Last Updated on July 29, 2021
As it approaches waking up time, I will start having lots of active dreams. By the time the alarm goes off at about 6am or 7am, I felt so exhausted, as if I have not slept before. So I understand when I hear about similar problems faced by others.
Do you suffer from the above where you have active dreams right before you wake up which makes you dead tired? And if you are like me, there are days that you need to lie down for another 15 minutes to rest your tried brain before you are physically able to drag yourself out of bed.
I have been having sleep related problems for 10 years. During the first year or so, it was problem falling asleep or insomnia- you lie down on the bed and feel that your system just doesn’t know how to go to sleep. Then, I fell asleep easily but have active dreams just as it was approaching my wake up time.
As a person having this, I’ve tried various methods- they indirectly help to relieve the problem but not overcome it. I doubt there is any medication that could prevent you from dreaming- but a Chinese physician told me that it is likely due to my intake of caffeine that triggers element imbalance- causing excessive ‘fake yang or fire symptoms that rise up when I sleep and cost lots of active dreams’. I was planning to go back to see him for some herbs prescription.
But that aside, I find that the following has helped me less tired as the dream become less active or aggressive:
Changing outlook and learning to relax and take it easy in life
Seriously- how you react in dreams indicate your innermost true nature. If in the dreams you met with situations where you seemed to be instigated, your reaction to it will indicate your degree of letting go.
When I held my previous stressful job, I was constantly overwhelmed by trying to fight and protect my unit. So these situations got replayed in different forms in my dreams- the same type of situations were created- so I find myself arguing with people, some of which I do not know in my waking life. And when I woke up, I am really exhausted- I think the word is dead tired- my brain felt heavy and I had to go through the first few hours feeling totally like a zombie. I had to apply to start work at 10am just because I could not wake up in time.
Eventually I left my job and went travelling– and through meeting lots of people and living with them, I changed- I learned not to fret over situations that I could not control. Just leave it.
I still have dreams where there are people who tried to instigate me and make me angry. But what amazes me is my reaction in the dream. I sort of let it go. When my reaction in my dreams were not explosive, I woke up feeling less tired. I take it as a confirmation that I’ve really changed the way I deal with life.
Therefore, if you are like me and have tried all sorts of methods to cure your problem but nothing seemed to work, perhaps you can examine your reactions in these dreams. If you were made fearful, angry or sad in the dreams, try to match to the events happening in your life and the way you deal with these events. Sometimes, we may not truly understand ourselves- we may think that we are kind hearted or brave but our reactions in the dreams will reveal our true inner core.
But acknowledging it and finding solutions to it- sometimes you may require therapy or counseling- it will help you figure out some issues that could be bothering you.
Another thing you can do is if you often dream only about the time you are about to wake up, perhaps you may want to set your alarm clock earlier and try waking up super early.
I remember a friend who once said in jest, ‘who knows, perhaps you have made a vow in your past life to wake up early and get things done or meditate and not be so lazy. So that’s why you have this sleeping problem.’ There’s probably some truth in it because I noticed that if I am willing to get up at about 4am or 5am, I would have a rest sleep because the ‘dreams’ usually came after 5am.
There’s also another possible reason that I will be discussing in the next article.
