Sleep patterns

[Jonathan Lees]

i used to be a really deep and quick sleeper, recently I've been quite depressed for personal reasons so have been finding sleep difficult. I've never really remembered my dreams that much, I've been keeping a dream diary to try and help my dream recall but in the last 2 weeks I've remembered my dreams only three times and 2 of those were nightmares.

 

[DogwoodTree]

I have very long, highly detailed, and realistic dreams, and the effect the most realistic have on me can last days.

Oh yes, my dreams are long, detailed, and vivid. I dreamed last night that my mom had a child the same age as my oldest daughter, and she had left the girl with her father instead of raising her herself. Then the girl showed up at a conference where my mom was speaking, and she had to tell us what happened and how this girl existed. I went through a long mental process of trying to adjust to this information and accept it, and understand what that meant for this girl and for our family. It was bizarre. I'm still not over it...my mind still keeps trying to "remind" me that I need to keep processing this information, even though it was just a dream.

 

[On the Inside]

I'm still not over it...my mind still keeps trying to "remind" me that I need to keep processing this information, even though it was just a dream.

That is exactly how I feel after these types of dreams, and I have them 2-3 times a week. Yesterday I had to sit in the living room and go over it, I couldn't get going on anything.They are like something that actually happened to me, though they are almost never anything bad. A lot of dream theories talk about how intense dreams might help people process trauma, but I haven't had anything that I consider traumatic happen to me. Though I do have a lot of dreams where I am at school, or college and I am hopelessly behind (which I often was).