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I've often thought this was the case. Tangentially, when I don't get enough sleep, and my executive function is impaired, I tend to drift into involuntary dayd

I've often thought this was the case. Tangentially, when I don't get enough sleep, and my executive function is impaired, I tend to drift into involuntary daydreams. The content of those daydreams trends to feel like simulations of future events and possible outcomes. I can't say it's related, but I often wondered if my brain is saying "If your not going to sleep enough, so be it, I'll try to squeeze in some simulation tasks during the day". When I was a teen, I'd daydream about skateboarding. It could feel so realistic that I could get a "jump scare" in imagined situations that ended in me hitting the ground.

phantompeace 2y ago
You’ve succinctly described what happens to me when I don’t sleep too well, even down the sudden jump scare when something happens in the day dream
auc 2y ago
You might be microsleeping https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/work-hour-training-for-nurses/longhours/mod3/03.html#:~:text=The%20human%20brain%20can%20respond,Thus%2C%20lapses%20in%20attention%20occur https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/work-hour-training-for-nurses/long.... “The human brain can respond to sleep deprivation by reducing alertness and generating microsleeps – involuntary episodes of sleep lasting a few seconds. During microsleep, you may appear to be awake (eyes open), but your brain will not process information. Thus, lapses in attention occur.“
- BLKNSLVR 2y ago
  I seem to have microsleep trigger when my wife is telling me we've got something planned in three months' time. In three months minus one day, she'll let me know (again) and, damn if it's not the first I'd heard of that, and damn if my reaction doesn't cause an argument.
  - exe34 2y ago
    it's really weird when they start conversations by saying "you weren't listening to me, were you?"
  - _nalply 2y ago
    I wouldn't be surprised if you told that ADHD has been diagnosed.
    - reaperman 2y ago
      If that's happening all the time as GP says, probably true. I do like reminding people that a lot of strategies / techniques / process improvements which help people with ADHD, also really help non-ADHD people as well. In this case, even someone without ADHD can occasionally forget or not mentally "record" a specific event/calendar date. Both ADHD and non-ADHD people would benefit from a calendar maintained by both them and their partner, along with both partners reviewing the calendar together. And periodic verbal reminders leading up to the day rather than just the day the event is agreed to and the day before the scheduled event. The goal of most ADHD time-management techniques is to offload what you can out of your executive functioning brain / working memory, so that you can use as much of your working memory as possible for other unplanned & dynamic things that pop up throughout the day. Even if you have an excellent working memory, you still benefit from offloading stuff that doesn't really need to be there.
      - BLKNSLVR 2y ago
        We recently (-ish) started using a shared calendar. Issues only crop up for things not put into it, or when they don't have a good breadcrumb trail of reminders leading up to it. The main issue with my lack of remembering / hearing / listening / caring is that as soon as I walk in the door, before my bag is put down, before I've had time to change out of my work clothes and maybe take a breath, I'm faced with the onslaught of a detailed, step by step account of her day, interspersed with "by the way, we're going to X with Y on the Zth of September". There's no algorithm to separate the small amount of wheat from the abundance of chaff. I'm a complete arse, but she only notices when I say "you didn't tell me about that!?".
        _nalply 2y ago
        I recognize myself in your description. So probably I need to diagnose myself? /s
The_Colonel 2y ago
I've long bad a hypothesis that dreams are kinda like a training simulator where you can test your reactions. This is then esp. useful for extreme situations (simulated as nightmares) - like you can't really learn in the real world how to react when you encounter a grizzly bear for example - you can't mess it up the first time or you're dead. But if you live in Alaska, you're likely to have such a dream and have the opportunity to try out such a scenario.
- BehindBlueEyes 2y ago
  Anecdotally: I live in bear country but never dreamt about bear encounters. I dreamt a lot about wolves as a kid but only twice after i moved to a place where wolves are, and in such unrealistic way that I'm fairly sure it would be moot as practice/hypothesis testing. Most of my learnings in dealing with wildlife come from things like bear aware training and real life encounters.
  - nightowl_games 2y ago
    It's hard to state 'I've never dreamt about X', its more appropriate to state 'I've never remembered a dream about X'.
    - BehindBlueEyes 2y ago
      Fair enough. I remember my dreams most days, often multiple per night, but you're right that I can't be sure I remember all of them.
muixoozie 2y ago
Have you tried a sleep study? My life has been spiraling down the tubes until recently. Sleep apnea will wreck your life.
- gkhartman 2y ago
  Not yet, but that's not a bad idea.

phantompeace 2y ago

You’ve succinctly described what happens to me when I don’t sleep too well, even down the sudden jump scare when something happens in the day dream

auc 2y ago

You might be microsleeping https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/work-hour-training-for-nurses/longhours/mod3/03.html#:~:text=The%20human%20brain%20can%20respond,Thus%2C%20lapses%20in%20attention%20occur https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/work-hour-training-for-nurses/long.... “The human brain can respond to sleep deprivation by reducing alertness and generating microsleeps – involuntary episodes of sleep lasting a few seconds. During microsleep, you may appear to be awake (eyes open), but your brain will not process information. Thus, lapses in attention occur.“

BLKNSLVR 2y ago
I seem to have microsleep trigger when my wife is telling me we've got something planned in three months' time. In three months minus one day, she'll let me know (again) and, damn if it's not the first I'd heard of that, and damn if my reaction doesn't cause an argument.
- exe34 2y ago
  it's really weird when they start conversations by saying "you weren't listening to me, were you?"
- _nalply 2y ago
  I wouldn't be surprised if you told that ADHD has been diagnosed.
  - reaperman 2y ago
    If that's happening all the time as GP says, probably true. I do like reminding people that a lot of strategies / techniques / process improvements which help people with ADHD, also really help non-ADHD people as well. In this case, even someone without ADHD can occasionally forget or not mentally "record" a specific event/calendar date. Both ADHD and non-ADHD people would benefit from a calendar maintained by both them and their partner, along with both partners reviewing the calendar together. And periodic verbal reminders leading up to the day rather than just the day the event is agreed to and the day before the scheduled event. The goal of most ADHD time-management techniques is to offload what you can out of your executive functioning brain / working memory, so that you can use as much of your working memory as possible for other unplanned & dynamic things that pop up throughout the day. Even if you have an excellent working memory, you still benefit from offloading stuff that doesn't really need to be there.
    - BLKNSLVR 2y ago
      We recently (-ish) started using a shared calendar. Issues only crop up for things not put into it, or when they don't have a good breadcrumb trail of reminders leading up to it. The main issue with my lack of remembering / hearing / listening / caring is that as soon as I walk in the door, before my bag is put down, before I've had time to change out of my work clothes and maybe take a breath, I'm faced with the onslaught of a detailed, step by step account of her day, interspersed with "by the way, we're going to X with Y on the Zth of September". There's no algorithm to separate the small amount of wheat from the abundance of chaff. I'm a complete arse, but she only notices when I say "you didn't tell me about that!?".
      - _nalply 2y ago
        I recognize myself in your description. So probably I need to diagnose myself? /s

The_Colonel 2y ago

I've long bad a hypothesis that dreams are kinda like a training simulator where you can test your reactions. This is then esp. useful for extreme situations (simulated as nightmares) - like you can't really learn in the real world how to react when you encounter a grizzly bear for example - you can't mess it up the first time or you're dead. But if you live in Alaska, you're likely to have such a dream and have the opportunity to try out such a scenario.

BehindBlueEyes 2y ago
Anecdotally: I live in bear country but never dreamt about bear encounters. I dreamt a lot about wolves as a kid but only twice after i moved to a place where wolves are, and in such unrealistic way that I'm fairly sure it would be moot as practice/hypothesis testing. Most of my learnings in dealing with wildlife come from things like bear aware training and real life encounters.
- nightowl_games 2y ago
  It's hard to state 'I've never dreamt about X', its more appropriate to state 'I've never remembered a dream about X'.
  - BehindBlueEyes 2y ago
    Fair enough. I remember my dreams most days, often multiple per night, but you're right that I can't be sure I remember all of them.

muixoozie 2y ago

Have you tried a sleep study? My life has been spiraling down the tubes until recently. Sleep apnea will wreck your life.

gkhartman 2y ago
Not yet, but that's not a bad idea.