Trouble sleeping

For the sleep, take the advice above.

As for your dreams, they mean nothing. Common concensus is that they are our way of reaffirming/reorganising memories. They mean nothing.

Anyone who tells you they do have some meaning are lying to you, as they cannot possibly know.

But surely dreams have some sort of psychological underpinning. What someone dreams about is a reflection of their state of mind right?

My mum bought Nytol instead. I don't think i'll need it tonight though cos I'm EXHAUSTED.

But surely dreams have some sort of psychological underpinning. What someone dreams about is a reflection of their state of mind right?

No. They are currently believed to be the brains way of reorganising memories that were brought on recently.

Alpharius is correct, your dreams mean nothing, it's just reorganising memories and sometimes memory consolidation.

but surely if your brain is sorting out the days events and memories and emotions via dreaming then an unsolved negative experience can bring on nightmares?

Saying that though I had almost daily nightmares when I was 8-11. I was the victim of bullying for part of the time(not too bad in hindsight but obviously at the time it wasn't nice) so I'm not sure if it was related, though I wasn't bullied for that entire period so...hmm..disturbing dreams though especially considering I hadn't watched horror movies then.

I get told that an aweful lot these days...



Don't fret about them. I get nightmares regularly, nightmares are believed by some (not the entire scientific community) to be our brains way of mentally preparing us for danger.

We evolved on the African Savanna. Big cats, tall cliffs, ext. were constant dangers for our ancestors. Nightmares may be a way of simulating (safely) dangerous situations that we are naturally afraid of. It is not a prophecy of things to come, just mental conditioning.

Disclaimer: this field of science is still in its infancy. The concensus today may be different in the future.

Lol at disclaimer!

Yeah guys, we generally don't believe much of what Freud says anymore, he was a strange guy on an array of strange drugs I wish dreams had some sort of meaning and whatever, there is so much I want to believe, but most of it has been in part disproved by science

Thats exactly the same as I had. When I went to the doctor when I had the very early stages of depression he told me I was ok and to come back if I thought I was going to kill myself (lol!) then I tried seeing a different doctor at my surgery and she was muuuch nicer and helpful. It might just be a case of seeing another doctor for you but I would give the Nytol a try first.

can't believe a doctor would be so dissmissive like that ... i would have complained. When I was 10 I started becoming ill and 5 doctors told me and my parents it was a cold and I was being over dramatic ... a week later I was in hospital with an illness that nearly killed me ... good doctors are hard to find lol

im having sleep issues and went to my doctor and he was super helpful, gave me loads of info to read about sleep disorders and sleep patters ... suggested i cut caffeine, alcohol etc. , do 1/2 hour intensive excercise 5 times a week, and the main thing was he said 'dont go to be bed until you know you will fall asleep'. He said most people make the mistake of going to bed at a set time rather than going when they will just drop right off. Then he siad to start establishing a time when i generally fall asleep and start going 15 mins before and then keep going like that until the problem is better.

Its working wonders.

No. They are currently believed to be the brains way of reorganising memories that were brought on recently.

That is neuroscience. Not pseudo-science.

Your probably not the type who would read it, but there was a good NewScientist article on dreams recently (12 March, 2011 edition).

What makes you assume that I'm probably not the type to read the New Scientist? I don't usually read magazines but when I do it's far more likely to be the New Scientist or the Economist than Look or Heat. Just because I am not clued up about this area does not mean you can make assumptions about me.

That rant aside, I get your point, but in what way do the dreams I have described come from recent memories or experiences of mine? I have no experience with the Holocaust, nor evil/good creatures of the fantasy variety. Most of my dreams seem to be linked with my emotions rather than my experiences.

They do not have to be recent memories. I have just re-read the article.

I still think you are looking far too deeply into them. There is nothing supernatural about them. You may have seen something that cued a distant memory in your subconscious recently which triggered the idea of the Holocaust (as an example).

You would be surprised at what our brain picks up subconsciously, its how successful advertising works.

And apologies for the assumption. I meant nothing by it.

Stay away from screens (consoles, televisions, computers etc) at least 2 hours before bedtime. Have your last meal at least two hours before bedtime.

You can read in those two hours, do light exercise, and then maybe take a nice warm shower, put your pyjamas on and go to bed. Or tell a story out loud till you feel too tired and fall asleep.

If this doesn't work, perhaps you might want to consider sleeping pills, even if it is only for your exams?
Either way - worry not about your dreams -after all, they are not real. Perhaps try and see the "positive" side of them, such as, the awful things which are happening aren't real, so you could feel like you have experienced something dreadful but it not being the case. Or it is a good base for perhaps writing a story?

Either way, staying off the computer definitely helps. Try going to bed early every day. If you are accustomed to going to bed late, you will take longer to go to sleep, but if you keep it up you will slowly adjust. See if you can join some late-ish swimming lessons to tire you out before going to bed too. : )

That said, I have your same problem - but whenever I do any of these things it does actually work / help.

Apology accepted

Perhaps I'm looking too deeply into my dreams. I'm not suggesting that my dreams are anything supernatural at all! I'm merely wondering whether or not my dreams are symptomatic of depression/anxiety for example. I wonder about this a lot because, although I feel 'down' now and again (sometimes quite a lot actually), I have a quite a normal life - experiencing similar worries and stresses to other people my age. But what I'm most concerned about is my inability to fall asleep. That is what concerns me the most. The dreams I get over after a while, no matter how depressing or scary they are. The lack of sleep is proving far harder to deal with and I'm worried it's going to have a detrimental effect on my grades. I'm at a critical stage of my life at present (A levels) and I need full concentration. I'm missing a day of school as it is cos last time I went in with this little sleep I nearly fell down.