Thread: What causes False Awakenings?

I think it's your subconscious mind anticipating waking up from the dream. In dreams, a stray thought can manifest itself as an object or situation, instantly. I think that, once a person begins to anticipate waking up (even if he is unaware that he is dreaming, and the anticipation is only subconscious), it often manifests itself as a dream scene change (i.e.; dreaming of waking up in your bed). This is only made worse when the dream is lucid, because being consciously aware if being asleep (and subsequently being consciously aware that you'll soon be waking up) makes it much more likely that that knowledge will cause you to dream about waking up.

When did they turn into nightmares - after you realized you were just having false awakenings? Or did they turn into nightmares first, and THEN you realized they were false awakenings? If it was the former, then I think it might have been because you were anxious about them being false awakenings. The dream might have associated that uneasiness with fear, and then associated that fear with nightmare scenarios. That's just a shot in the dark, though. I don't know why a lot of my dreams turn into nightmares, either. But, that's the best hypothesis that I can make. Hope it helps.

Originally Posted by Oneironaut

When did they turn into nightmares - after you realized you were just having false awakenings? Or did they turn into nightmares first, and THEN you realized they were false awakenings? If it was the former, then I think it might have been because you were anxious about them being false awakenings. The dream might have associated that uneasiness with fear, and then associated that fear with nightmare scenarios. That's just a shot in the dark, though. I don't know why a lot of my dreams turn into nightmares, either. But, that's the best hypothesis that I can make. Hope it helps.

I think you're on to something. Expectations can completely shape your dreams, and fear of something happening will only increase the odds of it occurring.

Originally Posted by Oneironaut

...This is only made worse when the dream is lucid, because being consciously aware if being asleep (and subsequently being consciously aware that you'll soon be waking up) makes it much more likely that that knowledge will cause you to dream about waking up...

Consider though that you can not only anticipate awakening but you can consciously from inside a dream awaken your body from sleep, as you noted, yet, probably more often, not experience a false awakening.

So while anticipation does not sound unreasonable, I suspect it not the entire mechanism. I'd never considered the impetus until this reading but actually used to enjoy false awakenings when I'd get them many years ago. But then, I'm amused when something I set out to do doesn't go quite as expected. As I have not had a false awakening in many years, having had become completely comfortable with them, I wonder if it also might have something to do with comfort or even a sort of internal conflict resolution.

Way back in my teens I recall sleep paralysis bugged me until I become comfortable with it at which time it ceased. False awakenings never bugged me to that level, but again, the more comfortable I became with the experience the moreso it decreased until it stopped too. I never suffered nightmares but I think of those similarly and so I believe the more you face what scares you, the more comfortable you become with fright, the less it will disturb you and the less you will have such experiences.

It is not unlike living in realtime. We tend to hold on to things about which we've conflict. Once resolved, we are better able to move on.

In a lucid that's about to end, you know you're going to wake up. So perhaps your brain creates a new dream based on that knowledge. As for regular dreams, meh.