Dream within a dream?

Question

I need some opinions about a dream I had.
It's quite difficult for me to explain but I'll try my best without making it too confusing.

So last night I went to bed feeling very tired but I couldn't seem to sleep straight away, I was just tossing and turning, which really is quite normal for me I guess. When I did finally get to sleep and start dreaming, I knew I was dreaming, I was aware of my dream. It was quite bizarre/weird but I can't remember what I was dreaming about now. I just remember waking up. Well I didn't actually wake up, not in reality anyway. I woke up from my bizarre dream, entering another dream "reality dream" as I call it. What's so strange about it is the fact that I'm almost certain that I opened my eyes. I looked at my boyfriend sleeping next to me, I looked around the bedroom and everything was there. There wasn't any blurred objects or things which seemed out of place. It was all as it should be, as it should look in waking life. I closed my eyes and entered that previous bizarre dream again (the one I can't remember) I knew I was dreaming and I didn't like this dream, so I woke myself up again, opening my eyes, looking at my boyfriend sleeping. I tried to reach out to my boyfriend, so I could nudge him a little (he was snoring, as he does) but I couldn't move and this is when I knew that I wasn't really waking up, that I was still dreaming... My eyes felt really heavy and just as I closed them again (closing them in my dream, I think?) I felt something pull me from behind, pulling me back in to that horrible dream which I've been trying to awake from.
This went on for awhile. Each time I'd wake up in to my "reality dream" try and nudge my boyfriend, talk or even turn over in the bed and I couldn't. Then I'd get pulled back in to the other dream.

It's quite scary when this happens. It's happened to me on 2 other occasions. What's so scary about it is thinking I have woken up when infact I haven't. It's so hard to know if I'm awake or stuck in my "reality dream" because everything seems real, looks real, sounds real. The only time I know the difference is when something bizarre happens and even then it's still very hard to wake up.

I don't know what's causing these dreams to happen or what it's even called when it does happen.
I've search the internet because it freaked me out a lot. There's some people who call it sleep paralysis and others saying it's Lucid dreaming... but isn't Lucid dreaming where you can control your dreams?
I'm aware I'm dreaming when this happens, but I can't control it, I can't wake myself up or IF I do wake myself up, I'm waking up in my dream and not reality.

Any opinions on this?
Thanks

Answer 1

What you are experiencing is called a false awakening. It's pretty much when something in your dream "wakes you up" within the dream (such as dying or being surprised). This isn't actually waking up, but rather changing the dream scene into where you would expect to wake up. These false awakenings can be very realistic and it is nearly impossible to tell the difference unless you attempt to do something that could only be done in a dream.



Something similar happened to me when I was younger. I kept on having the same nightmare over and over again but every time I woke up I would just re-enter the same dream. This went on for about 5 cycles until it finally occurred to me that it was a dream and I could just wake myself up for real. The trick to waking yourself up once you become lucid is to close your dream eyes and focus on the sounds/feelings that your real body is experiencing. It will also wake you up if you stimulate the brain too much by doing something such as attempting to work out difficult math problems in your head.

Answer 2

Dreams Within Dreams

Answer 3

Dream within a dream.

I had a dream and realized I couldnt wake up from it. I tried to get my partner to waken me to no avail.

After having the fear of believing I was in a coma and was unable to move I must have returned to the dream to later awaken as normal that morning except that I was soaking and i felt as if I had run a marathon. When questioning my family to see if they had heard me call out which they all said that the night past without incident I noticed that the humidifer was over turned at the side of the bed and water was everywhere, That part I do remember in the dream. But if that was real, I must have been aware of doing that. So my eyes were awake and my body moving in the dream, but I couldnt wake up as I couldnt move as I felt that I was in a coma. Help. Now I cant find this anywhere.

Answer 4

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RE:

Dream within a dream?

I need some opinions about a dream I had.

It's quite difficult for me to explain but I'll try my best without making it too confusing.



So last night I went to bed feeling very tired but I couldn't seem to sleep straight away, I was just tossing and turning, which really is quite...

Answer 5

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/avaWX



Dreams about romantic love....oh Yes.:) The rests are reality for me...about love and life. Have wonderful dreams..!! Dream well...the dreams you love dreaming.. As you may also learn how to do that too..

Answer 6

Hey there,



What you're describing is very common for those of us who are familiar with experiencing dreams frequently. I have a similar dream where i'm being chased by a masked killer and can't escape. When he kills me, the dream starts again. If i try to wake myself up, i wake back up in my bed, but its not real - it's a dream...and eventually i get pulled back into the first dream.



To clarify..



Sleep paralysis is a phenemonon whereby one's "mind" wakes up, usually accompanied by the eyes opening. However, there is a latency period before the body catches up. So, essentially, how this manifests itself is in the inability to move; the eyes are open, but the muscles are incapicitated. This can be frightening and i hope it doesn't happen to you in your lifetime.



Now, sleep paralysis can frequently occur in what is known as hypnagogia: ‘the borderland of sleep’. This is the grey area between conscious awareness, and the unconscious mind putting you on autopilot. Its common during this time to have feelings of drowsiness, hallucinations, daydreams, lucid dreaming, to hear sounds, to see objects, to feel things that aren't that. (Or maybe they are..) Other common phenomena during this stage are sleep demons, exploding head syndrome, synaesthesia (tasting sounds/hearing colours/seeing sounds,etc) and the tetris effect (all these can be found on wiki).



Lucid dreaming it could well be, if you become aware of your dream while you were dreaming. Lucid dreaming isn't a categorical yes/no ability. It's a technique we learn and work upon to perfect (some of us begin with developed skills). Becoming aware is the first step, and it can happen by accident. Mastery comes with the ability to change your own dreams; to manipulate and to create; to liberate.



My personal opinion is that this is simply a creative dream that you have become aware of. There are a plethora of crazy syndromes and epiphenomena that can afflict/bless our wake/sleep cycle, but generally and for the most part, they are nothing to worry about.



Dream analysis remains in its primitive groundings as a "science" and i doubt that the scientific western community will ever embrace anything beyond Jung. That's not to say that dream interpretation doesn't have it's utility. In truth, no one really knows what causes your particular dreams. It is likely that the dreams are in fact an autonomous unconscious consolidation of your thoughts - A kind of sketchpad/journal of your days thoughts. While you sleep, your mind makes sense of what you have been thinking and doing during the day. We must remember, however, that it is your UNCONSCIOUS that is in control when you sleep, and it works in mysterious ways. Obviously dreaming about you killing your family, doesn't mean you're going to kill you family. No one yet has created (and i doubt they will) a definitive guide on dream symbology, so your own guess is as good as anyone elses.



If these dreams are persistant and they are worrying you, then my advice is to invest in some lucid dreaming books, and teach yourself the capacity to control your own dreams. Be warned though.. It is time consuming and you may not have the determination to succeed. Alternatively you could opt for hypnotherapy or counselling if you feel that these are issues that require more urgent management. My personal view, as mentioned previously, is that you are dreaming because something is on your mind. If you are having reccurring dreams, and we presume that the same dream represents the same problem (not yet proven), then you must establish what it is that is causing discord in your life. If you solve this, then you should no longer experience the dream.



My bet is, that in time.. these dreams shall pass. Or that you shall forget them. A final thought is that if this dream keeps resurfacing, maybe your unconscious is trying to tell you something. What that is, i have no idea.. perhaps you have a better idea.

Answer 7

I had a dream where I woke up over and over again but never for real. I think it means you can't escape something (though you know what it is?)

Answer 8

a dream inside a dream are rare. i had it once but im guessing is that you gotta learn something,or you were very tired. anyway i still have no idea.

it definetly aint lucid dreamin.

but yeah ithink thatcovers somethin. hope i helped.