# Sleep and Dreams > General Dream Discussion > Nightmares and Recurring Dreams >  >  constant nightmares and false awakenings

## Laineykins

Lately, I've been having nightmares almost every night, generally at the start of the night. These generally turn lucid and i wake myself up, or else i just wake up on my  own. Every single time, though, the awakening is false. These false awakenings (which range from just one to maybe up to 8 or 10 in a row) are more unpleasant than the initial nightmares, because of their extreme realism. i used to have false awakenings which i would recognize, because i'd be somewhere other than where i went to sleep, or something would be obviously amiss with the room. These recent ones aren't like that at all. Everything is absolutely normal and accurate, from light quality to my boyfriend's position in bed, if that's where i'm sleeping. It's not sleep paralysis, because i can get up and move around. The only thing that's ever amiss is that there's always something horribly wrong with me. Sometimes i'll notice it right away, sometimes i'll dream of getting up to have a cigarette or get some water before i notice. In the past couple of weeks, i've had false awakenings in which i was blind (which i think is relatively common), one where i could feel the inside of my head vibrating as if i was about to have an aneurysm, one in which i was missing an arm, one where i was floating about six inches off the ground and being dragged repeatedly into a cupboard door (that one was kind of funny later), and a few where i either felt like i was heavily drugged or completely insane. Occasionally i'll still have a false awakening which is weird in some other way, but these are bad too, as they invariably turn into nightmares pretty much immediately.
it's a pattern now- i go to bed, have a nightmare in the first hour, have a few false awakenings until i wake up my boyfriend with my screaming, he's fortunately really nice about it for a couple of minutes, we go back to sleep. usually it's okay after that, until the next night.
this isn't bothering me as much as i would think it would, but i am getting a bit worried. also, i feel chronically sleep deprived. not tired really, just the other symptoms- heightened senses, periodic depersonalization etc.

does anyone have any idea how i can break this cycle?

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## Samael

If you're lucid, the best plan might be to confront your nightmares head-on. Some people like to turn around and hug whatever's chasing them, but I favour fire.

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## Laineykins

yeah, i usually try to do that, and i'm usually successful in the standard nightmares. 
the false awakenings, however, not so much since i have no idea that i'm dreaming.

a side note on confronting your nightmares:
when i was about 4, i had a recurring dream that my family and i were at a playground, and a giant monster came, so we ran and got in the car and drove home, but the monster climbed on top of the car. we would always make it into the house, but i would wake up just as the monster was breaking down the back door. the last time i had the dream, the monster came in, and i threw a block of mozzarella cheese at it and it turned into a grease spot on the wall.

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## louie54

> If you're lucid, the best plan might be to confront your nightmares head-on. Some people like to turn around and hug whatever's chasing them, but I favour fire.



This is true, though you do have to be lucid first. This also requires lucidity, but you can also try to lead your dream in another direction by the choices you make in them. Jump out your window and fly away from the scene, something enjoyable so that the positive feeling is in your mindset, therefor, you are now directing the course of a good dream. Sleep paralysis can be tricky however, but you would know that non of it is real, and you have to remind yourself of that. If you can, spin your "dream body" into a dream but beware of a possible false awakening following sleep paralysis for this is common.

I have a real life question. Have you been stressing out lately, or at least more than normal? Because stress can give you nightmares.

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## Laineykins

yeah, i'm pretty good at stress management while i'm awake, so i've been feeling okay, but i do have a lot of potentially extremely stressful things going on right now. i think because i don't allow myself to freak out while awake, it's coming out in my dreams.

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