In the past few weeks, I haven't been sleeping as well at night as I used to. I can fall asleep just as easily as I used to, and for the most part, I don't have any more trouble sleeping through the night. However, I find myself not waking up as well-rested as I used to with the same amount of sleep. I used to get out of bed about seven, seven-and-a-half hours after I got in and feel totally well-rested. These days I sometimes need to stay in bed for nine hours to feel that well-rested, and I usually end up waking up and just getting out of bed before then, and not feeling all that great. Compounding this mystery is the fact that my dreams have been way more vivid as of late. I used to have a hard time remembering anything I dreamed the night before when I woke up; I'd say I'd only really remember my dreams 10% to 20% of the time. In the past few weeks, though, when I wake up, I can remember my dreams in great detail, and the memories of them are way stronger. When I say the dreams are more vivid, I mean the visions created by the dream are much stronger. Comparing my new dreams to most of my old dreams, it's like the difference between watching a movie in a theater and watching it on a 12-inch TV. This is part of the reason why I'm not always able to stay asleep through the night as much as I used to; sometimes in the morning, as I'm nearing the end of my eight hours, the dreams are so strong that I wake up from them because they're just too much to handle. This is something that has always happened to me when my dreams get too intense, but it's been happening at least once a week lately; it used to only happen maybe once every few months. And I don't mean "intense" as in having nightmares, just that the dreams are so vivid that my mind gets overwhelmed and wakes me up from them. Probably because my sleep won't be particularly restful with such a vivid story playing out in my head. What I don't know is whether it's these vivid dreams that are keeping me from getting a good night's sleep, or whether whatever is keeping me from getting a good night's sleep is also causing these vivid dreams. I could see the latter being true, since I used to have my most vivid dreams during that half-awake, half-asleep state I'd enter if I stayed in bed long after getting my eight hours. So maybe the fact that I'm not sleeping as deeply is also making my dreams more vivid? Or maybe it really is the dreams that are keeping me from sleeping? Either way, this whole thing started pretty suddenly, and it's such a drastic change from my usual sleeping patterns that I figured it was worth asking about.
From my understanding,dreams happen in the REM stage, which is the deepest part of the sleep cycle. The fact that you are waking up in the middle of the stage lends itself to not feeling as rested as you have been. With that being said, have you had any changes in your life? New med, nore or less exersize, different diet, increased stress? They could potentially alter your sleep cycle.
Are you eating a lot before you fall asleep? Eating before sleeping forces your metabolism to kick in while you're sleeping, which increases brain activity, more likely resulting in vivid dreaming or nightmares. Another common cause is sleeping on your back and thus restricting air flow, so the body forces you to wake up to breath properly. Are you congested much recently? As it is that time of the year with all the nasty colds and the similar going around. This can also restrict air flow and disrupt sleep. Any recent big changes in your life? Such as starting a new job? Anxiety and stress can cause insomnia, although it's not so common for it to happen so frequently purely due to this. It may be worth making a dream journal, this way, after a month or so you can review what you dreamed and look for similarities, once you've noticed it, you can often be in control during your vivid dreams because subconsciously you'll notice the similarity. To the point you can do anything you want in your dream.
