Have you ever just wondered the reason for you having nightmares or bad dreams?
I call mine night horses because they continue running until I decide that I am able to wake up from whatever someone is doing their best to tell me. Sort of like a movie reel that you are really interested in watching but, you want to cover you eyes yet peek through your fingers because you still don’t want to miss anything that could catch your attention.
Today, I am closed off to the world so that I can shake off situations that may have happened recently. So, turn off your phones, televisions, close the blinds and put a “do not disturb” sign on your door. Ready? Okay, so everyone has a bad dream every now and again, right? Right! And some often wake up wondering, “why did I dream that?!” Some even have a good enough memory to remember those dreams. I am one of those people and I listen to my dreams. But these dreams lately have been just really off the wall. Seeing that October 31st was Halloween, I tend not to watch television for a whole month.
Yes, I am scary like that, and not ashamed to say so.
In one of my dreams, I had just moved into my new apartment which I was attracted to right off. It was old, dark, dingy and upstairs. I was walking home one night and turned the corner toward my apartment, and I heard a noise. I turned around to see what it was and no one was there. I climbed the stairs to what I called my beautiful apartment as if I had a party in my apartment and was returning to it. I opened the screen door and in no way was the screen door quietly. It had a screeching noise to it: my secret silent alarm, and I shut the screen door behind me only to fall backwards and land right back outside in front of the screen door. This dream continued throughout the night only to realize that within the dream, I was a witch.
Let me explain something about sleeping first of all.
There are five stages of sleep:
Stage 1 is a transition stage between wakefulness and sleep which will last about 5 to 10 minutes
Stage 2 lasts approximately 20 minutes where the brain produce a burst of rapid, rhythmic brain wave activity known as sleep spindles. Your body’s temperature decreases along with your heart rate.
Stage 3 is a transitional period between light sleep and a very deep sleep. These delta waves begin to emerge in this stage which are deep slow brain waves.
Stage 4 is a deep sleep that lasts approximately 30 minutes. Bed wetting and sleep walking can occur at this stage.
Stage 5 is the REM stage {Rapid Eye Movement}. You body becomes relaxed and voluntary muscles become paralyzed as your respiration rate and brain activity increases. After stage 4, stages 2 and 3 repeats before entering stage 5. Once stage 5 is over, the body returns to stage 2, and this happens four or fives times throughout the night.
We all enter stage 5 90 minutes after falling asleep. The first one is short but gets longer throughout the night. The definition of a nightmare that describes my situation is an evil spirit that supposed to harass and suffocate sleeping people. I will give you a few minutes for this to soak in. . .
I would take my medicine at night, dream dreams that no one should dream, and wake up having to lay there to find where I am.
Each time I wake up, I’m thinking I’m at my grandmother’s home. The most recent dream, I was in a lighted area in a well decorated apartment that was mine and I was with my niece once again. This time in her 10 year old body but looking like the young Janet Jackson off of the sitcom “Good Times” She was sliding under the sofa talking on her cell phone and I was eating a piece of fruit sitting by the window waiting for her to get off so that we could go fight crime-this time I was a super hero! I flew through the ceiling to fight to a villain. I was strong in this dream. Growing up we were told that when you have a nightmare witches are riding your back. I have learned as I got older, nightmares either come from the medicines you take, you have wronged someone, or you did something you had no business doing.
It’s hard enough fighting off everyday evils of this world just to lay down and have to fight off nightmares. There is no rest for the real super heroes and I claim to be one.
Stacey Barlow is a contributing blogger for JenningsWire.
