Nightmares

no
no!

Why would you think that it does?

Thinking so because I often wake up due to nightmares and find my hand on my chest! lol

Actually, I don't know why it wouldn't lead to nightmares in some people.

First though, I'd ask myself if I put my hands on my chest and then had a nightmare, or was having a nightmare and put my hands on my chest.

Putting your hands on your chest while sleeping could make a person feel like they were being held down, suffocated, etc.

I can see where having any body part in an unusual postion could cause dream distruption.

I've had the sheet get wrapped around a leg, and dreamed I was being held back by that leg.

Re: Nightmares


Yes, but only if it is Hillary Clinton's chest..

Francis.. oh. my god. Did you have to go there?!


I often have nightmares where I wake up to find my cat on my chest.
Or even my pillow on my chest.

Though, putting your hands on your chest before you fall asleep does not guarantee that they will remain there to the stage of REM sleep that we have the deepest dreams at .
By the time we start to get into a deeper sleep, our bodies completely relax and sometimes we have muscle twitching.
Then there is a faze of REM sleep where your body is technically 'paralized' meaning, your muscles can not move on their own , and you are safe to have your deepest dreams with out your body reacting to what is going on in your head.

Each REM cycle is about 90 minutes in length and your body does not stay in one position that long. Circulation demands do not allow it to..

So I do not think that the position of your hands makes a difference unless they are on your chest during the REM phases. But if you start out with your hands on your chest, it is very VERY likely that they will not stay in that position long enough to effect your deepest dreams.

Re: Nightmares


Obviously hands on your chest has some personal revelance to you connected to a feeling that induces the nightmarish images to form. Remember, the nightmare image is in response to a feeling that arises when we are asleep and our defense mechanisms are lowered.

If these nightmares are occuring frequently and are very disturbing, then apparantly you are close to the source of the problem, that is the root of the problem is close to the surface and accessibility could be afforded rather quickly with the help of a clinical psychologist, especially one who deals with dreaming.

You know, I don't believe there is this set meaning to dreams.

Like someone will say if you dream about (making this up) pigs it represents feelings of remorse about your father.

I believe dreams represent emotions, but it has to be interpreted on an individual basis, not through some book, or a phychologist who has set ideas about what something means. I'm sure not all phychologists are like that.

I love the topics of dreams and nightmares. Probably because I've had a lot of sleep disturbances in my life. Hell of a lot of nightmares, and sleep walking, and a lot of "breakthroughs" and emotions seem to come through to me in my dreams.

Best thing I ever discovered is video taping oneself sleeping.

You want insight into your sleep, give this a try. Watch yourself.

Another really easy thing to do is when you have a particularly striking nightmare or dream - write down what you ate that day.

It's a fun thing to explore. Great way to learn a lot about yourself.

(my guess in the pot is that you are eating something or smoking too much or anxious for some reason, and this would go into you placing your hands on your chest naturally once your body goes into sleep)

Aman--

Welcome to A2K.

If I were you, I'd practice falling asleep with my hands on my chest visualizing scenarios in which I was powerful and in control of my thoughts and dreams.

In dreaming--as in waking life--you have a choice about being active or passive. At the very least you can visualize summoning powerful aid.

Hmmm. I rarely have nightmares. Sometimes mild ones, like last night when I had a repeat of the non-braking car one. I'm in a rather bulbous car, slightly reminiscent of my parents' old Chrysler when I was a kid, but much bigger and somehow messier. I'm trying to park it. I can't get it to stop. I try to get the brakes to work as I steer down rows or into spaces .. but there is no cliff to go over or anything like that. I don't even hit another car.

I must sleep with my hands in the 10 - 2 clock position!


I do occasionally have what I call, undoubtedly incorrectly, a phantasm - I'll see a spider right in front of me, coming closer, and wake up to get away from it. Since I've had this before, many times but not often over the years, I know near instantly that it's not real. I think that has nothing at all to do with body position, but is some old nerve reticulum twitching in my brain.

On the whole, I'm a proponent of the type of brain theory that doesn't assign psychological meaning to the imagery - that we are the ones who attach meaning. I've seen this explained better, but it's the best I can do at the moment.