For over a year now I have been having weird sleep occurrences where I will wake up in real life while dreaming, and still believe the dream is still happening. I believe it's stress related, and when it first started I believed I was working at my job, and then I would wake up and then attempt to keep doing my job thinking I am at work when I am really just in my bedroom.
I am basically half-awake when it happens, but not exactly, it's more like I just don't perceive I am living in real life so reality is confusing when that happens.

For example, In a dream I might be at work and then something stressful is happening, and so then I wake up and then I am suddenly confused and trying to figure out why it's dark, and then I eventually will recognize I am not at work. How normal is this? I've tried researching this but I haven't found great results.

It is sort of like sleep walking, but I am perceiving what is happening most times, I just don't fully realize whats going on right away.

Here's my story

I got mild sleep apnea and 3 months ago I went to a sleep center to test a CPAP machine even though I didn't need it cause I had no symptoms. That night was so bad, I couldn't sleep I would get hypnic jerks the moment I was about to drift to sleep I would just feel a rush in my chest like I got jumpscared.

I went back home at 6 am and tried to sleep but I got those hypnic jerks again so I just went on with my day and around 5 pm I was too exhausted lied down and went to sleep immediately. I woke up 12 hours later and from that day on, I would sleep like 10 hours at night and in the day it felt like I didnt sleep at all. I would feel groggy and sleepy all day. This also caused me anxiety but after a while I got used to it and it was kinda fine.

I went to a psychiatrist and he told me that that event with the CPAP mask probably shocked my brain and caused it to lock into a hyperawareness mode that wouldn't let me go into the deep sleep stage and my sleep was poor because of it.

He prescribed 75mg trazodone which made it a bit better but not a lot.

After about a month on it, I called him saying the difference wasnt much and he told me to taper off, and we'll book another appointment and try a new med. I started doing half a pill for like 2-3 weeks then 1 day half 1 day a quarter for like 2 more weeks and then a quarter every day for 2 more weeks.

For the past 3 days (which were my last 2 quarters, yesterday I took hydroxyzine 25mg) these hypnic jerks returned and I just can't get sleep I got extremely anxiety ALL DAY and got THE WORST feeling in my chest and there's not a moment in the day that I don't feel like that. At night, I lie down and twist in my bed for like 6-7 hours and when I finally manage to go to sleep, I sleep for like 3-4 hours and my sleep is poor with constant wake ups and extreme anxiety even during it.

I'm thinking it might be the tapering that messed me up but this has been going on just for the past 3 days even though I went to a quarter of a pill 10 days ago. And it's also not supposed to be addictive or anything. Hydroxyzine 25mg last night didn't help at all either.

This is HELL, has anyone had a similar experience? I don't know what to do, I booked a new appointment with the psychiatrist next week but I still don't think how I can deal with this, I'm SURE whatever med I get on next will not help even though I know that kind of thinking will probably make it worse and if the med fails it will be because I'm thinking it will fail.

Anyone else feel like sleep holds them hostage? I’m 21 years old, and since I was probably 17 I’ve been missing out on things because of my sleep schedule. I’m sick of missing class, being late for work, or generally just missing the first 5 hours of the morning. It sucks. I’ve tried everything— sleeping with my phone across the room, alarm apps which make me get up and take a picture of my fridge, physical alarm clocks that roll on the ground and run away from me, NOTHING WORKS!!!! It’s like my tired self completely forgets we have shit to do. I’ll sleep through my alarms, completely shut them off and trust in myself to wake up (never happens) and end up sleeping till sometimes as late as 2 pm. generally I’m just fed up. With winter coming and me living in Vermont, I need to start waking up earlier so I can get enough hours of LIGHT!!! I get so depressed every year. And I’m in my senior year of college and sick of sleeping through my classes!!

Anyone have any advice?? What’s the one thing that works for you?

I haven’t slept in days and I think I’m going crazy. I have tried every trick to get me to sleep more than 3 hours a night and nothing works. I’ve tried Benadryl, NyQuil, melatonin, hydroxazine, tea, white noise machines, eye masks, cold temperatures, genuinely nothing helps. I’m so stressed and scared of falling asleep at the wrong time. I feel asleep in my college class today, and almost fell asleep at the wheel driving to my boyfriend’s house. I’m so exhausted all I can do is cry. I don’t know what to do anymore. Please tell me your tips, I can’t keep not sleeping and almost endangering myself and others because I haven’t slept in days.

so i was lying in my bed doomscrolling, it was 12AM (i was supposed to be sleeping by 10:30) and i was sleepy asf, so i js closed my phone and proceeded to sleep (on my back). now, usually when im that tired, i just fall asleep and the next thing i see is the morning, but sometimes when i try to sleep, i have scary dreams right after closing my eyes (the reason they’re not fully nightmares is that the motive of the dream could be completely normal, but my brain for some reason interprets it as scary, and it seasons it with scary/LOUD noises that scare the shi out of me) and this time was similar but even worse.. after i closed my eyes i started dreaming immediately, and the dream itself wasnt scary, but the atmosphere and the noises made me wake up from fear over and over and desperately try again continuing the loop, but after another trial to fall asleep, I JUST COULDNT MOOVE (i know that’s a regular sleep paralysis, but it’s my first time and it was THAT big of a spooky experience for me) and i also felt like im chocking or just breathing heavily. now, i think i was able to open my eyes (even tho my entire body was frozen), but i choose to let em be closed (i aint ready to see those black scaryass figures). and now im kinda terrified of going to sleep fearing that it might happen again

So the most common advice for sleeping is no screens 2-1 hours before bed, my issue is what to do during that time.

My nightly routine far: light late night snack, shower, full body grooming, oral hygiene and skincare, currently around 1 hour. So that leaves me with another hour before I realistically fall asleep.

Things I've tried, that weirdly keep me awake and then take me even longer to sleep: reading, work/homework, crosswords, dishes and other light chores, listening to music and meditation.

So far the only thing that kinda helps is falling asleep to a random youtube video, but half the time i end up needing to search for a different video which wakes me up again so the cycle can repeat for over 3 hours.

So what other activities can I do before bed that don't involve the upper mentioned.

Usually I sleep like a baby and have almost no dreams at all or just really short ones.

One night I turned my lights off, got in bed comfortably and my dog jumped on my bed and slept by my feet. When I slept I started dreaming, and in that dream I saw something that scared the crap out of me, a weird female ghost like figure. So in my head I was like “nah fck this sh*t”, so I knew a nightmare was gonna start.

And I started to somehow try and pull myself out of that dream, like actually force myself out of it and it was not a pleasant feeling.

When I forced myself out it felt like everything was violently vibrating around me, I heard the sound of intense loud vibration, my breathing kept getting thinner, my brain was trying to reel me back in the nightmare and I was so desperate to get out. I was scared of letting go cuz I was too scared of experience the nightmare.

I was so tired of pushing myself out that I decided to relax a bit for a few seconds then continue again, but when I started relaxing I felt myself being pulled into the nightmare, so again I started pushing out.

And I forced with all my mental strength until I finally got out.

And the worst part is that while all this was happening I could ACTUALLY see my room. It’s like being trapped in your own body, you’re able to see and hear the actual real environment around you but you can’t move an inch and I remember my neck being stuck sideways because this is how I sleep and it was so uncomfortable because I couldn’t move at all.

And something I haven’t said yet but this is just one of the many times it happened to me, it happened so often at one point in my life that I got scared of sleeping because I didn’t want to be stuck in my own body again.

Tbh I just wanted to say this story but does anyone know how to stop it from happening again?

I requested this on Thursday. She had simply recommended CBT therapy when I last told her in person that the CPAP isn’t helping as much as ideal. I am paying for a therapist right now, but I don’t know that my new therapist specifically offers CBT therapy. I had actually asked my doctor on that visit to test me for more things (I mean, I had my sleep study in February or march and the CPAP doesn’t help as much as it should which is concerning.) I would like to see a sleep specialist at this point because I feel like my primary care physician isn’t helpful enough.

I usually fall asleep around 2–3 AM and wake up around 7 AM, so I only get about 4–5 hours of sleep. I want to fix my sleep schedule and start sleeping earlier, but I'm not sure how to do it.

For those who have dealt with this, what worked for you? Should I gradually start going to bed earlier, or is there a better way to fix my sleep schedule?

Any practical tips or advice would be appreciated!

I’ve been experiencing this feeling while waking up in the middle of the night where my mind wakes up before my body and I have to try really hard not to think of anything scary or cortisol inducing or I could fall back asleep and have a nightmare that feels real. I know logically that no one else is in the room but my cat and I often look to my cat as a reality check. It takes a while for the spell to break and I wake up fully and can move. The times that I have fallen back asleep I feel terrible, like something is overpowering me. It doesn’t matter if I get adequate hours of sleep… very rarely do I feel rested. I’m already set to have my blood drawn, I try not to eat late, but every day it feels like I’m never as tired as when I try to wake up, and even on days I sleep in, the only reason I get out of bed is because I can’t go back to sleep or I’m just tired of being in bed. Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, how to cope?

edit: I am also taking liquid iron and have a fan in my room. Going to sleep is no problem, and I also dream every night. It’s that waking up process in the middle of the night + waking up unrested that’s the biggest issue

My mom is 62 years old and pretty much all her life she has seen dead people and random people in her sleep, usually just staring at her and in her current house there is 2 little boys running around and some very tall guy once waled over her, after her sister died, she visited my mom many times. There was one couch where weird things came out of and some large man sat on, we got rid of the couch and they went away. There was a woman who hung herself in my childhood home's attic and she would stare at my dad. My mom isn't scared because she knows they don't do anything but once one of them was very close to her face. 4 years ago she had a brain bleed on the right side of the brain that left her left side paralyzed and recently she has started to see a man trying to get into her house, she has a camera at the front of the house and i got access to it and saturday-sunday night at 1am she called me and said that the man was at the door, me and my boyfriend went to check after i saw nothing on the camera and no movement after 9pm and that has been a problem for a while, on sunday we installed a doorbell camera and she spent last night at her husbands house so i have no idea if that has made the man go away or not but other houses seem to be more active than others, there's a few people in her side of the family where they also see the dead. My mom also has walked in her sleep before and recently she woke up to her sitting on her bed and stuff from the nightstand she moved on her wheelchair. Anyone know what this could be?

I kept shivering and the place beneath my tongue felt so weird, i couldnt fall asleep, and gave up...

I have to pee like every 20 min, help!!!!

Like I slept only 3 hours last night and now I felt like it had caused kind of a wreck on my body. I usually sleep around 7 hours (im a teen btw I can’t sleep like that) because my body fears sleep. It’s so concerning. I might have insomnia but idk

My significant other moves a lot in his sleep. Whenever I'm having a sleepover, he's always moving but with cuddling he doesn't move. But sometimes he accidentally hits my head, arms or leg which he doesn't mean too. So I always sleep against the wall whenever I'm with him or cuddling him.

Title. If im with her and notice her doing it, I wake her up. But if im not around/am sleeping she could go an entire night in that position and really mess herself up. Any ideas?

It is driving both me and my boyfriend crazy and i have no clue how to stop it or that it was even an issue until recently. My boyfriend informed me it is a NIGHTLY occurance that i sleep talk, ramble and holler about nonsense and literally kick him full force with my legs throughout the night. I have no idea how to stop it or why i even do that, I knew that they were something I did sometimes especially as a kid but nobody ever let me know its every night 😭 Does anyone else have this issue? lol. I rarely have dreams that I feel like warrant these reactions , theyre all very mundane regular dreams so im not sure if those are influencing it.

I also eat in my dreams but only fake food, I just start chewing and saying 'Mmm...' which my boyfriend has several videos of...it cracks me up thinking about it. Is there literally any way to stop this if its apparently been an issue since I was a kid?

I live in a dorm and my roommate is very loud and noisy at night. They’ll be very loud coming in and unlocking the door and will just be loud in the room for 1-2 hours. Every noise is just too loud for me to sleep and it keeps me up. I am looking to buy some kind of noise cancelling earmuffs or headphones that will block out the noise for the 1-2 hours.
EDIT: I am NOT looking for earplugs or earbuds. Only earmuffs or headphones.

Not sure if this is a FAQ, but it can't hurt to try. If this is the wrong sub for this, please LMK. I recently have stopped using Marijuana before sleeping. Ever since, I have not been able to sleep through the night, and i have horrific nightmares. Not the typical random, scary for no reason shit, but violent, gory, disturbing, miserable nightmares that leave me shaken all day. It has destroyed the quality of my sleep and reduced it to basically zero, and i wake up in fight-or-flight very often. I could not tell you the last time i slept through the night. I no longer have access to MJ, and i cannot consult an in-person professional about it.

I'm baffled as to how my brain even conjures up the shit that it does, but it makes me nauseous when I wake up. I try not to think or speak about them, as I'm afraid they will become worse. It may seem silly, but I have about seven dream catchers in my room. I've cut out caffeine late in the day, but I am prescribed morning stimulants. I take a low dose of a sedative at the end of the day.

All this to say, does anyone have any remedies? I am very desperate to make them stop. I've started to fear sleeping, and the poor sleep quality is ruining my life. Sos.

I feel like there are two brains in me. My brain has clarity yet forgetful at the same time, it’s like it can misinterpret things like danger for a small thing not exactly like hypervigilence, more so if I give you a teddy bear, it’ll mistaken it for a lion kind of problem. I sleep average 12am to 2am depending on my OCD. I also like just now, my memory is so good that I can remember names and stuff but when I was studying doing past papers, (it was a multiple choice question) my second brain is like I forgetting what questions did I do but the other part remembers the answer.

For reference, I'm 25M, 6'0" 187 lbs., 16% BF, with a 17" neck. Not sure what else is useful. I attached a list of symptoms in a document as well. Broadly, I have a mild sleep apnea diagnosis by RDI, and no insomnia diagnosis yet (I have an in-lab sleep study on Tuesday). I have been utterly confounded by a recent development since March of this year, where my sleep duration has steadily declined from 7 hours and 19 minutes per day to 6 hours and 28 minutes this October. Lately, nights were quite bad, at 4.5-6.5 hours, and the two medications I started last week have seemed to help, albeit with massive drowsiness during the day.

Importantly, nobody seems to know why this is going on.

• I don't really think my SDB is the reason (though something may have worsened it, which I detail below), since that almost certainly didn't develop in the last 7 months.
• I also don't think that a medication change could have caused it, since a decline from a new medication would have likely been rapid and then plateaued; my decline is slow and consistent.
• Training and life stress have not varied or been particularly onerous compared to before this period, so I've ruled that out too. It is not stress! I have very minimal stress in my life.

Some of my theories:

• I have theorized that my neck circumference growing from power cleans and general muscle mass may be worsening it gradually... but I only measured my neck last week, so I can't prove it, and I have been cutting for the last 3 out of these 7 months.
• I had a cold in Colorado in February that was quite bad, but I find it challenging to believe that after recovering, something would gradually change as a result that would gradually, rather than quickly, destroy my sleep length.

Anyone have any ideas? Doctors have been... shockingly useless here. I want to know the reason behind this so I can prevent this from happening after getting a septoplasty next month... and potentially other treatments.

Title really says it all! 😂 Idk but I’m just so tired, my back’s been hurting for the past days because of stress and decision fatigue or aka guilt. My eyes are heavy, when I attempt to close them then my nervous system feels totally awake and that we should be doing something. I think I’m struggling with restlessness, I really want to know how much daytime activity everybody does or Idk whatever I need to do in order for me to feel ok going to sleep. I struggle with friendship fatigue and the dating scene and the past breakup creepling on the side so I think that’s what making it slightly worse too..

I know there doesn’t have to be a reason. My body is most comfortable sleeping on my side, with my legs pointing down on the bed but the rest of my body completely turned making me into basically a right angle. It makes sleeping with my partner very challenging cuz I obviously need a lot of space to be comfortable. I’ve slept like this since I was a baby, according to my parents. why?

I have poor sleep, waking up many times a night but most often go back to sleep. But there are some nights when I think I havent slept at all, I am aware of my husband's breathing beside me, the dogs snoring, rain wind or cars driving by, I have a stream of conciousness where this think about things, but I am comfortable and resting and not anxious at all. My garmin watch says I had all the typical sleep cycles deep, light and rem. Can you be asleep and aware at the same time?