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Strange Dreams after Exertion

ChrisD

Senior Member
Messages
472
Location
East Sussex
Does anyone find that they have strange sleep patterns and dreams after a day of over-exertion? I try to pace myself but it is all to easy to do a little bit too much sometimes.

Last night for example, I found it slightly hard to fall asleep (Uptight, chest tightness, heart beat, racing mind) but go to sleep, waking at 2/3am, falling asleep again after 30 mins then entering a very deep, vivid and sometimes Lucid dream. It was not a nightmare, in fact it was very nice and completely unchallenging mentally. Then i woke again at around 6am and fell asleep one last time - this is the phase that it is always totally bizarre, again i experience lucidity but also false awakenings, as many as 20 times, the sense of time in this dream feels like days but the reality is that I have put my head down for 30 mins to an hour.

Upon waking, I feel quite tense and stiff, some fibro pain and then also a bit dizzy. It seems all too easy to say that I have some unresolved emotional/psychological issues (as a doctor would say) - I pursue this avenue anyway. But I am very interested in the power of the microbiome and also llooking at the body as a whole (holistically). I sleep just fine now when I haven't really exerted myself (I am recovering and healing) so it seems to me that physical stress on the body reciprocates as mental stress at night when the body struggles to rejuvenate itself. I also believe bacteria in the gut have a large role to play in this, regarding serotonin and dopamine production, but I am just speculating here.

Any thoughts?
 

Old Bones

Senior Member
Messages
808
Does anyone find that they have strange sleep patterns and dreams after a day of over-exertion?

Last night for example . . . then entering a very deep, vivid and sometimes Lucid dream. . . . the sense of time in this dream feels like days but the reality is that I have put my head down for 30 mins to an hour.

It seems all too easy to say that I have some unresolved emotional/psychological issues . . . . so it seems to me that physical stress on the body reciprocates as mental stress at night when the body struggles to rejuvenate itself.

Any thoughts?

I notice two consistent changes in the content of my dreams when I over-exert myself. First, these dreams often involve water as an impediment to my getting where I need to go. For example, I may dream that I have to swim a long distance in a choppy lake in order to get home. Or, I have to climb a set of wet, slippery steps. While others (presumably those who are healthy) easily pass me on both sides, I keep slipping back down to the bottom.

More frequently after exertion, I dream about people from my past. Of course, as the years go by more and more people fall into this category. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy because they are often people I haven't seen, or thought about, for decades. Last night, for example, my dreams involved a boss from 35 years ago, and an acquaintance from an extended sailing trip 31 years ago -- both before I was ill.

These dreams are usually "long playing". I remember them in great detail, and it takes a considerable amount of time to recount them to my husband. Apart from the physical challenges involved in the "water" dreams, they don't seem to relate to any unresolved emotional/psychological issues. As for gut bacteria playing a role, although a stool test several years ago was abnormal, my attempts over the years to change my gut bacteria with probiotics, prebiotics and diet don't seem to have had any effect on my dreams. Instead, they seem directly related to level of exertion. In fact, I use them as a sign I need to rest more.
 

ChrisD

Senior Member
Messages
472
Location
East Sussex
@Valentijn Heart rate slightly elevated in the morning but nothing significant.

@Old Bones Wow! That is really strange, I am not just saying this but my dream last night consisted of me being on a shoreline with an island in the distance, I knew that I had to get there but couldn't. Eventually a group of old friends rode past on a rollercoaster (Yes, strange Dali-esque dream) and picked me up, carrying me through the air toward the island. Water is also a common feature in my dreams too, whether it be lakes/ponds/rivers/dried riverbeds - How interesting. Doctors would probably say we need to stay hydrated more! HA ha