# I can never scream in my dreams **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 26, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-never-scream-in-my-dreams/569117 "2011-01-26T23:39:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-never-scream-in-my-dreams/569117/21 "2011-01-27T04:22:42Z")
I don’t really find myself running a lot in dreams but I often find that I’ll try to walk and it takes forever to get anywhere. Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-never-scream-in-my-dreams/569117/22 "2011-01-27T05:00:39Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > I can’t do a lot of things in my dreams… scream, run fast enough, through a ball or, most frustratingly, have sex to complesion. Throwing a ball in my dreams is the worst. Instead of step and throw, i step, step step step, but can’t get the timing down, so i keep stepping and everyone’s yelling, and finally I get my arm to throw, but its all mush and i throw the ball right into the ground. It’s just terrible, since i’ve played a lot of baseball and can throw pretty well in real life. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-never-scream-in-my-dreams/569117/23 "2011-01-27T11:40:16Z")
> [@Strain\_of\_Thought](#): > > From Wikipedia: > The point is that sleep paralysis blurs the distinction between sleeping and waking. You may think that you’re only dreaming, but the nature of the dream is heavily colored because your brain is feeding you a lot of sensory data from your still-paralyzed body. It’s like the inverse of sleep walking; you’re mentally conscious, but not physically awake. No, it has nothing to do with that. Frex, a common nightmare I have is an exfiancee coming after me, and I will try fighting back but my gun refuses to work, misfiring or the round being ineffective. If I try to punch him, I just flail away ineffectively. If I try to run away, my legs do now work properly. If I try to yell and scream to get help from someone else, I can not scream or yell. If I try to get into a vehicle and escape, it is out of gas, or I can’t find the keys, or it doesn’t run properly. It is a matter of being psychologically still terrorized by the bastard. When it was happening in real life, I felt fucking helpless. He still scares the hell out of me. I do rather like flying dreams though =) Mine are swimming in air type. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-never-scream-in-my-dreams/569117/24 "2011-01-27T13:35:54Z")
Almost all of these things are common in my dreams as well. The ineffective punching, the scream that comes out like a whisper, the complete inability to dial a phone or read text (but another theme in my dreams is that I can do those things better if I’m glancing at the phone/paper from the side) and the walking and running, specifically the fact that I can go much faster and more easily when walking backwards. I have often wondered about the backwards walking thing, and am glad to see it happens to someone else! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-never-scream-in-my-dreams/569117/25 "2011-01-27T13:38:34Z")
With me, it’s guns. I try to pull the trigger and nothing happens - not even a misfire. I suspect it’s a sexual anxiety thing. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-never-scream-in-my-dreams/569117/26 "2011-01-27T13:55:53Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > Throwing a ball in my dreams is the worst. Instead of step and throw, i step, step step step, but can’t get the timing down, so i keep stepping and everyone’s yelling, and finally I get my arm to throw, but its all mush and i throw the ball right into the ground. It’s just terrible, since i’ve played a lot of baseball and can throw pretty well in real life. See, that’s just it. I’ve played softball all my life, so it’s extremely disconcerting not to get the throw there in time for an out. And I have lots of dreams where I’m playing a game and it’s up to me to make the final play. Frustrating! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-never-scream-in-my-dreams/569117.md?page=1)