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We haven't had a post on dealing with stress dreams, insomnia, and other sleep issues in far too long — so let's discuss! How is the anxiety, uncertainty, and craziness of the current age affecting your sleep? Are you having more stress dreams than usual? Are you sleeping MORE than usual, or feeling like you need more sleep than usual? Are you having trouble turning off your thoughts at night, or waking up in the middle of the night and struggling to get back to sleep? There's so many different ways insomnia and sleep problems can manifest…
I detailed some of my personal stress dreams a zillion years ago, and still on my list of “greatest hits” is this one:
I’m in college again. Months ago, I signed up for a class — maybe a complicated math class, but more likely a class with lots, and lots of reading, such as a study of Shakespeare’s entire works, or perhaps it’s Dostoyevsky. And here’s the thing: I meant to drop the class. I realized early on it was too hard, too time consuming to do the work… but somehow, I never got around to actually getting to the registrar and dropping the class. It is now near the end of the semester, and I am responsible for taking the final for this class — and I don’t even remember where or when it meets. I have a week to learn everything, or face an F on my transcript.
That said, though, I'm a bit surprised that I haven't been having a ton of stress dreams lately. Insomnia has also been mild (although last night I had trouble falling asleep, but it's IEP week for us, so that's a given). Instead I feel like I've been sleeping more lately — like I'm kind of exhausted even though it feels in general like I'm moving less and generally taking in less “new” information.
{related: how to optimize your sleep}
Yet I've seen that fatigue is a big sign of the times for a lot of people — basically your body is on high alert but can't fight or flight because we're just staying in place. The Cut talked to an expert who explained it like thus…
When we’re on high emotional alert — worrying for ourselves, our families and friends, the world at large — we use up a lot of brain energy, and we tend to have a harder time recouping it. “Emotional fatigue is the one that’s going to wake you up at three in the morning or give you insomnia — either you can’t get to sleep, or you wake up in the middle of the night and you can’t get back to sleep,” he says.
I thought it might be interesting to discuss — how's your sleep? Are you sleeping more? Having more stress dreams? Waking up in the middle of the night, unable to get back to sleep? (Is anyone doing upgrades or making changes to your bedroom/sleep situation?) Do tell…
Some great sleep aids if you're struggling with sleep issues…
Stock photo via Deposit Photos/photographee.eu.
Anom
I totally used to get that same stress dream about not dropping a class. Except that it was always calculus 2.
Thanks, It Has Pockets!
I’ve been having a lot more crazy, vivid dreams in the middle of the night than I’m used to. Not sure if it’s the stress of, well, everything, or if it’s all the video games I’ve been playing, since a lot of the dreams seem inspired by them in some way. But if it’s the latter, I gotta find a solution where I can still play during the day and just have my brain calm down at night (I did play before bed a couple times and quickly put a stop to that). Melotonin, maybe?
Vicky Austin
Mine are not vivid, but super immersive and elaborate and convincing lately. I had a really weird one where I dreamed that I accidentally knocked out all but one of my dog’s teeth, and then when I woke up I was relieved to find that he had all his teeth but couldn’t remember why right away. Brains.
CHL
Thank you for this post! I have been waking up in the night and being awake for about an hour, anxiety-ing about money, the state of the country, our home improvement plans (i.e. some reasonable things, some not so reasonable). Am trying different Headspace meditation techniques but it’s a thing for me.
Anonymous
Same!! I stress bought melatonin last week and took 5mg before sleep last night and it helped a lot! Maybe not for long term, but I think I’ll use it during this time for sure.
NOLA
Before all of this, I was having trouble with sleeping through the night. I would wake up at 3:30 or 4 and not be able to get back to sleep. My sleep patterns are all off now, but I’m sleeping well, especially since I started taking meloxicam for my knee. I have some trouble sleeping at the dude’s if I am feeling off-kilter with him, but that’s been less frequent. I had a tarot card reading the other day, which I’ve never done before. We were talking about dreams and remembering dreams. I told her that I have precognition dreams but they’re never about anything important. She said to be intentional about remembering dreams about the important stuff, to kind of put it out there (in whatever way that means). I then had a dream that the dude asked me to marry him and I said no. Interesting!
Jules
My stress dreams usually involve travel and needing to be somewhere but hitting all kinds of obstacles (like a not-funny version of Trains, Planes and Automobiles) – I’m late for a deposition, I have to drag my rolling briefcase across a field of train tracks, then the escalators are broken, etc etc. Last week I dreamed I showed up for a hearing 20 minutes before the start time, discussed some joint exhibits, but then decided I needed to wash my hair and went to my hotel room to do that! Then I realized that everone was waiting for me and, as my associate and I pushed through all the obstacles to getting back to the hearing room, I asked him anxiously if my hair looked wet and if everyone would know why I was late.
But I always tell people that I actually lived the common stress dream about missing a class and showing up for the final, or something close to it. In college, I was taking an American history class and missed a few weeks (it was an early class, I worked nights). I told myself I would get serious and start showing up; I went to class and sat down just as an exam was being handed out. I got up, went straight to the academic advising office that happened to be in the same building and dropped the clas. Fortunately, it was early enough in the semester that I could do so without penalty, but it still kind of gives me palpitations, 40 years later.
Anonymous
I often have stress dreams about never having gone to class. It’s never about taking the final, but rather that my grade will suffer due to the participation component of my final grade (that was a huge deal with every teacher/prof I had in high school, college and law school. Any unexcused absences essentially destroyed your grades). So somehow kept missing my math class that was like Wednesdays at 2:00 pm.