Do you have worse nightmares when you're sad?

[BlueDays]

Does anyone here notice when going through an extreme level of sadness that their nightmares are significantly worse?
I've only just discovered this correlation between the two. I mean extreme sadness and extremely bad nightmares, not just average. Just wondering if this is common or not?

 

[twiggle]

Re: Post your random thoughts/feelings etc

Does anyone here notice when going through an extreme level of sadness that their nightmares are significantly worse?
I've only just discovered this correlation between the two. I mean extreme sadness and extremely bad nightmares, not just average. Just wondering if this is common or not?

Personally, I find my nightmares are worse when I'm feeling alright. When I'm going through sadness my dreams are usually quite pleasant, flaunting a somewhat perfect life in front of me, meaning I hate it even more when I wake up in the morning and realise it was all a dream.

Perhaps your nightmares are bad because some scientific thingy in your brain detects that you're already feeling anxious?

 

[BlueDays]

Re: Post your random thoughts/feelings etc

Personally, I find my nightmares are worse when I'm feeling alright. When I'm going through sadness my dreams are usually quite pleasant, flaunting a somewhat perfect life in front of me, meaning I hate it even more when I wake up in the morning and realise it was all a dream.

Perhaps your nightmares are bad because some scientific thingy in your brain detects that you're already feeling anxious?

hmm, thats interesting. I think having pleasant dreams of a perfect life maybe be just as hard to deal with (as the bad ones) when your sad.
Yes, it probably has something to do with something going on in my brain, I just wondered if many other people experienced this too.
Thanks for your reply twiggle, I guess I should have made a thread of this but for some unknown reason, I am still nervous about making a thread.

 

[BlackPuma]

Re: Post your random thoughts/feelings etc

Does anyone here notice when going through an extreme level of sadness that their nightmares are significantly worse?
I've only just discovered this correlation between the two. I mean extreme sadness and extremely bad nightmares, not just average. Just wondering if this is common or not?

Yes, definitely.

Not just sadness, all strong emotions really, all following the theme of whatever emotion is strongest. When I go to bed really angry, the nightmares follow a theme of aggression, when I'm sad it usually involves a immensely tragic theme. When I'm stressed, I usually end up getting myself in such trouble that I fear for certain death in my dream.

 

[WeirdyMcGee]

Re: Post your random thoughts/feelings etc

I've heard that the temperature of the environment where you are sleeping can really affect how intense your dreams are.
Of course, there's a million other possible elements but I'm sure a low mood could be a big contributor to having terrible dreams.

I still recall the worst dream I've ever had, back when I had night terrors as a child. I had a pretty good day and was really tired-- it was summer time, I was at my grandparents... I couldn't say what the main factor was as to why I had such a terrible dream, since I've had plenty of terrible ones since then but none as vivid and physically stressful.

 

[BlueDays]

Re: Post your random thoughts/feelings etc

Yes, definitely.

Not just sadness, all strong emotions really, all following the theme of whatever emotion is strongest. When I go to bed really angry, the nightmares follow a theme of aggression, when I'm sad it usually involves a immensely tragic theme. When I'm stressed, I usually end up getting myself in such trouble that I fear for certain death in my dream.

Whoa, having bad nightmares to match every emotion would be very difficult :/
I should be thankful that I only have average ones with all other emotions. Thanks your input puma.

 

[BlueDays]

Re: Post your random thoughts/feelings etc

Sorry for putting this in question in this thread. I should have started a specific thread, sorry. Could a Mod put these posts into a thread? Is it too late?

 

[BlackPuma]

Re: Post your random thoughts/feelings etc

Whoa, having bad nightmares to match every emotion would be very difficult :/
I should be thankful that I only have average ones with all other emotions. Thanks your input puma.

They can become pretty wacky. One of them even had end credits, I kid you not.

 

[BlueDays]

Re: Post your random thoughts/feelings etc

Sorry for putting this in question in this thread. I should have started a specific thread, sorry. Could a Mod put these posts into a thread? Is it too late?

Sending a big Thank You to whichever Mod moved this into it's own thread. Very grateful you took the time to do it.

 

[BlueDays]

Re: Post your random thoughts/feelings etc

I've heard that the temperature of the environment where you are sleeping can really affect how intense your dreams are.
Of course, there's a million other possible elements but I'm sure a low mood could be a big contributor to having terrible dreams.

I still recall the worst dream I've ever had, back when I had night terrors as a child. I had a pretty good day and was really tired-- it was summer time, I was at my grandparents... I couldn't say what the main factor was as to why I had such a terrible dream, since I've had plenty of terrible ones since then but none as vivid and physically stressful.

I will certainly do some research on environment temperature influencing the intensity of dreams, I have not heard of that before. Thanks for the tip Weirdy.
Sorry to hear you had such an horrific one when you were so young.

 

[coyote]

Re: Post your random thoughts/feelings etc

Sending a big Thank You to whichever Mod moved this into it's own thread. Very grateful you took the time to do it.

i'll settle for a kiss

or some jam-drop cookies

 

[MollyBeGood]

I sleep a lot to avoid my life. I have all kinds of crazy-azz dreams. Lately my anxiety has been high so I have been having repeat dreams. My repeat dreams often consist of being unable to use the phone to call someone in an emergency-or I cannot find my car in the parking lot of the high school I went to. They seem stupid to retell but at the time of my dreaming them are all to real and very much anxiety related. I can pretty much always figure out on refection why I dreamed a certain thing. My favorites are the ones when I am riding a horse and feel free. I live for those dreams.

 

[BlueDays]

Re: Post your random thoughts/feelings etc

i'll settle for a kiss

or some jam-drop cookies

lol ::
cyber kisses just aren't the same, so I will express-post you some more Jam-drop cookies. Thanks Coyote

 

[BlueDays]

I sleep a lot to avoid my life. I have all kinds of crazy-azz dreams. Lately my anxiety has been high so I have been having repeat dreams. My repeat dreams often consist of being unable to use the phone to call someone in an emergency-or I cannot find my car in the parking lot of the high school I went to. They seem stupid to retell but at the time of my dreaming them are all to real and very much anxiety related. I can pretty much always figure out on refection why I dreamed a certain thing. My favorites are the ones when I am riding a horse and feel free. I live for those dreams.

ah yes, I think a lot of people have repeat dreams :s
I only have one though where I am trying to escape something and I either can't start the car at all to drive away, or the car takes a really long time to start, while the bad thing is getting closer and closer.

 

[Iluv]

Very rarely I get nightmares. When my depression is at the lowest I find my dreams/nightmares completely black like my mind doesn't want to work, or very blurry inconsistent very scattered-like material. I also find that with the more anxiety the more lucid dreams become. I always viewed anything to do with dreaming or nightmares as just a reflection of what is going on subconsciously. Plus it could weigh in on the sleep pattern. There is too much to list, haha, that could cause nightmares. As for my worse nightmare, is when I can't tell whether or not what just happened was real or not. It's pretty sad when I can't distinguish a nightmare from reality. I find that pretty terrifying.

 

[Phoenixx]

I have had very horrible nightmares when I'm sad/depressed. Although I've had them even when I'm calm at night with no worries on the forefront of my mind. It makes me think though that they may be caused with underlying issues, by that I mean the issues I already have and deal with (depression and SA), but I end up burying.

Other than that little theory, I really don't know why I have such vivid nightmares sometimes. I don't even watch horror films and I sometimes have nightmares so terrifying I wake up right into a panic attack. I'm just thankful none of them repeat themselves.

 

[kilojoule]

Yes. Vivid. I have also gone sleepwalking acting out nightmares of bad things that happened in the past Awkward for roomies haha That only happens when Im particularly distressed and/or sad. Im nervous to go asleep when Im upset because that ship freaks me out. I guess thats what happens when you supress your subconscience.

I think I read that your mind processes while you sleep. If thats true then it makes sense your dreams should correspond with your emotions I guess.