12/14/2024
I copied most of this information from an article called The 10 Different Types Of Dreams on SLEEPOPOLiS.
I added some of my own thoughts into the pre-written text, between plus signs.
Daydreams
The American Psychological Association (APA) defines daydreaming as “a waking fantasy, or reverie, in which wishes, expectations, and other potentialities are played out in imagination.” Almost all of us do this for one reason or another. In fact, the APA suggests that up to one-third — and in some cases, one-half — of our waking thoughts are daydreams.
+Daydreams are dreams. While you are wide awake you are drifting into a meditative state that resembles sleep enough that your mind can wander. It's like taking a little power nap with your eyes open. The description above conveys that daydreams are only good things. I don't believe that to be true. I believe you can have a nightmare in a daydream just as well as you could while you're sleeping at night +
Epic Dreams
These types of dreams are a little harder to pin down, as it depends on how you personally want to interpret the experience, but they’re typically considered very vivid, memorable dreams. Dream interpretation enthusiasts think of epic dreams as profound, with long-lasting repercussions and life-changing potential. Conversely, scientists state that epic dream disorder is “relentless, neutral-content ‘epic’ dreaming without emotionality that is experienced to occur throughout sleep.” Simply put, individuals dream excessively of doing unrelenting, exhausting — often mondane —tasks and wake up feeling incredibly tired the next morning as a result.
+This has happened to me. Two problems with this, one - I talk in my sleep, two - my family are as****es LOL. I used to work at Taco Bell and I would have dreams of my normal day-to-day life working there. I would talk in my sleep and my family would talk back to me. They would make special orders and I would be making them in my dreams. Then they would come back and complain that the chalupa was made wrong... I felt like I never left work I was there almost 24 hours a day...
I figured it out when I woke up in the middle of an order and they were all around talking to me. +
False Awakening Dreams
Ever feel as though you’re going through your morning routine — taking a bathroom break, starting the tea kettle, letting the dog out — only to discover you were dreaming? This is a false awakening, which is common as you transition from REM sleep. Researchers also find it’s frequently associated with lucid dreaming.
+I feel like false awakenings are some of the most horrifying nightmare experiences I have ever had. Everything seems fine your family is around you everything is beautiful you're going on with your normal life and then all of a sudden you look around and they're all dead...
When I was a new mother I would have dreams of the baby crying and me getting up to take care of him and then awful things ensued. I would wake up in a panic with tears streaming down my face. +
Lucid Dreams
A small percentage of individuals have the ability to lucid dream, which is when a person is between dream and wake states of consciousness. In some instances, they have the awareness and the ability to actually control the narrative of their dream or communicate in that state. It may be possible to train yourself to lucid dream, though the task would no-double take discipline and practice.
+My husband used to tell me that he would talk to himself in his dreams and literally say this is just a dream and whatever he needed it would appear to make everything all right.
Say he was fishing out on the lake and for some reason the boat sprang a leak. He would just say this is a dream... I need a different boat and a different boat would appear right beneath his feet that didn't have a leak...
I have never been able to do that, that I can recall. I would be running for my life telling myself this is a dream this is a dream, but nothing would change and the Monsters/bad people would still get me...+
Nightmares
According to the APA, a nightmare is “a frightening or otherwise disturbing dream in which fear, sadness, despair, disgust, or some combination thereof forms the emotional content.” Most of us wake up quite suddenly from nightmares. Often filled with vivid imagery and strong narratives, they’re actually a normal occurrence for most people unless they disturb daily life or sleep habits. Dr. Clara Hill, a therapeutic dreamwork researcher and author at the University of Maryland, developed a cognitive-experiential model of dream interpretation that’s often used in the treatment of nightmares.
+ I looked up cognitive-experiential model of dream interpretation...
It's just a fancy name for what I do so they can charge more for it LOL.
I also find that our brain likes to make mountains out of molehills you can have a horrible nightmare about something very mundane that really is not anything to get horribly upset about. It's just something that's stuck in your craw for some reason. Once you hear what the dream was about you're like oh that, that was nothing why on Earth was I dreaming about that...+
Night Terrors
Night terrors are also known as sleep terrors. The Mayo Clinic indicates that many people experience “episodes of screaming, intense fear and flailing while still asleep … and sleep terrors are often paired with sleepwalking.” They’re more common in children but usually stop in adolescence, although some adults have them, too. While some episodes last mere seconds, others can be a few minutes or longer.
+They may only last a few seconds to minutes in real time, but when you're in the middle of them it feels like hours, days, or a lifetime. Anybody who has suffered from night terrors can attest that the description above is a very subdued description of how it actually feels. +
Progressive Dreams
There’s really not a lot of science yet to quantify the theory of progressive dreams. Anecdotal interpretations define them as a sequence of dreams with a seemingly continuous narrative unfolding nightly or sporadically, like reading a book or watching a series on TV.
+I called these serial dreams. I have had them and it is pretty much just like what they've described above. It picks up where the last episode left off. For me sometimes little minor things will change and I will literally have a flashback to the previous episode and have to point out no that's not what happened.+
Prophetic Dreams
The fascination with dreaming began with cultures all over the world divining a sense of purpose from predictions of the future. From the ancient Egyptians and Greeks to untold religious leaders to Freud and Jung, the idea of dream precognition is woven through human history. Again, anecdotally, this ability is real to some people.
+I feel like the writer of this article does not believe in prophecies or dreaming of events before they happen... I myself believe in it 100% and have done it. +
Recurring Dreams
Scientists frequently associate recurring dreams — usually repetition of the same type of dream or subject — with an unmet need or an unresolved issue. Sometimes recurring dreams can be more disturbing if an individual has trouble processing traumatic events while they’re awake.
+I have advised before that reoccurring nightmares in my childhood were the reason that I became a dream interpreter in the first place. Even when the dreams are not nightmares reoccurring dreams can be annoying, but if you break them down it can help you with insight into your daily life. Your brain is obviously trying to process something or needs to tell you something and won't let it go.+
Vivid Dreams
An unusual condition known as REM rebound is often the cause of vivid, intense dreams. REM rebound is our mind’s response to being sleep deprived or excessively stressed. So when we’re asleep, we experience heightened brain activity, which creates more powerful imagery. Some people might also experience vivid dreams when struggling with high fevers.
+In vivid dreams the edges are sharper the colors are brighter everything just seems even more real or more exaggerated to the point of unreal. Vivid dreams could be so exact that you literally feel like you're walking through real life, or to the other extreme, be a complete cartoon world. Either way you remember every detail. I think if you have a vivid dream that actually goes into the nightmare territory that is a night terror. It's a horrible nightmare that's so vivid and so real and so exaggerated it makes it even more terrifying+
+So the conclusion is that brains are mysterious marvelous things and there are no right answers that are going to cover everyone's experience. There's all kinds of different dreams and all of them are going to have different meanings. Yes, there are some generalizations that can be made, but the fine details are all yours. No matter how ridiculous you think a dream sounds it has meaning. Just last night I got into a fight with a lady in a store that was wearing a beret. She came at me, like a Karen, because I was having a loud conversation with my son about me carrying a broom and a pair of headphones into the store with me. What does it mean? I have no idea. I haven't looked it up yet lol +
Sweet dreams everybody,
Christina
