Lucid dreaming in relation to poor night's sleep

Hello everyone,

My situation is long... but, I'll attempt to keep it brief. I'm not sure what I have is lucid dreaming. When I dream I have the ability to control my dream, change what I don't like and if I don't like what happened, I can rewind the dream and try again. Now, my sister has the same thing. She would also (like myself) wake up completely tired and unrested. According to what she was told, a part of her brain that should be resting during sleep, is working while she's resting. In theory, I guess this means that would explain while she's was so tired in the morning. She was told this wasn't normal. And, that she now takes something that puts her into a correct state of sleeping. I have the exact same symptoms. Is what I've described, lucid dreaming? If so, are there other people out there, that have had negative reactions to lucid dreaming? If so, did medication help?

Thanks for all your help.

Danielle

Huh. That's odd -- yes, that's lucid dreaming, but no, lucid dreaming isn't supposed to sap all of your energy like that. I'm not sure what else to tell you -- anyone else wanna step in, here?

Hey Danielle,

What you have described sounds a lot like what I sometimes experience on a bad night. Usually it's when I have something particularly important to do the next morning or when I'm worried about something that my brain goes into overdrive the night before and I find myself uncomfortably in between states of sleep. My mind wanders and seems to play out what could be considered 'dreams' which I can alter and redirect; however, I am not in a complete state of sleep at the time as the thing of 'worry' lingers in the back of my head preventing me from fully relaxing. Getting up in the morning after a night like this is hell, I'm exhausted and feel like I haven't had any sleep at all.

This might not be what you are talking about, but in my case these half dreams cannot be compared to lucid dreaming which usually takes place in the REM state of sleep, a state reached after passing through the other various stages of sleep during the night. After a night of lucid dreaming I often feel extremely relaxed and well slept the next day. Hope this was of some help.

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Originally posted by Muhjah
Huh. That's odd -- yes, that's lucid dreaming

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Not necessarily. She didn't tell that she was aware that it was a dream, just that she could control it. ;)

Anyhow, lucid dreaming occures during REM-phases as med noted. During REM your brain activity is almost as high as in waking life. Being conscious in your dreams doesn't really prevent rest as your brain doesn't really rest during REM. (According to LaBerge)

Even if they are lucid dreams, the real problem most likely lies somewhere else. Unfortunately I can't help any more.

Sometimes I am aware that I'm dreaming. Sometimes I am not. And, I wasn't aware that you could dream, unless you were in the REM state.

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Originally posted by Hate
Not necessarily. She didn't tell that she was aware that it was a dream, just that she could control it. ;)

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Well she said, "when I'm dreaming", so I guess I just presumed she knew -- sharp eye there, Hate! :P

I'm not sure about this, but, I remember reading that with some people lucid dreaming can actually make you tired and unrested.