I haven't had a nightmare in years now, but the other night I had one and woke up screaming. I noticed that I had dug my finger nails into my leg and caused bleeding and lots of pain. Is it normal to have nightmares in which you actually physicaly hurt yourself? Also for years I have been able to control my dreams for the most part and I can feel pain in my dreams. Not just pain, like a while ago I dreampt I was in an avalanch and I could feel the snow pulling me down and when I was buried under it, it was cold and hard to breath, I had trouble moving because of the snow packed around me also. I like being able to feel and control my dreams but it scares me sometimes because I don't always have control. Like the nightmare I had the other night. Please if anyone goes through this to or knows anything about it I'd really like you to leave a reply, and e-mail me if you'd like to. Thank you very much, I hope you can help me!!
while in a deep sleep, a person can roll over onto their arm and stop the blood circulation; then the individual dreams of someone squeezing thier hand very hard, causing pain. this is the unconscious alerting the individual of the lack of blood flow; the dream seems very real because of the actual pain being transmitted to the brain. the person awakens with a numb arm, and rolls over to allow the blood to flow properly. another example is someone dreaming that they are hanging onto the side of a mountain, clinging but loosing grip, about to fall; then the person awakens to find themself half way off the bed about to fall onto the floor. the unconscious mind communicates thru dreams in this respect; you can therefore experience physical pain, and emotional pain while sleeping being packed and trapped in snow could have been because you were tangled under the sheets and blankets. another type of dream state involves only the mind with no physical influences; being packed in the snow could have been a dream influenced by something such as feeling trapped in a relationship with someone when you wanted to break it off for awhile but didn't know how to tell them
I wouldn't say it's normal to hurt yourself while sleeping, but it doesn't make you abnormal either. What you're describing here might be what's called a "night terror", which is a bit different then nightmares. Could you remember what this dream was about, or did you just have an intense feeling when you awoke? If this type of situation (acting on dreams) is common to you, you may want to go to a sleep doctor. People have been seriously injured from acting out on dreams. A friend told me once about a relative who fell out of a window, breaking their neck, and is now paralyzed.
Intersting post! Though I'm not sure, I belive there's a condition called hypnogogia or other where the person sleeping is reduced to a state rungs lower than REM, and for some reason will inflict pain on his own body. I believe its said that vigils were kept over manic women suspected of witchcraft to see if they'd begin clawing themselves in their sleep also. I remember vividly this one dream where I saw myself drowning, I felt the breath leave my body and surprisingly inhaled and found myself breathing water. I woke and found that I was forcing my face literally into my pillow, as if to intentionally self-smother.
Speaking of pain in dreams, a while back I was dreaming...well, long story...but I ended up being shot in the back, it felt extremely real and all, but the weird thing was that it lasted a few seconds after I was awake. It wasn't until I actually touched the spot and "reset" the never did the pain stop. Anything weird up with that?
I have had similar dreams before. In my dreams I felt that I couldn't breath and the feeling was very stong. I needed to keep telling myself "wake up, wake up, you can't die" and finally I woke up, with my heart beating fast. Sometimes I dreamt that my heart stopped beating and I tried to screem for help but my voice couldn't come out. Again, I kept telling myself to wake up and I returned to reality again. These kind of dreams happen once in a while and usually few nights in a row. I felt like struggling everytime I have this kind of dreams. I haven't experienced pain in dreams though.
