Are False Awakenings Harmful?

Hi all, I am brand new to these forums (I just joined about a minute ago). My girlfriend has been experiencing false awakenings recently. I h ave been doing research on them and I have found no evidence that they are in any way harmful, however she claims that it is harder for her to breathe while she is experiencing one. She only has mild FA's: the farthest she's ever gotten was to the stairs about 10 feet outside of her room, and she only has one a night. I was initially worried that she may have a sleep disorder, but I haven't seen anything that says if FA's are harmful or not. Thanks for your help!

Nah it's totally nothing to worry about. It's all in her head :) It might be shit for her, but it isn't going to kill her.

Teach her how to do reality checks, and get her into the habit of doing one every time she wakes up ;) This could be made into a cool thing!

Ah, well, that's a great relief!!!! She didn't have one last night, but I'll tell her about the findings when she gets home.

I, on the other hand, have never had good dream recall. I only vaguely remember my dreams, and I have no clue how to improve my recall. I am a musician and a composer and I have heard that great artists have been inspired through lucid dreams, and I would love to try it out! Other than getting more sleep, what are some tips to improve sleep recall?

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Originally posted by Kntrabssi844
what are some tips to improve sleep recall?

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I assume you meant to say "dream recall". :D

For me, what works best is to use a variation of the MILD method. When I'm lying in bed trying to fall asleep, I will repeat to myself (silently) "I will awaken after I dream, and I will remember the dream". Most of the time, this will cause me to awaken after 4-6 hours with a dream fresh in my mind. Make sure you have a notepad or something handy so that you can write down whatever you remember right away. If you go back to sleep without making notes, you will likely forget it.

And I agree with the other opinions voiced here. False awakening are nothing to be concerned about. In fact, someone who has them frequently can use them as a way to become lucid. Like DuB said, if she gets in the habit of doing RCs whenever she wakes up, she could attain lucidity quite easily!

BTW -- always glad to meet a fellow musician! I assumed from your screen name that you must be one. ;)

Yes, I meant to say dream recall. Sometimes things just fall out of my mouth onto the keyboard :?

I'd love to see if she can have lucid dreams, and I'd love to experience them as well. I've always tried to keep a dream journal so I could research some of the dreams I have. I vaguely remember the one I had last night. Roughly how specific to I have to be in dream recall to experience lucid dreams? To be honest, I don't remember much other than I was playing hockey and I scored two goals. :cry:

Also, am I posting these in the right place? If not, just tell me what forum I can go to ask these questions (I know y'all like to keep things organized around here). Thanks!

I am a happy bass player who is majoring in Music Education. I would like to go to graduate school for my masters degree in conducting. Maybe not quite the musician you were thinking of? ;) If so, then great!! Not a lot of classical musicians anymore, unfortunately.!

as you practice with your dream recall it will get better, it shouldnt take too long to get a good dream recall. Also if you wake up in the night and remember a dream, write it down, twice recently I didnt bother because it seemed so vivid but in the morning I completely forgot it

I recommend the dream recall tutorial - http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7236

Written by yours truly.

Anyways, people cannot be harmed from dreams... unless your girlfriend is like... 93 with a bad heart condition, high blood pressure and very obese... (maybe someone could get a heart attack from a very scary dream?) then I don't think she has anything to worry about.

Thanks for your reply. I knew that she couldn't be harmed by a dream, but she mentioned that it was getting harder to breathe, and that's what scared me. I didn't know if it was something that could really harm her or if it was just her perception during the dream. But thank you, everyone, for being so helpful!!

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Originally posted by DuB
Teach her how to do reality checks, and get her into the habit of doing one every time she wakes up ;) This could be made into a cool thing!

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I can attest to that! In the first Lucid Dream I had I became lucid because of a reality check.