What would possibly be causing me to suddenly start dreaming?
For years and years – really as long as I can remember – I would only have a dream once a month or so (that I could remember in the morning). The only dreams I could remember were like horror movies. Decapitated heads were a recurring theme for a few months… <<shudder>>
In the last few months, though, I’ve suddenly began having regular dreams, at least 4 nights a week. And they aren’t horror movies any more! They’re just generally zany, a compilation of elements of my day. Yay!
So, as far as you know, what could possibly have caused this?
Do you know of a way to keep it this way, so I don’t have to go back to the monthly horror movies? The way I worded that makes me wonder: Could it have something to do with my menstrual cycle? (I’m a 16-year-old girl, btw)
Have you heard of other people having changes like this? Did you? What were the theories for them?
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Are you getting more sleep lately? As in, you used to get less sleep than you needed, and now you’re on a more stable sleep schedule?
It’s called REM. You must be getting it now.
Actually, no – The one change in my life (that comes to mind) is that I recently started staying up way later every night, for a loss of 1–2 hours of sleep per night. Also, I got hooked on Psych (crime show) about that time, of which I would watch an episode or two just before I went to bed… And that’s when the horror movie dreams stopped! Go figure.
REM sleep is physiologically different from the other phases of sleep, which are collectively referred to as non-REM sleep (NREM sleep). Subjects’ vividly recalled dreams mostly occur during REM sleep. (Wiki)
It’s just science.
Look it up.
I had the most bizarre dreams of my life, every time I was pregnant. Given that, it seems like your new dream cycle could be related to hormone fluctuation.
I also wonder if it could be some fundamental shift in your mind…like maybe your mind used to shut all memory of your dreams out for whatever reason, and now it’s more open to experiencing the memories. I have no basis for this theory whatsoever, but it seems possible. ;)
It is said when a person dreams like that they have high anxiety at those times.
it sounds like there may be a change in your life ie. love,money,social and whether or not you relise you must have views about this whether good or bad also anxiety about something.You could get a dream book which helps you understand your dreams more clearly
One guess I have is now you are waking during your time of dreaming so you remember them more often. Adults tend to cycle through stages of sleep every 1.5 hours, since you are getting about two hours less, you are probably waking during a different stage of sleep than before.
I think everybody has dreams, but some people just don’t remember them. Something is happening in your life (and therefore mind) that for some reason is causing you now to do so.
Are you snaking when you are staying up late? According to my mother that causes her to dream wild dreams. The other night she thought the people in black were coming to get her and so now she has decided to refrain from all snaking at night. lol.
I have to admit that since she has stopped that she hasnt been talking about dreaming but shes been telling me shes been having a good night sleep.
@snowberry Glad to see I’m not the only one who’s never heard this one.
@RandomGirl The “word” brings a rather startling mental image to mind, doesn’t it? So stop snaking already!
You’ve almost certainly been dreaming all along. We humans can’t remain emotionally healthy without dreaming. But the likelihood is we’ll not know we dreamed unless we wake up shortly after the end of the dream. So it’s likely that some change in your sleeping patterns has rearranged your periods of deep sleep, REM sleep, and surface sleep; and thanks to that change, you’re now routinely remembering the dreams.
The OP wrote “that I could remember in the morning” I think she realizes she always dreams, she is just trying to figure out why she is now aware of them; remembering them.
If you are going to bed an hour or two later, then your REM sleep is occurring an hour or two later, probably right when your alarm is going off. You are remembering your dreams because you are being woken up out of them into wakefulness. Before this, your REM sleep would end an hour before you woke up, and by the time you wake up, you memory of the dream is gone.
In order to remember a dream, you have to wake up out of the dream and instantly remember it in your mind. This helps get it out of short term memory and into long term memory. If it doesn’t get into long term memory, you can’t remember it. Long term memory does not operate during REM sleep. So the only way to get a dream into long term memory, is to use short term memory to remember it instantly upon wake up. That allows you to get it into long term memory.
I know I didn’t say that well. Sorry.
Are you on any new meds? That can do it.
@snowberry Lol, been really busy just got here and noticed my spelling error. :/
Thanks for pointing that out.
That was supposed to be snacking not snaking.
Lol.
Maybe your head has been sorting itself out for years…?
I’ve dreamed the same sequence of dreams for years now. I’m not who I used to be and my dreams are changing. (I do mean my literal “dreams”)
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