Thread: do injuries effect dreaming?

so last night i resprainedmy ankle that i sprained about 4 or 5 months ago. and latley i have been remembering so many dreams! but last night i had dreams and they were very dark. as in i couldn't see them very well. do you think injuries could make that happen?

mm not sure about general injuries but brain trauma sure can- also were you prescribed any painkillers for the ankle?

ah that must be it, my gf gave me three tylenol i believe. betcha that's what might have done it

I dont know about injuries but i also have a problem with lighting. I can never make the sun STAY up....

Originally Posted by pdiddles03

so last night i resprainedmy ankle that i sprained about 4 or 5 months ago. and latley i have been remembering so many dreams! but last night i had dreams and they were very dark. as in i couldn't see them very well. do you think injuries could make that happen?

I hope this doesn't turn into a tecnique PILD PAIN INDUCED LUCID DREAM
that would be funny some one on the news

A local high school kid broke his arm. He said he was trying to induce a lucid dream?

That would be funny.

Originally Posted by pdiddles03

so last night i resprainedmy ankle that i sprained about 4 or 5 months ago. and latley i have been remembering so many dreams! but last night i had dreams and they were very dark. as in i couldn't see them very well. do you think injuries could make that happen?

It doesnt seem very likely to me that it is the ankle injury that is doing this. The only way that might make sense to me would be if it was keeping you up at night and you were destracted from sleeping, but that doesnt sound like the case. So I would have to agree with you on the pain killer thing, cause that would have a much higher impact on your brain.

Originally Posted by pdiddles03

so last night i resprainedmy ankle that i sprained about 4 or 5 months ago. and latley i have been remembering so many dreams! but last night i had dreams and they were very dark. as in i couldn't see them very well. do you think injuries could make that happen?

I'll have to ask my friend who recently broke his ankle at the skatepark....sounds interesting!

I have a couple of theories, but it doesn't seem very likely to me.

A: Perhaps, because of the pain, or the injury, you're too distracted to get into a deep sleep. Or, it's possible that, because of the injury, your mind is in a more aware state during sleep -- this could have been a survival mechanism from thousands of years ago, when you would have to be extra aware of anything around you because you were hurt.

B: If it's sprained or broken, it's possible your body has been releasing some sort of hormone or natural painkiller that is having an effect on some dream related part of your brain.

ok thanks all for replying! im guessing it was tylenol that did it to me. cuz i had a pretty vivid dream last night

Maybe it is because you are worried about your injury.

Strange. I broke my arm recently, and could not remember any dreams for a week.

I'd say that injuries can affect your dreams, but in my experience it's usually either the pain or the memory of the injury that really causes problems.

For example, when I got into a minor car accident last year, I my muscles were sore and I felt aching pain all over. I didn't want to take pain medication because I needed to monitor my body so I could go to the hospital in case I had any serious injury or whiplash. The pain wasn't so bad that I could't sleep, but I definitely felt it in my dreams, lucid or not.

Another thing is, if I've spent all day limping around from a hurt ankle, then it's not unusual for me to dream about still needing to limp around. Now, if I don't have any real-life pain from the injury and I'm lucid, I can usually realize that it's not my "real" ankle in the dream so I'll walk normally again. But that type of thing is pretty common, I think.