Dreams and Nightmares

Dreams.

I’ve been thinking more about them since an episode of The Odd Pear podcast a good few months ago (listen if you don’t, it always leaves me in a good mood!)

They were chatting about the point of dreams, the meaning of dreams and the fact they’d love to understand more.

Dreams regularly leave me completely baffled and maybe I should start recording them… although I think I’d start reading too much into them.

I only remember my dreams for a short time after I’ve woken up, but in that time they're all I think about.

Nightmares are the worst.

I don’t remember having them too often when I was little, apart from a recurring one where I was having a picnic with my pet rabbit in a forest and a fox appeared (don’t ask!)

However, in the last few years I’ve had them much more regularly.

I guess you could put it down to pressure and stress, probably in some ways related to my anxiety and just being busy.

The very worst are the teeth nightmares. I’m not going to describe them but they’re truly horrific, and apparently a very common indicator of anxiety. If I have them, I wake up terrified and shaking.

I’ve also had some really stressful dreams in general, where I’m trapped in very awkward or embarrassing situations, and wake up unable to shake that feeling of unease.

The nightmares stick with me longer.

They pop back into my head during the day, whereas the nice dream float away.

Why is that?

And why do nightmares have such power over us?

A couple of years ago, when I lived in my flat not far from the town I grew up in, my sister called me in the middle of the night after a terrifying nightmare, convinced there was someone in the house (she was home alone).

Nothing could calm her down, and she ended up driving to my flat in the middle of the night to stay with me instead.

Why can we not shake nightmares even once we wake up and realise they weren’t real?

I don’t have any answers, but I really want to know.

Can anyone recommend anything I could read to learn more?

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