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Every lucid dream I have becomes a nightmare. When I suddenly gain consciousness in a dream I begin to panic and the atmosphere turns sinister. The last time t

Every lucid dream I have becomes a nightmare. When I suddenly gain consciousness in a dream I begin to panic and the atmosphere turns sinister. The last time this happened it turned into some kind of sleep paralysis where I became aware of my physical body but was unable to move as I crossfaded between dream and reality.

waltbosz 2y ago
Mine have never turned into nightmares, but once I become aware that I'm dreaming and try to take control, the dream seems to fall apart and I wake up. I've had the sleep paralysis and crossfade that you describe. But it's never psychologically unpleasant. I've also had lucid dreams where it seems like I get stuck in a time loop and keep dreaming that I'm waking up. It feels like hours have elapsed and I've even gotten bored.
- emillinden 2y ago
  This used to happen to me as well. This might sound weird but what works for me is once I realize I’m lucid and the dream starts falling apart as you describe it - I quickly start spinning my (dream) body counter clockwise. In most cases this stops the awakening and I can continue lucid dreaming. Waking up in the ”time loop” is also recurring to me, but a reality check often gets me back on track even when I’m pretty certain that I’m awake (I’m not). I usually just look at my hand. If my fingers look spooky, I’m still sleeping and can induce lucid again.
xelamonster 2y ago
Interestingly enough I've had the opposite experience. If I'm having a nightmare, usually at some point I realize it's a dream, and from there I can almost always force myself to wake up immediately. It rarely happens for me in a regular dream but when it does I can start to control the scenario to some degree.
depsypher 2y ago
I've had both lucid dreams (which was enjoyable) and sleep paralysis before. The paralysis was not a fun experience at all, and sounds a lot like what you describe. It's apparently common enough that there's folklore around it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_hag https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_hag I've only had the sleep paralysis a couple times thankfully, and anecdotally the last time I had woken up in the middle of the night beforehand, remembered something I needed to do on my computer, took care of it in a dark room real quick, then went back to sleep. I suspect the sudden bright light and a bit of stress probably contributed to it happening.
- kelseyfrog 2y ago
  I we have our own folklore about it too. I believe a good percentage of alien abduction experiences are in fact attributable to sleep paralysis phenomena. Alien abductions are as real to us as night hags we're to our predecessors.
addicted 2y ago
I would suggest doing a sleep test. While I believe this can just happen to some people, in my case it was a result of sleep apnea. Getting diagnosed for it and taking remedial steps has been a life changer for me.
- wileydragonfly 2y ago
  When the Apple Watches start monitoring for it, you’re going to see sleep apnea diagnosis skyrocket.
lairv 2y ago
Personally every time I lucid dream I wake up a few seconds later. As soon as I realize I'm conscious, I directly remember the existence of my physical self, the feeling of my arms, my legs in my bed which directly wakes me up
dlcarrier 2y ago
Now that it's what you expect to happen, it probably makes it more likely to happen. I wonder if you could train yourself to expect a better outcome. It can be difficult to control a lucid dream, so it may take some work. Most of my dreams have always lucid, but I didn't know people tried to control them until I was an adult. One of the first times I tried to control one, I tried to teleport to a beach, but instead a matte backdrop of a beach popped up, like I was in a 70's TV show.

waltbosz 2y ago

Mine have never turned into nightmares, but once I become aware that I'm dreaming and try to take control, the dream seems to fall apart and I wake up. I've had the sleep paralysis and crossfade that you describe. But it's never psychologically unpleasant. I've also had lucid dreams where it seems like I get stuck in a time loop and keep dreaming that I'm waking up. It feels like hours have elapsed and I've even gotten bored.

emillinden 2y ago
This used to happen to me as well. This might sound weird but what works for me is once I realize I’m lucid and the dream starts falling apart as you describe it - I quickly start spinning my (dream) body counter clockwise. In most cases this stops the awakening and I can continue lucid dreaming. Waking up in the ”time loop” is also recurring to me, but a reality check often gets me back on track even when I’m pretty certain that I’m awake (I’m not). I usually just look at my hand. If my fingers look spooky, I’m still sleeping and can induce lucid again.

xelamonster 2y ago

Interestingly enough I've had the opposite experience. If I'm having a nightmare, usually at some point I realize it's a dream, and from there I can almost always force myself to wake up immediately. It rarely happens for me in a regular dream but when it does I can start to control the scenario to some degree.

depsypher 2y ago

I've had both lucid dreams (which was enjoyable) and sleep paralysis before. The paralysis was not a fun experience at all, and sounds a lot like what you describe. It's apparently common enough that there's folklore around it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_hag https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_hag I've only had the sleep paralysis a couple times thankfully, and anecdotally the last time I had woken up in the middle of the night beforehand, remembered something I needed to do on my computer, took care of it in a dark room real quick, then went back to sleep. I suspect the sudden bright light and a bit of stress probably contributed to it happening.

kelseyfrog 2y ago
I we have our own folklore about it too. I believe a good percentage of alien abduction experiences are in fact attributable to sleep paralysis phenomena. Alien abductions are as real to us as night hags we're to our predecessors.

addicted 2y ago

I would suggest doing a sleep test. While I believe this can just happen to some people, in my case it was a result of sleep apnea. Getting diagnosed for it and taking remedial steps has been a life changer for me.

wileydragonfly 2y ago
When the Apple Watches start monitoring for it, you’re going to see sleep apnea diagnosis skyrocket.

lairv 2y ago

Personally every time I lucid dream I wake up a few seconds later. As soon as I realize I'm conscious, I directly remember the existence of my physical self, the feeling of my arms, my legs in my bed which directly wakes me up

dlcarrier 2y ago

Now that it's what you expect to happen, it probably makes it more likely to happen. I wonder if you could train yourself to expect a better outcome. It can be difficult to control a lucid dream, so it may take some work. Most of my dreams have always lucid, but I didn't know people tried to control them until I was an adult. One of the first times I tried to control one, I tried to teleport to a beach, but instead a matte backdrop of a beach popped up, like I was in a 70's TV show.