spiders on my bed!
I am 35, mother of four (ages 11, 10, 8, 3), a devout Catholic, college-educated, Anglo, married 13 years to an attorney who is doing well financially in his private practice. I have stayed at home to raise my family and have stayed active with volunteering and with writing for a few newspapers. I am […]
help for nightmares
I hope you can help me. I am a very vivid dreamer, and when I am having a very bad dream, either scary or very strange, I can wake myself out of it by saying, “WAKE UP! WAKE UP! YOU ARE ONLY DREAMING!” And I wake myself up, still saying that. I am not complaining; […]
wake up running
Hi Sarah— I’m glad you wrote in for help, before your G.P. sends you off to have your head examined! The good news is that you’re not really having nightmares at all (you don’t have any deep, repressed traumas lurking inside you)- and a solution for your problem is as easy as flicking a switch! […]
romantic arousal
Hi Anonymous— The good news is that your boyfriend is telling the truth! His behavior during the middle of the night, including making love with you, is being performed while he is asleep. This sleep disorder is related to sleep walking, and even to other bizarre activities that occur during the night, like sleep talking […]
child with night terrors
Hi Jennifer— The good news is that your daughter appears to have outgrown her spontaneous occasions of night terrors, which as you and your husband know, can really upset a household. Now she only has them when you disturb or awaken her—and there definitely is a lesson to be learned here! Night terrors are common […]
walking & terror in adults
Hi Leslie— According to traditional sleep surveys, you are one of those “very rare” adults (less than 2%) who frequently experiences night terrors. But if you read as much mail as I do about this curious subject, you might begin to think night terrors are a lot more common than is generally believed. (And you […]
cure for terrors
Hi Kim— I am delighted to hear from yet another “night terrors” sufferer who finds that keeping a light on either helps to prevent an episode, or has a calming effect during an event. Leaving a light on is not a well known “treatment” for night terrors, and it certainly is welcome news to anyone […]
husband yells!
Hi Anonymous— It’s another “confusional arousal!” Thanks for giving us such a good description. Your husband’s behavior fits into all the classic patterns. He appears to awaken from sleep, then he starts talking gibberish and occasionally feels like he’s being attacked (which is why he sometimes hits you), and in the morning he doesn’t remember […]
daughter sits up talking!
Hi Steve— I believe your Daddy skills are right on! Your little girl almost certainly is sound asleep during these night-time awakenings, and the good news is that her behavior, though it is strange, is completely normal. In fact, it’s so normal among kids her age that I think you need to get a second […]
spiders on my bed!
Hi Deanna – Judging by your description, you appear to be experiencing what are known as night terrors—rather than nightmares. The difference is that night terrors occur during the transition from deep sleep (delta) to light sleep, usually within 1-3 hours of dozing off. Nightmares, on the other hand, occur during REM, and can come […]
help for nightmares
Hi Mary – You are the envy of nightmare suffererers everywhere! Just when a dream starts to get unbearable, you can wake yourself up — just by repeating the simple mantra, “Wake Up!” in your mind. I know a lot of readers want your secret! Lucid dreams are defined as dreams in which we know […]
sleep talking
My husband has dreams about real life experiences that have happened to him in the past. In his dreams he re-lives the experience just as it happened, word for word and phone call for phone call. He is talking in his sleep just like the day it happened. (I hear a one-sided conversation). This lasts […]