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AnimalBoy

398d

Does anybody else not dream? If so any ideas of why? I've always been told you'd be suffering side effects from not dreaming so I must be and just don't remember, but I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I really don't dream since nothing I do seems to be able to get any dreams to come up. trying to get myself to remember them feels like staring at a blank wall and trying to remember a hypothetical mural that was never really there, it feels like im literally just staring at the backs of my eyes at night. it's also not never, but at most I have a single dream and a handful nightmares/night terrors in like a whole year and I can count the number of dreams I can confirm I actually had throughout my whole 24 years of life on one hand. bc I kept having nightmares I assumed it was PTSD related but I have no idea.

Top reply
    • Werner

      314d

      I found that after leaving the abusive relationship I was in I started having dreams again, I was constantly tensed and on guard in the relationship and now that I dont have that stress of having to defend anything I do I feel more relaxed and that has helped calm my mind to the point u started dreaming again

    • Werner

      314d

      I found that after leaving the abusive relationship I was in I started having dreams again, I was constantly tensed and on guard in the relationship and now that I dont have that stress of having to defend anything I do I feel more relaxed and that has helped calm my mind to the point u started dreaming again

    • Myrllyn

      314d

      For me, it's a defense mechanism to just not remember my dreams. After serving in the Army and being deployed to the Middle East for the Gulf War, I completely wipe my dreams out of my mind. I've been doing it for years, it even affects my memory. I don't hardly remember my high school years.

    • LunarMoth

      317d

      I've heard that generally, you DO dream even if you don't remember anything, it's just that you usually don't remember your dreams unless you wake up in the right part of a sleep cycle. So you might be dreaming and just not recall any of them, moreso than an average person

      • LunarMoth

        317d

        @LunarMoth REM sleep (the stage you typically dream in) can be really disrupted by a lot of different psychiatric conditions, so it might make sense that you have less REM sleep overall as well

    • Bradbeer69

      317d

      I dream or nightmare almost every night and remember everything but pretty much every other aspect of my life I forget things very easily its very stressful feeling and always feel guilty

    • dragonfly2014

      317d

      I don't dream unless it's a nightmare. I've been told I talk in my sleep sometimes when I'm stressed. As for blank starring. I have ADHD and do that all the time when im over stimulated and can't focus anymore I zone out. Everyone hates it. I have PTSD so I don't know if it's trauma response now because I use to dream when I was younger but not anymore.

    • Mattchewy

      317d

      Its actually proven that all people dream, but when it is a dream your brain feels will stress you out or freak you out, it will block it, basically. But if it is a dream you enjoy and are happy in, you are forced away from it by someone or something waking you up, you will remember every detail

    • AnimalBoy

      331d

      I have been this way my entire life regardless of medications, drugs, exercise, or diet. I am also native American and smoke weed for both cultural and health reasons but if anything I have had more dreams on weed however they are still very rare and short, most of the time they are also prophetic or erotic and not any other category of dream which limits it a lot. It doesn't seem to effect my quality of sleep much either, some days I have a good deep sleep and others I don't at all.

    • SYPHERSHADE

      335d

      Most of my life I've suffered similar problems. Of course I've also smoked marijuana most of my life. Since I have stopped I've had some of the most beautiful dreams and Vivid of my life. Unfortunately when I wake I'm in the same position I'm in in my dreams are just that dreams. I'm not sure if you're on any prescription medicine do drugs but I would suggest that change in diet and exercise. Even though smoking pot to me is part of my Native American Rights and the only. Heritage I feel I have of my ancestors I have stopped and I do dream again so you might want to change your diet and just exercise that's all the advice I could give you I don't clearly know what you're going through or the medication you're on there are many things they could do this not getting good sleep I still don't get good sleep but I do dream now even if I sleep for only 2 hours I have dreams and be careful what you wish for

    • hello.its.me

      346d

      I have never dreamed in my life other than nightmares caused by ptsd when I was a kid. My mental health is better now and couple of nights recently I started slept for a bit longer and dreamed for the first time. Longer sleep allows for more period of late night REM sleep, which is the sleep stage that you dream in, but if you have mental health issues, thins may cause more nightmare, so be careful and see someone if this is the case. You may also be a light sleeper, which will prevent REM sleep, so filtering out light an noise may be to get a better night's sleep.

    • ChronicOpossum

      395d

      I don't dream either. I don't have nightmares or anything, I just fall asleep and then it feels like I immediately wake back up even though it's hours later. If I do dream it's something that ends up happening, but that's super rare for me and happens maybe once or twice a year max. Other than that I don't dream. I constantly feel tired and like I'm never getting sleep even though I sleep for super long periods of time once I'm finally able to fall asleep. As far as I can remember, even all through my childhood, it's been like that for me. The last nightmare I had was when I was a really small kid. I always hear about these cool dreams everyone else is having and how they wake up fully rested and then there's me, exhausted and only having had maybe two dreams in the last year šŸ˜µ

      • AnimalBoy

        394d

        @ChronicOpossum that sounds fairly similar although sometimes it feels like in laying in complete "I can't tell if my eyes are open or closed" darkness for like 20 minutes and then I open my eyes when I wake up and it's several hours later and day time. I have the weird prophetic dreams too, they're never anything important it seems like it just exists so I can remember I dreamt it later when it happens and they seem much shorter than even nightmares tend to be, usually by waking me up early but sometimes they seem to begin from the complete darkness and then end in the complete darkness for what feels like only a few minutes at a time. Real movie theater vibes. I've been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, I'm often so tired that i can't really stand up or walk around without losing consciousness in one way or another regardless of how much I sleep. It was assumed that came from the chronic pain but nots alsonbeen brought up that, at least some of it, could come from PTSD. I haven't been able to see the specialist to confirm, although now I'm kind of wondering if my dream situation is also involved in it.

    • rainbow_snare

      395d

      I don't dream much either. I really only dream when it's been a long time since I've had any thc. Before I started smoking weed I do remember having dreams. Something about cannabis prevents you from entering rem sleep, which is when dreams and nightmares take place.

      • AnimalBoy

        394d

        @rainbow_snare I actually feel the opposite is true, I've had this issue almost my whole life if not my whole life including before I ever tried weed and during extended periods I was off of it. Now that I'm a fairly heavy smoker I have maybe a dream or two a year that aren't nightmares instead of none.

    • CrazyCatLady019

      398d

      I don't really dream, either. When I do, It's a nightmare or a night terror. From what I've read, it depends on two things: What type of sleep you're in (Light,deep,REM) and how long you're in each sleep phase. Most dreams happen in REM and deep sleep, so if you're not in either of those phases for very long you may not remember it. Also, nightmares tend to be more memorable, so that's also a factor. I have PTSD, so it may very well be related.

    • PickleNew

      398d

      I don't dream either and everytime someone says everyone dreams it kinda makes me mad. It's like they don't understand that there's people out there that just don't dream. I find the same thing happening when I stare into space. People ask me what I'm thinking about and I reply with nothing which is true it's like my mind is blank but they go on this long rant about how it's not possible and that everyone is always thinking even in their sleep. Along with the fact of imagination I can't imagine what people ask me to. I don't know why we dream of nothing.

      • AnimalBoy

        398d

        @PickleNew I also often think about nothing, it gets really annoying that people insist that I *must* be experiencing thought or dreams because everyone else does and it feels extra frustrating when my family are the ones doing it because they're also the first to tell me my brain isn't working right when I do something weird that they don't understand so it like, pick a lane ya know? They cant say theres something wrong with me and then claim that I cant be experiencing stuff like this because nuerotypical people don't experience it. I kind of assumed it was PTSD related but I always chalked up not thinking when I'm zoned out to my ADHD and in hindsight those seem like really similar symptoms so maybe it's the same root cause.

    • royalty

      398d

      My husband doesn't dream. And when he does they're usually nightmares.

    • Mouse12144

      398d

      I donā€™t know if I dream or not but if I do I donā€™t remember them at all, I also have a lot of self diagnosed mental health issues,

ā˜ This content is generated by our users and it is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult with your physician before making any medical decision

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One user mentioned having the opposite experience, with very fuzzy and blurry dreams, and also having a slight form of aphantasia. It's possible that some people may not remember their dreams or have less vivid dreams due to various factors, such as individual brain chemistry or sleep patterns. However, this information is based on personal experiences shared by users and not on medical research.

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