I can't think of a dream I had that affected me like this, only dreams that affected me emotionally (e.g. feeling sad after having a dream in which someone I love died, or feeling scared after having a nightmare).

However, I do know why dreams can affect our waking life so much (and I'm sure a lot of people here on DreamViews know this as well). According to research done by Stephen LaBerge, dreaming of doing something has the same effect on the brain than actually doing it while awake. This also explains why dreams seem so real. To the brain, they are real.

Quote Originally Posted by jed001 View Post
When i was very young, 3-5 years old i had a dream that i walked over a sidewalk grate and it opened up on me and i fell until i woke up. To this day i still will try to avoid walking over these grates if possible.
This was just a dream, but to your brain it really happened. That's why you still avoid those grates after all these years.

I think most of you already knew this, but I felt like I should post it anyway.