Dreams

[RinoaHeartillyAngel]

Most times my dreams are about things I wish to happen or I need, I'm worried about ecc.
For example, Lately I really feel I need to go on vacation, so I keep dreaming of the places I usually used to visit during Summer vacation and all my friends.
Sometimes I have nightmares, other times I see in my sleep my everyday life, and other times I have really weird and crazy dreams that doesn't even make sense.
Dreams can usually be influenced by everyday life, wants or needs, inner desires, or even a movie you might have seen.
Dreams in reality last for only a few seconds, even if you have dreams of a whole lifetime. Someone can remember their dream, if they've seen it a little before waking up and not be woken up by something or someone else.

[RagnaToad]

I myself do not dream or atleast i do not remember any of them at all except on very very very rare occasions.

You 'not dreaming' is not an option. If you don't dream, that means you don't get an REM sleep, which would mean someone waking you up every time you've been sleeping for 2-3 hours or so.

Not recalling dreams is pretty normal. I only tend to remember the dreams I have right before I wake up. Although I can remember something I dreamed about when I'm doing something that 'reminds' me of the dream. Like I would be 'Hmm, thát's what I dreamed last night'.

Dreams are just a way for your mind to get things sorted out up there. Not rarely does it happen to me that I dream about stuff I've been reading/seeing/doing right before I went to bed. Just the other day, I had a dream where I was Veronica Mars' boyfriend or whatever. Really creepy to wake up to your actual girlfriend when you've been kissing a fictional person in your sleep.

I guess that doesn't qualify as cheating.

But yeah, there's no real 'meaning' to be found in dreams. Nor is there a spiritual dimension to them.

[nix]

I remembered a bit of my dream last night, first time in a very long timei can recall having one.

It was only a brief memory i have now though, me and a group of faceless friends (dont think they were actually faceless i just cant recall who was who).. Anyway we were walking a country side path going somewhere but we were ambushed by a lone predator, he had his cloaking device up for the majority of the dream and he didnt actually kill anybody (pussy) he just randomly appeared and quickly vanished. So we were just randomly shooting into the tree's/cliffs every so often in paranoia in hopes to clip him, but no joy.

I have no recollection as to where we were going or even how i came into the possession of a fully loaded sub machine gun and side arm in the back arse of nowhere..

Anyway, the dream was interupted by me ma stirring me and giving me a cup of tea, so we never made it to destination unknown

And i haven't even watched predator in months, whats up with that?

hehe anyway I never usually remember them and im also sure i just dont dream much, possibly for the reasons mentioned above by the Toad.

[RagnaToad]

we were ambushed by a lone predator, he had his cloaking device up.

At first I didn't know what you were talking about.

I was like "A dinosaur with a cloak on?", but then I realised what kind of 'predator' you meant...

[nix]

Yes! Now you understand

http://www.abebooks.com/blog/wp-cont...2/predator.jpg

[Govinda]

I have a really strange dream sometimes. It always happens the same way, and always scares the shit out of me. It starts off in some kind of basement (from TV or something, I've never set foot in a basement through lack of availability) with a wooden staircase. So I go over and start trying to walk up said staircase. The trouble is that, for some insane reason, my legs back in the real world start moving too. Of course, there are no stairs in my bed. In my mind I can see the stairs, but my (real world) feet can't find them. I start kicking like mental with my real feet, trying to get up dream stairs. I've injured my beau a good few times doing this. It's such a horrible feeling; I can see stairs, but I can't get up them because they are not there. I never seem to learn.

Sleep paralysis is also a horrific thing. Ever had that? It's so scary. I wake up sometimes and I can't move, at all. I can look around, but my body feels like it's composed of pins and needles and jelly. I am fully awake, but my body's not caught on yet. The last time it happened I was convinced I was having a stroke. I try to shout, or make noise, and all that comes out is a series of bizarre mouth-breather cat noises. My boyfriend found me once, fresh from an impromptu couch nap, in this state. He just looked at me and asked me stuff, while I'm giving it the 'Heeeeeelp mmmmeeee' whisper-screech. He then asked if I was having a seizure and started laughing. He's caring like that.

It's dreams/experiences like these that really get me thinking about the connection between my subconscious brain and my nervous system. I accept that dreams are just random spouts of info, meaningless really, even if sometimes they could be seen as foresight. A friend of mine was staying over once, and in this house all that seperates the couch from the bed is a sheet; he awoke to what, for all intents and purposes, sounded like me having sex. I was not having sex. In the morning he started to make fun of me about it: 'Dreaming about Johnny, were we? Eh?' I wasn't dreaming about Mr. Depp, or anything like it. I remembered my dream from that night too. It was about me fighting with a bank who wanted to give me 13% APR on a mortgage, and I was convinced that it was 1.3% APR with the decimal point moved by mistake. I'll need to watch myself when I'm applying for a real-life mortgage; apparently my subconscious thinking about it turns the rest of me on.

The subconscious mind has so much untapped power. I just wish there was a way, apart from meditation and what have you, to get at that power and be able to control it, not have it manifest itself as mortgage-related sex noises and a nonexistant-but-****-you-I'm-walking-up-them-anyway set of stairs. There's a part of my brain that can make me do things I don't want to do, or can shut my body down so that I can't use it even when my conscious mind is fully awake. It's scary, and it's cool.

But as for bog-standard dreams, I tend to think of them as a psychological outlet. Your brain can't stop mulling over information, letting it out of your system. If you don't have anyone to talk to, you start talking to yourself, simply to let information go somewhere (this I learned in college). I think dreams are a subconscious version of that. It's just your brain letting go of scraps of information interpreted in its own phenomenal way. Except for when it starts making your body do stuff without your permission. That's when things get cool.

Alpha, I would like to thank you for your recon effort into the cheese-nightmare myth. That's a lot of cheese to have to eat before getting results. My mother is convinced that anything bigger than a cheese slice three hours before sleep will result in mind-twisting nightmares. I can now tell her that a little Dairylea for supper is ok.

[RagnaToad]

The trouble is that, for some insane reason, my legs back in the real world start moving too. Of course, there are no stairs in my bed. In my mind I can see the stairs, but my (real world) feet can't find them. I start kicking like mental with my real feet, trying to get up dream stairs.

The opposite happens to me!!! Those things happen to me when I'm almost awake, and my brain is starting to link up with my body again. If you know what I mean. For me, it's mostly running toward something or trying to fight someone in my dream. My brain is starting to control my muscles again, because I'm almost awake again. In my dream I'm trying to punch someone in the face, but my brain is sensing that my muscles aren't actually moving. So for some reason, the brain passes on that message and drops it into my dream, making it so that I can't seem to use my arms any other way but in slow-motion. Really frustrating.

It's kind of the opposite, but also kind of the same. Cause I believe my arms/legs are actually moving a little bit, since my brain is starting to control my muscles again. But they don't move like I want them to, in my dream.

Yes! Now you understand

http://www.abebooks.com/blog/wp-cont...2/predator.jpg

Actually, that's the alien, not the predator. And that movie sucks big time. I laughed during most of the scenes.

[nix]

Ummm its clearly a Predator, and yes the new movies are shit.

And people for the love of god please use the correct terms, its Conscious and Unconscious. Not Subconscious

[Govinda]

Ummm its clearly a Predator, and yes the new movies are shit.

And people for the love of god please use the correct terms, its Conscious and Unconscious. Not Subconscious

When I learned about them they were two terms. The subconscious is closer to the surface though, easier to reach. Freudians prefer subconscious, Jungians unconscious.

[RagnaToad]

Ummm its clearly a Predator, and yes the new movies are shit.

And people for the love of god please use the correct terms, its Conscious and Unconscious. Not Subconscious

Actually, you're right. The dinosaurs are the aliens and the human-like creatures are the Predators? That doesn't make any sense. And was that the kind of predator you were referring to earlier? I thought you meant predator like in those American shows 'To catch a predator'.

And Unconscious and subconscious is something different, if I recall correctly.

(EDIT: After doing some quick research, I found out that some philosopher dude once introduced the term 'Unconscious mind', which shows a lot of similarities with Freud's Subconscious. I'll read into it later...)

Being unconscious is just being not-conscious. The subconscious however is the part of our mind that we cannot access (or not directly) and contains information, thoughts, fears, memories that we're not aware of ourselves.

We might not always be able to recall a memory that would cause a current phobia, for isntance. But there's a good chance you're subconscious has 'saved' that memory and used it in its own way.

So subconscious stuff is stuff we're not really in control of.
Unconscious is more just an adjective to indicate that we're not fully awake.

[nix]

Actually, you're right. The dinosaurs are the aliens and the human-like creatures are the Predators? That doesn't make any sense. And was that the kind of predator you were referring to earlier? I thought you meant predator like in those American shows 'To catch a predator'.

Are you taking the piss?

When I learned about them they were two terms. The subconscious is closer to the surface though, easier to reach. Freudians prefer subconscious, Jungians unconscious.

No, Infact Freud hated the term subconscious as to deem it a sub to consciousness is to say its lesser. Which it isnt, id quote from my notes but its 2:30am and its dark so ill quote from... ugh... wiki

The term subconscious is used in many different contexts and has no single or precise definition. This greatly limits its significance as a meaning-bearing concept, and in consequence the word tends to be avoided in academic and scientific settings.

And..

Though lay persons commonly assume 'subconscious' to be a psychoanalytic term, this is not in fact the case. Sigmund Freud had explicitly condemned the word as long ago as 1915:

"We shall also be right in rejecting the term 'subconsciousness' as incorrect and misleading".

In later publications his objections were made clear:
"If someone talks of subconsciousness, I cannot tell whether he means the term topographically -- to indicate something lying in the mind beneath consciousness -- or qualitatively -- to indicate another consciousness, a subterranean one, as it were. He is probably not clear about any of it. The only trustworthy antithesis is between conscious and unconscious."

Thus, as Charles Rycroft has explained, 'subconscious' is a term "never used in psychoanalytic writings".

And, in Peter Gay's words, use of 'subconscious' where 'unconscious' is meant is "a common and telling mistake" indeed, "when [the term] is employed to say something 'Freudian', it is proof that the writer has not read his Freud"


In regards to Jung, I'm pretty sure he refers to it as Unconscious also, i dont know for sure though as his stuff doesnt interest me enough, its all spirits and hocus pocus with him, but eh i may delve in someday

[RagnaToad]

I don't think you should consider the 'sub-' to mean 'inferior', but rather 'under'.

The Dutch words for unconscious and subconscious translated literally would be:

Unconscious
Underconscious, which basically means the same as subconscious, just without a Latin prefix.

The subconscious lies beneath the surface of the mind.

Or something more wise sounding than that.

[Govinda]

Whoops. Got my Freudians and Jungians mixed up. But it does seem that they mean basically the same thing. I always took it that subconcsious meant just below concsious thought. Words like submarine, subwoofer, subatomic. Apparently crazy ol' Sigmund didn't like it that way.

[Alpha]

Alpha, I would like to thank you for your recon effort into the cheese-nightmare myth. That's a lot of cheese to have to eat before getting results. My mother is convinced that anything bigger than a cheese slice three hours before sleep will result in mind-twisting nightmares. I can now tell her that a little Dairylea for supper is ok.

No problem, but really I don't recommend it if you want to sleep well, or have good digestion, or save money.

The opposite happens to me!!! Those things happen to me when I'm almost awake, and my brain is starting to link up with my body again. If you know what I mean. For me, it's mostly running toward something or trying to fight someone in my dream. My brain is starting to control my muscles again, because I'm almost awake again. In my dream I'm trying to punch someone in the face, but my brain is sensing that my muscles aren't actually moving. So for some reason, the brain passes on that message and drops it into my dream, making it so that I can't seem to use my arms any other way but in slow-motion. Really frustrating.

It's kind of the opposite, but also kind of the same. Cause I believe my arms/legs are actually moving a little bit, since my brain is starting to control my muscles again. But they don't move like I want them to, in my dream.

Ugh, I hate this. I'm a chronic sleep talker, to the extent that me not saying things in my sleep is the exception. Sleep talking is just like moving your limbs in your dream, especially considering your tounge is just a peice of muscle. It happens mostly when I have only been sleeping for a short time, and very often I wake up while speaking, but continue talking because I still think it's real. My sounds range from coherent sentences such as "No Batman! Stop!" to "Marx is wrong, the proles will never rise!" to moans and murmurs. I always seem to be getting attacked; I dunno if that's a manifestation of some inferiority complex hidden away . When I don't wake up, my brother always tells me what I said (big family: we share a room, well, for the next month before he moves out). Sometimes my speech coincides with weird movements as described by Govinda and Rags. In my dreams, I always - consciously - try to get in control. If I want to turn left, for example. my dream usually takes me right. This infuriates me, and I start thrashing in my sleep. I got woken up by a teacher on a school camp once, because they thought I was having a fit.

[nix]

Whoops. Got my Freudians and Jungians mixed up. But it does seem that they mean basically the same thing. I always took it that subconcsious meant just below concsious thought. Words like submarine, subwoofer, subatomic. Apparently crazy ol' Sigmund didn't like it that way.

Yeah its a a big no no in terms of scientific/academic talk, too my knowledge the Americans are the only people that use the term.

Its the same for "Psychopath" the term used to describe dangerous/anti social behaviour, the yanks like to use Sociopath instead and for no reason at all.

[GypsyElder]

Strange enough, my dad one day brought me home a dream catcher. I didn't really think it would work, but once I put it up, I literally had Zero dreams. Not one, not even the slightest image (either that or I didn't remember a smidget of a single one). I slept dream-less for about almost two years 0_o. I remember I took it down because the feathers on It got dirty and my dad placed it on the top of the fridge and said he would clean it. I have no clue where it is now. Since then I started to regain dreams slowly, but they're super retarded. Like, you don't understand. people say that dreams are made up of things you have gathered in your mind, but my dreams are completely random. They don't have normal people I know in them anymore or places. It's like they come out of lala land. It’s like the dream catcher sucked up all my dreams and spit them out all stupid...do my dreams have meaning??? I don't know anymore.

I have also had dreams that I am able to control. I remember once I had a dream that these little "sprites" were chasing me, and it was one of those where you can't run anymore because you stop or run in place. So in my mind, while I was dreaming I thought it would be cool if I could teleport to my house.....and I did, I locked the door and then I woke up. It has happened more than once, during different dreams. Not just teleporting, but actually overcoming those dreams you hate (like when you are falling, or can't attack because your hand is too weak or u stop mid punch.)

I also tend to beat up the wall and violently and throw myself off the bed at times I was shocked because a couple of times I had dreams, while during, bawling my eyes out, hysterically, I would wake up thinking," what kind of shinanigans !!??" and I never remember what I was crying about....

I remember learning about dreams you can control in Psychology I think....the crying I don't know though, I don't know of anyone who has.

[Full Life]

i would say that dreams are things you were thinking of when you slept i have a high chance to be rong

[Diyala]

I mostly remeber the different dreams I had and to be honest most of them are meaningless , freak , sometimes scary and makes me think alot about it after waking up ,dusty somewhat which means I always dream of the old places I visit long ago or I can till most of the settings are old ( my room in our old house befor we move to the new one , the big window from which the flowery breeze was delighting me , May be coz I love to be there , and sometimes I wish not to wake up and to still live in your dream like when you see someone dead in real life and you love to spend your moments with him even if it's dream and you stop to say I shoudn't have got up to reality and you feel some kind of sorrow inside and say that what if that dream was true !

but usually they are related to exams hahahah
after the period of final exams I keep each night seeing papers with hard lang hahah
or I went to have my exam befor I could study each chapter required , or funny like I went wearing my Bejama hahaha
My dreams generlly differ according to the things that I keep thinking of or worry me
but sometims It is something never came to my mind befor
It is something really can't be explained ,

[GHOSTED]

I've had terrible dreams ever since my ****ed up childhood...I know they mean knowing and I don't let them effect me...but sometimes I do wonder

[bahamuts heir]

Ok first every word I'm going to put is true, second of if yu don't believe it you can go **** yourself cuz this is a serious thing for me.
Ok so my dreams always come true are in full color, I remember every detail, and come in all varieties, but knowing it will come true is scary as hell. In fact 2 months(exactly) before my mom died I had a dream it would happen and I woke up screaming, and then tried to convince myself it was different. It wasn't. And I can't control what I dream of but I've learned to force myself to not dream, cuz it bugs me to see the future. Yes I think of myself as a freak among humans.

[midgetbob]

bleh, I have night terrors, sleep apnea and insomnia... welcome to the end of the internetz.... 5 times over.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/113/2...9d9993fe_o.jpg

[Hyzenthlay]

I actually dream quite a lot. When I don't dream it seems like a bout 5 minutes, just like you said. I think that's all to do with how your body works. Psychologist think that when you are sleeping that your mind is not only resting, but helping to repair and renew your body for the next day.

Maybe that means that the more you need to repair, the less you dream? I only say this because, looking at it from a human point of view, if your mind is busy repairing itself and your body then you won't dream. Like-wise if you don't have much to repair then your mind gets bored and wanders. I'm not sure if I'm right in saying that, it's only a thought.

My dreams usually consist of nightmares. Or, at least, what people see as nightmares. I'll give you an example:

I was walking through the streets of my village in a 1st person view. There were bodies littered everywhere and I somehow knew it was down to Velociraptors. For that reason when I looked down I was holding a shotgun. One similar to the one you use on left for dead, with cartridges on the side. As I turned into my drive a Raptor jumped onto my friends shoulders and crushed his head. Then I ran up to my house, only inside it was a restaurant with various doors each with glass panels. I turned and another of my friends was with me. He told me that there were zombies outside. We ran inside a door on the right and as we turned to close the door my friends arm was grabbed. He was pulled back outside. I closed the door quickly and locked it only to see that I'd been scratched by a zombie. I then knew I'd turn into a zombie and just as I felt upset; I woke up.

Weird, no? What's even weirder is that I more enjoyed the dream than feared it. Another example:

I was walking into an unknown, random park. Whilst there I bought an ice-cream, as I bit into it my front tooth fell out. I burst into tears and try to stick the tooth back, but it wont go back.

This dream terrified me. So I don't think I really know why certain dreams are created. Or why we find some scary and some not so. Maybe my second dream means I'm worrying about something, as dream sites say. Or maybe its just something I sub-consciously worry about.

Either way, I think I'd rather have your case Meier. Dream less and just have that one dream that confuses the crap out of me 1 day a year, or whatever.

Anyway, I think I dream so much because I don't actually do that much that's physically demanding. I also get quite a lot of sleep so maybe my mind gets bored. Perhaps your flash-sleeps of 4-5 hours are just enough for you. So you don't 'need' to dream.

They could also reflect worries and situations in your life? I don't know. If that's teh case then WTF was my first dream about?

Hyz.

[Ushinatta]

Interestingly, dreams that occur toward the end of a night sleep (in the final stages of REM sleep) are more easily remembered, which is something that I have personally found to be true. If I do remember a dream, which is not always guaranteed, it is always the dreams I have in the early morning.

Dreams are also a fantastic indicator for just how fast the human brain works. Ask yourself this question: Have you ever heard a noise or felt a sensation (pain works the best) whilst dreaming and your brain has instantly incorporated it into your dream, complete with a viable explanation as to why it is there, without waking up?

This indicator shows us how fast your brain is capable of processing information, even if we don't always utilize it.

[LIGHTNING_71013]

can you actually dream what you want? and if that is possible how does it work? like what should i do right before i go to sleep? or do i just simply keep thinking about the one thing that i want to appear in my upcoming dream?

i was just wondering if theres actually such thing that exists in life, i mean, theres this one time i was obsessed with this one thing and while i was sleeping i constantly thought about it and the next thing i knew i was dreaming it... it was the best thing you can ever feel. its like a dream come true feeling but happening in your dream. lol

so is it possible?

[sayian]

HEY i have this thing that happens to me in my sleep........where im sleep and then i wake up but its like im paralyzed or something.... i have all my senses, smell, hearing, etc but u cant move..... seriously has that happen to u?????

[LIGHTNING_71013]

yes it always happens to me and theres absolutely no explanation for it. i'm not scaring you people but i always thought its a spirit that is sitting on me so i couldnt move and holding my eyes shut so i couldnt open them. freaky huh? and you feel that your spiritual energy is low...its like you are going to die or something if you just gave up and dont force yourself to wake up sooner or later...

[sayian]

Lightening<<<< yea i actually know exactually what u mean about the spirits holding u down.....a few times ive heard this white static noise linda like on a tv and it kept gettin louder and louder and that prolly tha scaredist iv ever been in it but i dont get scared i normally jus pray and talk to God and believe it or not before im done im either back asleep or i get enuff strength to wiggle my finger enuff to wake up .... u kno

[kurohime]

Dreams are projections that you tend to have while your at ease. you see yourself in a place youve probaly seen somewhere in your life time or not, because it is locked in your sub-consious domain. I personally think that it means there is something that you have to do even if its not completly clear and they are not always clear and some look rediculus just look at the signs.
(sorry for any typos.)

[merged post]

yes it always happens to me and theres absolutely no explanation for it. i'm not scaring you people but i always thought its a spirit that is sitting on me so i couldnt move and holding my eyes shut so i couldnt open them. freaky huh? and you feel that your spiritual energy is low...its like you are going to die or something if you just gave up and dont force yourself to wake up sooner or later...

it is Your Spirit Gaurdian. its not trying to hurt you its trying to tell you something. Everyone has a spirit gaurdian, whether you believe it or not.
the only thing you have to worry about is it light or dark

[ultimatekupo]

Every time I have the feeling of deja vu, I usually remember- not the dream itself, but i remember in my deja vu, telling someone about the dream I had, in the moment that it feels like the dream has taken place in reality. I am not saying that I am psychic. But I have read many articles on the subject, and one book. Deja-vu is said by many scientists to be the brain rearranging a sequence of events, so that the person who feels it only thinks that they knew of something before the given moment. Usually triggered by the senses. Dreams have very little science to explain them. I remember almost every dream. The few that I remember little of are the ones that are close to pleasant. Sometimes oddly enough when I am woken up, I am still in a "sleep stage", anyone who knows me well knows not to tell me anything in the first hour I am awake because I don't remember a thing. Only my dream. And when I first wake up, if I go right back to sleep, I go back into my dream. I am also a sleep walker. And when I am sick, if I have bad pain, it sinks into my dreams. Some people dream the unexplainable, I always dream in full color. I think that dreams are merely the brain thinking as we rest. That would explain why music that I play as I sleep sometimes makes it into my dreams, and why I dream of being killed when I go to sleep in pain. But what I find most curious about dreams is that some people don't remember. I have always wondered why.

[Aadria]

Dreams are the unconscious mind's way of sorting through things. It goes through and stores information and events that happened that day. This is why, when trying to learn something new, it's best to practice it for 30 minutes or so before going to bed. This works with studying, too. You'll find you have better recall of new things you've learned.
Whether you think you do or not, you do dream, every night. You may not be able to remember them, which is common, especially if you have a sleep disorder. If you didn't dream, you'd go insane. Your mind needs to be able to process the things that have happened, and it can't do that efficiently enough while you are awake because so many other things are happening. Your mind pays attention to a lot more than you do. While sleeping, your mind can work a LOT faster than when you're awake, allowing it to work through an entire day's information in a few hours.
Sleep in a 90 minute cycle involving 4 stages. Stage 1 refers to the period in which you are relaxed. You will see beta waves if you are monitoring brain activity. These are slow, steady waves. In this stage, you are still aware of your surroundings, you can hear it if other people are talking and kinda see light from behind your eyelids. This stage, in a normal sleeper, will last 10-15 minutes. Between Stage 1 and 2 is when you'll experience that falling sensation. This occurs when a burst in brain wave activity occurs very close to the transition between the two Stages. In Stage 2 sleep, you will see alpha waves, which are slightly less steady a little quicker. You may also see occasional bursts. This is a very light sleep that you can be easily awoken from. Stage three is deep sleep, this is when you brain slows you down so it can speed up. This is also where sleep apnea tends to wake people up. People suffering from sleep apnea usually can only go through the first 3 stages of sleep, causing them to never feel fully rested. Stage 4 is REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, or dream sleep. It's also referred to as paradoxical sleep because your muscles are completely paralyzed (unless you have Night Terrors or some other muscle related sleep disorder) but your brain and eyes are almost more active than when you are awake. You should be in REM sleep for about 30 minutes for every sleep cycle you go through. This is when your brain is working hardest and when you'll dream. You only remember a dream if it occurs within 3 minutes of your waking. This is why you almost always feel like you can't remember part of your dream. It is the combination of going through all four of these stages that makes you feel rested.
If you feel like you haven't slept when you wake up, you may have a sleep disorder. I used to have the same problem. I would lay down and, in what felt like minutes later, wake up and feel more exhausted than when I went to bed. I went to a sleep study and found out that I have a sleep disorder related to Narcolepsy; my brain is missing some hormones that tell it when to switch stages. Basically, when I fall asleep, my brain rushes to REM sleep in about 5-7 minutes. This makes it hard to feel rested, since I never correctly go through the four stages. My advice is to make an appointment to get a sleep study done. They'll usually have you stay overnight so they can monitor you brain waves and muscle activity through the night and then, if they find anything, they have you stay the next day and make you take naps so they can monitor it again.

Thank you, Mr. Flynn's AP Psychology class lol