it generates a heart rate of 160 to 170 beats per minute. This is much faster than the normal heart rate that can be attained under most stressful circumstances.

Some things that can help bring out a night terror are stress, certain medications, (It is hard to list exactly which ones) being over-tired or eating a heavy meal before going to bed. Many different medical ailments contribute to the frequency of Night Terrors. (Once again to many and to hard to list, Please do not e-mail me to have one added.) These things DO NOT cause night terrors, they just seem to put your body into the state where a night terror can manifest itself. People without night terrors will not have a night terror because of the above reasons.

There seems to be a common thread in how night terrors manifest themselves. Many people who remember the night terror have talked about seeing animals or people. Quite a few people see snakes and spiders. At first I thought people were seeing only things they are afraid of during waking hours. After more research I found that only a small percentage of people were afraid of what they see (in night terrors) during waking hours.

Some people remember the Night Terror. Some don't. There is no explanation to why some have no recall of the events during a Night Terror.

Now many people disagree but I have found the best method of controlling someone during a night terror is to hug and reassure them and tell them that everything is all right. Agree with what they are saying and doing. Sometimes it is not possible to hug them. Don't try to force physical contact. DO NOT yell at them or tell them they are only dreaming as this seems to only upset them even more. This seems to work better in children than in adults. (Adults are a little more physical) The most important thing to remember is that someone having a night terror does not know what they are doing. Make sure that there is not anything nearby that they can hurt themselves or others with. It is perfectly safe to wake someone who is having a Night Terror. Please be gentle!

It is also interesting to note that two other disorders, sleepwalking and bed wetting, are experienced during stage 4 of sleep. (Don't e-mail me and ask me about those disorders though.) Even more interesting is the fact that all three of these sleep disorders often run in families. My father only realized he had the same problem after I started researching the subject. Some families will dismiss night terrors as nightmares and grow more and more upset blaming the problem on television or other before bed stimulus. Episodic night terrors DO NOT signify psychological problems. Do not however tell the subject that nothing happened. It is OK to tell that person, the next morning, they had a night terror.

Then I cannot say that has ever happened to me.... and I have never had a nightmare... that I know of.

I once woke up sleeping in my hallway tho.

Is sleep walking a part of night terrors?

It's a similar state of sleeping as night terrors, but it's not the same thing (read that big article I edited into the above post for more info).

That is a BIG BIG edit glenn... you should of posted it as a new post...


That was interesting to read... but it still does not help me understand what night terrors are... it only gives symptoms basically.... but it does clear up a few things.

If someone, in his dream, is being chased by a bear... and in the dream the person jumps off a cliff and screams.... but in real life he jumps off his bed and screams for the duration of his fall in the dream...

Is that technically what a night terror is?

I had a dream where I was flying at a dartboard and I could see my feet aiming at the dart board along with the other darts around me. As I woke from the dream my feet were in the same position, meaning my eyes were open that whole time.

I had a dream where I was flying at a dartboard and I could see my feet aiming at the dart board along with the other darts around me. As I woke from the dream my feet were in the same position, meaning my eyes were open that whole time.
________________

Yes, it was a big, big edit, but I couldn't double post (you hadn't posted at the time I copied it in). And yes, that's basically what a night terror is.

Me or Duke? or both?

I have nightmares of having brothers and sisters and all my privacy goes down the drain (i'm an only child) and I have strange dreams that I met other clan members when WG was still alive.

I have nightmares of having brothers and sisters and all my privacy goes down the drain (i'm an only child) and I have strange dreams that I met other clan members when WG was still alive.
________________

God people, stop posting/editing at the same time. Your example DJ .

I cannot say I have ever had a "night terror"... but I know of 2 friends who talk in thier sleep, the same idea, they are talking in the dreams and acting as it is reality... It it is technically the same thing... just not as dramatic as Glenns defined meaning of night terror.