# Sleep and Dreams > Sleep and Health >  >  Autism and dreams.

## Lulubelle

Hello. I am new here. I came here, frantically, to find some answers about something I experienced earlier today. However, after reading through some of these threads, I'm kind of hoping it would be okay for me to stick around and see what I can learn. Sleep (or the lack thereof) and dreams have always played a huge part in my life, and until now, I've assumed I was the only one.

Being autistic, I'm used to thinking and feeling, acting and reacting differently from other people. As such, it has never surprised me that I sleep and dream differently from others. I am seeing now, however, that there are others out there with some of the same problems I have. 

I guess I have a funny kind of question, and I do hope it is okay that I am posting in your forum this way. If I've put this in the wrong spot, please let me know so I will know better next time.

My question is this:

So many of the stories I'm reading here about sleep paralysis, night terrors, hearing voices before falling asleep, etc are things I've experienced (often) and have always attributed to having Asperger's Syndrome. Are there other members here who are autistic as well, or is all this stuff really as common to a healthy mind as it seems from reading this forum?

----------


## fautzo

I have mild autism and I have never really had any of those problems. I have a lot of dreams where I'm held at gunpoint, if that's what you mean by night terrors, but it always end in me getting away or getting revenge lol. But it's only mild autism, So I guess I'm not really the one who should be answering.

----------


## Lulubelle

I have Asperger's Syndrome, which is a high functioning disorder on the autism spectrum. I wouldn't say it's "mild", however I function rather well. I'm happy to hear from somebody else who is autistic.  :smiley:  It's always nice to know there are other people out there who can relate in some way to the way I perceive the world.

As far as the night terrors go, they're just bad dreams. Usually, I'm trapped by something or someone and unable to move or scream out at all. My body feels very heavy, and I can't open my eyes to see my surroundings in the dream. Every time I try to stand up, some unseen force presses me back down. Then, at some point, I realize it is a dream. However, I am unable to wake myself up. Somewhere between dreaming and being awake, all logic (such as: Don't be afraid, you'll be awake in a second and this will be over) completely flees from me, and I'm petrified. I hear very loud voices and noises all around me, I am unable to see anything, remember anything (about who I am or where I am) and I cannot move at all. This can last from a few seconds to a few minutes, and I often come out of it by punching out or kicking. That's the reason nobody will ever sleep in a bed with me. This happens several times a week, and I do my best to just stay awake as much as possible in order to avoid the experience.

----------


## fautzo

hm. That's odd. That's also kind of a subject here besides lucid dreaming for recreation, lucid dreaming to overcome nightmares. Also, maybe the petrified part has to do with sleep paralysis...I'm not very educated on this stuff though.

----------


## Lulubelle

Lucid dreaming to overcome nightmares? There's a concept I'd like to investigate further. What I would give to be able to take control of my bad dreams! After almost 30 years of wanting nothing more than to be rid of them, could it really actually be done? That would be amazing.

----------


## fautzo

Using Lucid Dreaming to Overcome Nightmares

Theres tons of results on google too  :smiley: 

Sorry I took so long, I was having internet problems for a while.

----------


## Lulubelle

Wow! That's pretty awesome of you. Thanks!  ::D:

----------


## Aristaeus

> As far as the night terrors go, they're just bad dreams.



If it is just a bad or scary dream, it is a night_mare_. A night _terror_ is something that occurs after waking up. Just thought I would point that out, in case you did not know.

Anyhow, to answer the main enquiry, this board definitely has plenty of autistic members. Due to their introverted personalities and propensity to embrace fantasy over reality, I would say that individuals with autism or autism spectrum disorders are naturally drawn to the art of Lucid Dreaming. Ergo, you will likely encounter at least a small number of autistic members here.

----------


## lukasoft

> Lucid dreaming to overcome nightmares? There's a concept I'd like to investigate further. What I would give to be able to take control of my bad dreams! After almost 30 years of wanting nothing more than to be rid of them, could it really actually be done? That would be amazing.



I've probably only had a handful of true nightmares in my life, and my guess is because of my ability to LD. (note that I recently joined the forum and am just getting back into LDing) I started having LDs when I was around 6 or some time around that age. My first LD was actually during one of my few nightmares. I was running from Gossamer, the Looney tunes monster (which is completely comical to me now!  ::lol:: ) and dove into a swimming pool, at which time I had realized I could breath underwater, and became lucid. I actually got out of the pool to look for the monster, however, I never found him after I became lucid. I've had very few nightmares since then, and I believe most of them led to lucidity, removing the nightmare from the dream before I became too scared.

----------


## Aspieoriginal

Hiya. 33 year old asperger woman here. I've been lucid dreaming and astral travelling for a long time. It's an escape. I've found the nightmares are do to change in lifestyle which the asperger mind resents. The astral travelling is an ability to see things that others can't see. I travel thru wormholes and go to other dimensions etc tho these have reduced in incidence since my children got very sick. It's grounded my heart into here and now. Astral lucid dreaming is connection with all possibilities. I read the 7 tasks and found them against my morals and potentially dangerous for me to even try. The astral is like the physical world and I believe messing with the astral can put people and places at risk. But I joined this forum to let you know it's ok. The paralysis is only shock. Once you have purpose you can overcome it. But you must make a decision. Like I am going to fly or I'd like to visit a friend etc etc... Also to others out there... If your lucid dreaming why not walk out of the matrix and see what happens. I met et's and went on a ship. It was an amazing experience. They did special magnetic healing on me. There so much more you can do. Sometimes I do feel alone but recently I met someone who before I met him had painted my astral activities. Quite amazing.. It was like he was watching me. There's wondrous things beyond desecrating the world wonders. So NT.

----------


## Aristaeus

Huh, I totally forgot about this thread.

Yeah, humans with Asperger Syndrome definitely sleep and dream differently than regular humans. It is not uncommon for those with the mental difference to experience insomnia and frequent nocturnal awakenings. Most, if not all, humans with Asperger Syndrome hear voices or sounds when they are falling asleep or feeling drowsy.

@ Topic author: If you are still dealing with nightmares and sleep paralysis, here is a solution that has always worked for me: When you are experiencing sleep paralysis, take quick, deep breaths. This will tell your body that you are awake. The sleep paralysis should then disengage momentarily, if not immediately.

----------


## beijaflor

I don't know if this topic is still active, but here is my experience:

I'm 16 and I have Asperger's Syndrome, too.
Since I was a child I had always a great interest in dreams and I always was having very vivid dreams. One situation that occurred very often in my dreams was the following: 

1. I am at some place (maybe a familiy's house , a street  or a market place) where there are many people who talk to each other. I'm there, too, but I'm wandering around like a ghost an no one seems to see, hear or feel me. I do have a body and a voice but when I'm talking no one can hear me.
Sometimes I am also flying on the ceiling or about 1 meter above the other peoples head's and no one even notices that I'm there. 

When I was 7/8/9 years old I started having bad nightmares because of a trauma that I had before in real life. After that I started having nightmares about it but also about other things that seemed to have nothing to do with my trauma. I was send to a psychologist and she told me that I should think about positive things before going to sleep with the intention to dream about them. I did this and it worked so well that I went further and this is how I started lucid dreaming. The nightmares where gone after a while and I lost my interest in dreaming a bit, until I found out about lucid dreaming years later.

----------


## maurermo

Hi, I just came across this message after searching for information on autism and dreams, and I was led to your thread. I hope you get to read this. I have been experiencing the same phenomenon in the past 1-2 years which you described (being pushed back by an invisible force and not being able to wake myself up). I am also self-diagnosed with Asperger`s. I was wondering if you would ever be interested in taking part in an exciting project about dreams and autism. It is not happening in the near future, but I am looking for potential volunteers currently. Please let me know. Thanks, and looking forward to exchange dream experiences one day!

----------


## Sony

Hey is lucid dreaming true, can I control my dreams and dream what I want...??
If its true, how can i control my dream and dream what I want to dream

----------


## Whaledreamer

I am 37 and have Asperger's too. People with Asperger's are very intrinsic thinkers and I would suspect there would be higher intrinsically thinking members of this site than extroverted. Perhaps extroverted people would experience more colour and random surprising shifts and events in their dream... I could be totally wrong. But anyway... the thing I wanted to mention was that I see the faces of people I have never met when I am on the verge of sleep. It is not frightening, it is actually quite interesting and sometimes grabs my attention so much that I don't get to sleep right away.

Its weird but they rise from the darkness when I close my eyes. It lasts about 2 minutes and every face stays for about 3 or 4 seconds before receding then another face rise up like a face from underwater, except the water is the dark of my closed eyes.

----------

