Aggressive Waking Dream

Hello all :) my name is Steve, From the UK and I'm 29 years old.

This morning I woke very early from a bad dream with a fright feeling angry and grabbing hold of my pregnant partners arm, fist raised to her face. She woke to this in a fright, (understandably) and it's really upset her. I'd never think of doing this in real life but the fact is, it's really upset her and I feel that I could have really hit her, maybe feeling that if I wake again from a bad dream could i eventually hit her? I dont know. the thought is scaring me and any help or guideance on this matter will be grately appreciated.



Thank you in advance

Hm, that sounds like problems with REM atonia, I think for that you would need to talk with a especialist.

yeah what walms said,
maybe if you think of happy outcomes before you go to bed will help. :D

has she pissed you off recently maybe made you want to give her a good smack

Sometimes I'll wake up from a nightmare reacting like that. I don't think this is a problem with rem atonia, because it shuts off properly when I wake up and I don't end up in sleep paralysis. People with rem behavioral disorder typically continue acting out the dreams while asleep throughout very intense physical movement. Did you move over her in your sleep, or immediately upon awakening because you were unsure of your environment but felt a person near you and were still afraid because of the dream? To me it sounds more like the latter, but if that's wrong and you think you were acting out the dream like that while still asleep, maybe look into rem behavioral disorder.

Since you're on a lucid dreaming forum, you may want to see if learning to lucid dream can help you tame these nightmares while you're in them, buffering them while the dream is still going on versus when you first wake up from it.

Hi Steve,

You shouldnt worry, you did not have any real intention of hurting her. Besides. it has happened to me aswell that I wake up from a particularly odd or frightening dream while, during waking up, I am still disoriented and may continue acting out the last bits of dream that I had (I even kicked off blankets due to football/soccer dreams). I dont feel it is anything to worry about because it wont even probably happen again, for sure not if you dont have a history of weird-waking-up behavior.