Beauty sleep

[snooze]

If there is such a thing as "beauty sleep," I must be bloody well gorgeous right now. For some unknown reason, I just slept for over fifteen hours, straight. I was no more sleepy when I went to bed than I usually am, and normally, for me, "sleeping in" means I can go until 10:30 am, 11 if I had a rough night. But, lo and behold, today when I get up and wander out into the kitchen (I don't have a clock in my room at the moment, and judging by the light on my curtains, I thought it might be around 11 ish, maybe 12,) it's past 3:30 and I am stunned. Too stunned to do anything else for the rest of the day aside from heat up some soup for sustenance and watch as darkness begins to fall not 3 hours after I arose from bed. I had planned to spend my day studying for midterms, but I was in such a procrastinatory funk for the rest of the day that I accomplished little other than a modicum of work on my creative writing assignment. (I wrote all of four sentances, but thank God, now I at least have established a general sense of plot.) I did not go to bed late, by any means, in fact I went to bed earlier than I have tended to in the past few weeks. But, soon after I went to bed, I fell into a deep sleep and completely zonked out, and had the weirdest, though pleasant dreams. (Anyone interested in the extent of the weirdness can pm me.) I found I have, at times, the odd knack of being able to direct my dreams, and to have those who appear in my dreams behave exactly as I want them to, which has several benefits.
I did not consume anything unusual (eg. spicy foods, alcohol or drugs) before bed, and nothing in my routine seemed out of the ordinary. Does anyone have an explaination for this odd little foray into the Land of Nod? Should I contact my doctor? Or perhaps a psychologist...

[skyscape]

15 hours is quite a sleep! My 'sleeping in record' is 4:45 PM, but that was after many months of repeatedly staying up until about 5 or 6 in the morning (I feel like my body clock is still reeling from this several years later). Being able to direct your dreams is cool, it's a skill that can be learnt too by Lucid dreaming (being aware that you are dreaming) and it's very awesome.

[snooze]

Being able to direct your dreams is cool, it's a skill that can be learnt too by Lucid dreaming (being aware that you are dreaming) and it's very awesome.

Yeah, that's usually how it is, I know that I'm dreaming, and if I want something to happen in a dream, I just sort of think 'this is how it's going to be' and voila! Although it comes and it goes. I once had a dream start very nicely, with nice people and a nice plot, and then it all got shot to hell with a creepy stalker (someone I know who is not a stalker in real life) who had lots of trapdoors and lecherous intentions. I will never forget that one as long as I live. *shudders*
But yeah, for the most part it seems like I am in a movie, but with no cameras or anything, and yet I direct the story. Funnily enough, it usually only happens in period stories, where I am for some reason living in a castle or a sprawling villa or mansion estate and wearing petticoats and a corset. Although once I did dream I was making a movie with Health Ledger, so there were a couple of cameras and crew members around and all. I had a trailer, and it was awesome.

[skyscape]

Yeah, my lucid dreams are usually kicked off by something so bizarre that I think 'oh wait, this isn't real, it's a dream' - and then the fun begins :D

[snooze]

It's great. I don't dream often, but when I do, 99% of the time it's lucid dreaming, which is awesome. When I fly however, I'm not very good at it. None of this soaring-above-the-landscape stuff. I start and ground level and have to run and jump to gain lift off. I stay up for about ten or fifteen minutes, then I come back down and have to kick off again. Usually it's just me dealing with other people, and it gets pretty fun. I've had the Heath Ledger dream twice now. *winks* It was super-fun, that one.

[skyscape]

Yeah, it's funny about flying isn't it. I actually had a great deal of trouble doing it the first few times, everything just looks and feels so real that your mind keeps tricking you in to thinking the laws of physics apply.

[snooze]

Mmmhmm. Hey Wikipedia and Wikibooks has some fascinating stuff here on the subject. Wouldn't want to try sleep paralysis, however. From both the description and personal accounts from people I know of the experience, it's not something I'd like to mess with. Hallucinations are not a good thing, particularily when the common experiences of sleep paralysis are of a malevolent presence. And that picture of the painting, "The Nightmare" along with the article just freaks me out. Apparently the crushing sensation on one's chest that is often reported along with the sleep paralysis state is what gave rise to a lot of the tales of incubi and sucbi and other night demons. Irk. Just watched Dogma, so demons aren't exactly things to be messed with right now. Or ever, really. I know too many people who've had too many brushes with the supernatural to want to experience any of it myself. There are some things I am happy to be ignorant of.

[Tundra]

I've had sleep paralysis and hallucinations before. Totally freaky.

[snooze]

Yeah, I tried reading up on causes to try and determine how to avoid it, and apparently it can be triggered by sleeping flat on your back, various drastic situational/lifestyle changes, high stress levels, and irregular sleeping patterns, (naps and long sleep-ins and such. Eek.) Well, I'm pretty laid back, my life is stable, so all I ought to do is sleep regularily and hopefully roll off my back during the night. I usually start on my back to do my bedtime thinking-over-the-day, but I roll onto my side before I can actually fall asleep.

[Tundra]

I get it when i'm stressed... usually when it's 'argh, all the assignments are due' time.

[kiss_me_now9]

Sleep Paralysis looks scary... :shock:

I too could sleep all day if you left me, even if I went to bed early the night before. I think my record is 1:45, and then I was woken up by my sister. I'm terrible to get up in the mornings - and if you come into my room and tell me to get up, I'll say yes, and ok, etc. but I'm not actually awake and won't remember it at all. Won't get up either. :?

[skyscape]

Sleep paralysis is nasty, it's the most claustrophobic thing imaginable.

[vindemiatrix]

It's great. I don't dream often, but when I do, 99% of the time it's lucid dreaming, which is awesome.

I thought I was the only one. *grin* Although I dream almost every night (that I remember), and only about 60% tend to be lucid, and in only about half of those can I control the dream. In the other half of my lucid dreams, I'm an active participant rather than just a watcher; I can change the course of events in the dream easily, and interact with people and objects, but I don't realise I'm dreaming and I can't always consciously control events. People tend to say they wish they could dream like I do, but then they've never experienced lucid nightmares, lucky things.

I can also sleep, happily, for hours and hours on end. Eighteen hours is my record so far, but I can average twelve to fourteen a night if I'm left alone. My body clock seems to be nocturnal, and if I'm left to sleep how I wish I immediately start going to bed at six in the morning and waking up at five in the evening, with astounding regularity - and funnily enough, I dream a lot less then. Otherwise, my sleep patterns swerve all over the damn place. It seems that lucid dreams are associated with disturbed sleeping patterns.

[snooze]

Then evidently I will be dreaming much more in future. For Pete's sake, yesterday it was fifteen hours and today it was less than five. Eep. Maybe I will take a nap later. Thank-you unhealthy university dorm lifestyle.
So I get up and wake the dog and give her breakfast and an early start and take her outside to run around and she gives me this *look* like, "It is 8 am and I hate you so bad right now." What? And you prefer the sleeping-in-until doggie-dinnertime routine? Geez, at least it was LIGHT out.

[Sammi]

I wish I dreamt (and remembered it) more. Whether it is fun or scary, I love dreaming.

[snooze]

On a lot of the websites I founjd while googling ludic dreaming, I found that many suggested various techniques to improve dream memory, which is a significant step towards better lucid dreaming. There's various "reality checks" you do throughout the day to ascertain whether or not you are dreaming. I always know whether I am dreaming or not, because my dreams, though realistic, are kind of hyper-realistic, like I know that nothing is as it should be in real life. When things are going normally, I assume I am awake because there are certain real life things I have never experienced in a dream.

[Sammi]

When things are going normally, I assume I am awake because there are certain real life things I have never experienced in a dream.
Or that you have never experienced outside a dream... 8)

[snooze]

When things are going normally, I assume I am awake because there are certain real life things I have never experienced in a dream.
Or that you have never experienced outside a dream... 8)

*sighs*
Yes. I confess that I have never made out with Heath Ledger, (twice, and on seperate occasions!) I have never starred in movies, I have never been threatened with death by being crushed by a monster truck outside the local library, and I have never been molested by this weird dude in my workplace. (Thank heaven for small mercies on THAT one.)

[AXJ]

I knew a girl in college who developed a disorder where she slept ALL the time. She'd wake up, stumble to class, stumble back to her room, and go back to bed, and she repeated that all day. Really messed her up. I don't remember what her diagnosis was, but I do remember she had a heck of a time beating it. :(

[Tundra]

chronic fatigue syndrome? Or something? That'd be horrible... :(

I dream every single time i fall asleep. But i can very very rarely control my dreams. They're entertaining dreams though, most of the time!

[Eyspire]

I knew a girl in college who developed a disorder where she slept ALL the time. She'd wake up, stumble to class, stumble back to her room, and go back to bed, and she repeated that all day. Really messed her up. I don't remember what her diagnosis was, but I do remember she had a heck of a time beating it. :(


Yeah AJX that matches chronic fatigue syndrome. It's extremely nasty, and can last for years and years. My neighbour had it/ and as far as I’m aware - still suffers from it. I’ve personally witnessed him having a tormenting episode before – and it isn’t pretty. He can’t drive much and his face droops from lack of muscular command. Always wobbles on two weak legs. Sleeps like a log. Horrible.

[Eyspire]

But on a humorous note, I too, have been practicing the art of lucid dreaming over the past few years. I always wanted to test out that silly theory, that You can’t DIE in a dream. Or if you manage too, you die in real life too. . Boy did I prove that wrong :P

One afternoon on a Uni break, I took a cat nap. I hadn’t had much sleep the previous night, so my R.E.M period was still active. I discovered I was in a lucid dream, and immediately materialized a dirt bike to transport myself on. I was rushing past familiar landmarks, when I came across some world famous BMX Rider. Don’t know his name because I don’t follow BMX. I told him that every study shows that you can’t die in a dream. But he told me I’d have no trouble killing myself If I just rode up this tremendous kicker ramp, and tried to land on my head. So I did just that. I was high in the air, on my decent to the ground, when I hear the BMX pro yelling really crazy stuff like, “NOW.. get ready, when you’re close to the ground, put your head on a strict angle, so that your neck will snap better!” Wow. I must have had a bit too much sugar before my nap or something. Surely enough though, I landed on my head and felt my spine snap. I remember I just lay there twitching on the ground, my disfigured leg in my face, until I woke up. So it is definitely possible to die in a dream. . but bear in mind, you also die in real life, as my specter is currently hunkered here typing for the cradle of humanity to see. ;)

[Tundra]

That must have been a really boring dream lol. After you died i mean.

[Elski]

Dude. I had a repetaive dream where I kept getting eaten by a dragon. The dream would then just start over, without me ever wakign up. You can *so* die in dreams.

[Eyspire]

Dude. I had a repetaive dream where I kept getting eaten by a dragon. The dream would then just start over, without me ever wakign up. You can *so* die in dreams.

Elski, Precisely why I said it was a silly theory.8)

[vindemiatrix]

I have definitely died in a dream, more than once. The one I remember clearest... some kind of full-scale war had erupted in Belfast and there were assassins after this little girl that I had to protect. I got shot in the head, and died, but I managed to switch POV in my dream at the moment of my death to another character so I could carry on with it. Yay. *grin* AND I saved the wee girl. *bigger grin*

[snooze]

I have definitely died in a dream, more than once. The one I remember clearest... some kind of full-scale war had erupted in Belfast and there were assassins after this little girl that I had to protect. I got shot in the head, and died, but I managed to switch POV in my dream at the moment of my death to another character so I could carry on with it. Yay. *grin* AND I saved the wee girl. *bigger grin*
That. Is Awesome.
You are your own action thriller movie.