"Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood."
Published on September 8, 2004 By Sally jacobs In Misc
I have never being a great sleeper. Even as a small child I needed very little sleep, and was more interested in what mischief I could get up to while everyone else slept. As an adult my sleep has not improved any. I get on average about six hours a night, if I'm lucky. My sleep though is never disturbed. Once I am asleep, not alot can wake me up. It's just the actual getting to sleep that is a problem, and I tend to wake up early, which also can be a problem. I don't sleep walk, or talk or even snore in my sleep. I am a silent sleeper, and I don't move about much either. My laziness even follows me into the land of nod.

I watched this programme about people who have sleep problems much worse than mine. About sleep walking and the extremes people go to. People getting so aggressive in their sleep that they are actually capable of killing you. If someone is sleep walking, and they are startled, still in their sleeping state, they can attack, and they are not in control of their actions. These are very rare cases, but they have been known to happen. There is a man in the states convicted of killing his wife, and he claims he was sleep walking. A leading sleep expert even testified for him, saying that there were classic symptoms of sleep walking. He apparently got up in t he middle of the night, and went to finish a task he had started during the day. Apparently something sleep walkers classicly do, maybe because it is playing in their minds, or something. So he goes down, and starts this task, and his wife follows to see what he is up to. She scares him, and he reacts. He stabs her, and then tries to drown her in their pool. The neighbour hearing the noise phones the police, claiming the couple never row. I guess we will never know if that's true or not. if it is, that iss pretty drastic.

The show also showed this guy, who gets really aggressive in his sleep and punches things. He is scared of sleeping with anyone, in case he hurts them, and fears because of it he will always be alone. There was a guy who eats in his sleep. Goes into the kitchen, and makes food, though it isn't entirely safe, in case he tries to cook, and he doesn't know what he's doing, so his wife has taken to leaving a sandwich in the fridge for him, and that seems to have done the trick. There is a nursery nurse who jumps up in the middle of the night, and shouts at the children. It actually filmed her, and she is scary. It's not a one off, she does it alot, and she's very loud. Her bloke seems able to just switch off. Though it seems to be impossible. There were many other stories but they all go along the same lines.

There was one that had me totally intrigued, and it still does, because I missed the end, so I don't really know about it. There was this girl who has night terrors. A harsher version of nightmares. She has this dream at least three times a week that completely scares the life out of her. She dreams of this old woman, who slowly walks in her room, she tries to run away, but she can't. She fights desperatley to get away. She knows what is going to happen, but everytime it still scares her. The woman walks over to her bed, and gets on the bed. The woman then kneels on the girls chest, so the girl can hardly breathe. She then takes her hands down to the girls throat, and tries to strangle her. Scary stuff. The strange thing is, apparently there is some kind of myth about this woman. From hundreds of years ago, who actually did this to people, and other people have been known to have the same nightmare! Except I can't find any information on it! Google is not my friend!

Anyway, I thought my sleep problems were bad, apparently they are nothing compared to other peoples. Just imagine going to bed, knowing these things are going to happen, but having no control over them. I love my bed. It's my thinking place, where I am totally relaxed and happy. I could not imagine, being afraid of going to sleep. That just sucks.

Comments
on Sep 12, 2004
Very interesting, Sally.

I am lucky...I sleep pretty well.....I can't imagine fearing sleep as these people must....sleep is my absolute haven from the world....where I can rest and think and dream. I do have very active dreams and at times I can wake up in the morning feeling like I have actually physically done everything I did in my dreams....sometimes that can be a little draining....but at least I know I'm going to be safe in my bed...not wandering all over the place in a vulnerable, unconcious state.....or alternatively that I'm not going to harm someone without being aware of my actions.

on Sep 14, 2004
sleep is my absolute haven from the world....where I can rest and think and dream.


Mine too! I am a pretty bad sleeper, and get very little. I blame the Aussies on JU! I love to crawl into my bed after a long day, hide under my duvet and dream...ahh what an escape! To be worried about going to bed would suck! Luckily I am lazy even in slumber!
on Sep 14, 2004
Hey Sally ...how'yr doin??

Mine too! I am a pretty bad sleeper, and get very little. I blame the Aussies on JU!

We just love keeping you up, M'dear!!

Speaking of dreams....and mine are always very vivid...and I'm always running from something...whether it be dinosaurs....UFO's.....monsters....one time there was some entity chasing me that was so massive...so gigantic that I couldn't even see it...it was so Big......although it's never a fast chase ...very slow and even paced and though I am frightened ..I often question ..why I am running....well last night it was people chasing me...apparently they wanted to eat me....I was in a room with my son...and they were looking in the windows...waiting...so I started pushing cuboards...beds....desks...anything in front of the windows....lest they should break the glass....and then suddenly the room disappeared and there was nothing to protect us from them...but for an unknown reason it wasn't the right time for them to eat me.....I didn't know if they ate everyone or they just wanted to eat me...but I didn't want to take the chance to ask them...they seemed nice enough...but.....anyway I ran ...and ran ...and ran.....and they were always close but not close enough....and then I got on a old wooden...flat ..boat...like a makeshift raft...sort of boat...and sailed away
and I looked back and someone...a girl I knew....(not in waking life...but somehow I knew her in my dream...like she was my sister.).....was left behind....she was sitting on a rock on the waters edge....these people were all around her...and first I was scared and wanted to go back....but I saw that they were not eating her and she seemed to be part of them.........

I hope you don't mind me waffling on about my dream......It really stuck with me this morning and has been replaying over and over...and well my other half is not really interested...and rolled his eyes when I wanted to tell him about it ...so I didn't .....
Now, I feel you have a pretty with it mind there,M'dear,....can you make any sense of such a dream...???
I am usually aware in my dream that it is a dream and can try to manipulate what happens...which doesn't really work.....I was wandering what would happen if ...since every single dream I am running from one thing or another.....what would happen if I stopped and let what ever it was catch up...and actully face it......

Do you have any thoughts on how dreams are related to our everyday lives?