Vivid Dreams and REM Sleep Disorder

 

   Dreams have always fascinated me, my own and as an area of study in psychology. Dreams can be both a communication from our subconscious as well as a distraction from it. My own have always been very complex and imaginative. When I do have dreams, they are often in full color and sharp images. Scenes will often change from one thing to the next unless my sleep is interrupted. Usually I know when I'm dreaming (if I remember it), because one or more things seem outlandish and the people are ones I haven't spoken to in years or people in my everyday life. Though my more noteworthy and remembered dreams are usually fantastical and whimsical, thus allowing them to be easily discerned from reality, over the past few years that's slowly begun to change. 

    Of course we’re all familiar with dreams concerning our work, I'm definitely no stranger to it, however those particular dreams have never been an issue until recently. I remember the first time I had an overly vivid work dream. I remember how it took me a bit to drag my consciousness back into reality, because I hadn't felt asleep, and how displaced and confused I was. In the dream, I was at work, and what I can remember off the top of my head is that my boss was telling me something new regarding work procedures and as I awoke in the middle of our conversation, I was talking to no one in the darkness of my room, and continued to do so for a good second. For the first time that I could remember, a dream didn't feel like a dream. It was a real situation that I was experiencing and responding to. It generally takes me about 5-10 seconds to realize where I am and then I spend a minute trying to remember the dream and convince myself that it wasn't a memory. 

    Not all of my dreams have been as realistic as that, but it has become more frequent. Doing my own research (i.e. Google searches), I ran across things like depersonalization and derealization disorder, and thought maybe the brain function was similar in the way of derealization but it's actually the inverse. While with derealization one mistakes reality for dreaming, I described my situation more as mistaking dreams for reality. Which then led me to Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder.

    What I've read so far has made it seem more violent and traumatic than what I've experienced, but the other symptoms fit very well. And because it seems to do with the nerve pathways that cause sleep paralysis, it could very well be a latent side effect of my antidepressants. Which is a very plausible solution even if the timing is a bit odd. Now that I work with young children however, waking up in the situations I do can be... distressing. Maybe I just need better sleep medication. 

    I wonder if anyone else reading these has dealt with this disorder. Are your dreams more violent ones? For all others, how do you dream, vivid? Black and white? Tell me your dreams and stay safe.

-Navi

Image credit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-moon-during-a-lunar-eclipse-pictured-from-the-space-station-1