# Recurring Dream (whatsit mean?) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 2, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586 "2012-04-02T15:52:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/21 "2012-04-05T06:22:49Z")
**Larry Borgia** Just to be clear, I’m not a sleep scientist by any means, so this is largely a WAG. But I swear I saw some old NOVA or other documentary which claimed that there was a part of the brain which released a hormone (or something) which prevents you from doing the things you are dreaming about. In other words, when you dream you are walking, it keeps you from actually moving your legs in front of each other. You’re correct, it’s called [REM atonia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REM_atonia#Physiology). During REM sleep, the release of certain neurotransmitters is shut down, resulting in paralysis. [Sleep paralysis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis) occurs when you wake from REM sleep, but regain consciousness before this paralysis wears off. Without this response, animals will energetically act out their dreams. [Here’s](http://www.biopsychology.com/6e/activity1404.html) a video of a cat, a dog, and a person who have lost REM atonia due to disease or curious scientists. ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/22 "2012-04-05T14:12:16Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I don’t know about that. It feels very real and very frustrating. If I can fly and visit with dead people, why can’t I dial phone or hit a golf ball? Weird. I’ve had dreams where I was walking, but I was walking with a bad limp - because of the way I was lying in the bed, I could ‘twitch’ one leg but not the other. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/23 "2012-04-05T14:40:59Z")
Frustration dreams like these are usually my bladder’s way of telling me: “WAKE UP AND EMPTY ME!!” My recurring dream is I’m in a house and I can’t find the door to leave. (Heh, Joe Walsh) ---
**Author:** ![golfdream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@golfdream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/golfdream)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/24 "2012-10-02T22:14:48Z")
Leaffan, I have the exact same recurring golf dream. Either can’t get the tee in the ground or something is blocking my swing. It is always on the tee box. Other players getting frustrated with me. I usually do not know the other players. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/25 "2012-10-02T23:32:11Z")
> [@golfdream](#): > > Leaffan, I have the exact same recurring golf dream. Either can’t get the tee in the ground or something is blocking my swing. It is always on the tee box. Other players getting frustrated with me. I usually do not know the other players. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! That’s the dream. Welcome to the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/26 "2012-10-03T02:59:15Z")
I’ve always read that dreams involving an inability to dial a phone number correctly mean that you are trying to communicate or “get through” to someone in the waking world and feel like you can’t. Maybe you need help with something and you’re asking for it and the people you’re asking aren’t hearing you? _shrugs_ That’s all I got. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/27 "2012-10-03T06:39:37Z")
Do not interpretations belong to God? (Gen 40:8) For God has revealed what He is about to do (Gen 41:25) For seven years shalt thy telephone by thy faithful servant, verily, it shall heed the numbers that thou dialst, that thou mayest commune with thy staff, and with thy household, and with thy man-servants and maid-servants, and with thy friends who are in thy community, and with the merchants with whom you do thy business, and with thy guards, and thy doctors, and the police who art in the service of Pharaoh to protect thee and thy community. But for seven years after that, shalt thy telephone forsake thee, and it shall not heed the numbers that thou dialst. In that day, shalt thou cry in vain to commune with thy staff, and with thy household, and with thy man-servants and maid-servants, and with thy friends who are in thy community, and with the merchants with whom you do thy business, and with thy guards, and thy doctors, and the police who art in the service of Pharaoh to protect thee and thy community. And in that day that thy telephone forsakest thee, also shalt thy Internet connection cease to do thy bidding, and shall thy Broadband and thy Wi-Fi forsake thee in the wilderness. For these are the things that God doth intend, whereof He hast warned thee in the dreams that He hath sent to thee. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/28 "2012-10-03T09:11:49Z")
Wow. _a moment of reverent silence_ My recurring dreams are my playground. Sometimes they work out well and sometimes not, just like IRL. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/29 "2012-10-03T10:17:19Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Frustration dreams like these are usually my bladder’s way of telling me: “WAKE UP AND EMPTY ME!!” > > My recurring dream is I’m in a house and I can’t find the door to leave. (Heh, Joe Walsh) When my bladder needs emptying I spend my dreams fruitlessly hunting for a toilet. I go up and down in lifts in hotels and confernece centres and the loos are always on a different floor. In private houses I open the door to the bathroom and there is a hole in the floor where the toilet should be. Sometimes I find a loo and it is impossibly filthy or, my absolute favourite, I find a lovely public loo, get into the spotlessly clean cubicle and _one wall is transparent_. On the other side is a restaurant, or a swimming pool and everyone will be able to see me. ---
**Author:** ![Nantaipa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/aca169/32.png) [@Nantaipa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nantaipa)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/30 "2013-06-14T14:21:29Z")
I don’t know what it means but ironically, I have the same dream as Leafsfan does where people are mad at me because I won’t tee off but there are objects right in front of me like a tree or a wall where I can’t possibly hit or I notice that I don’t have my clubs and I have to go find them and I know that everyone is waiting for me to come back and I can’t find them. Too weird that someone else has this dream as well. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/31 "2013-06-14T14:49:10Z")
Lately I’ve developed one where I try to cut my own hair and end up with something insupportable, like a mohawk (wouldn’t work at my office!) or having balded large sections, or even gouged the skin in places. In the worst one, I looked in the mirror and saw myself like a plucked chicken with my scalp bleeding in places. It’s remarkably disconcerting just seeing oneself in the mirror in a dream. Even at the times when I haven’t started cutting yet and look normal, it creeps me out. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/32 "2013-06-14T15:08:49Z")
> [@Nantaipa](#): > > I don’t know what it means but ironically, I have the same dream as Leafsfan does where people are mad at me because I won’t tee off but there are objects right in front of me like a tree or a wall where I can’t possibly hit or I notice that I don’t have my clubs and I have to go find them and I know that everyone is waiting for me to come back and I can’t find them. Too weird that someone else has this dream as well. Looks like there’s a few of us. I still have this dream occasionally. A few nights ago I had a dream where the I.T. department at work needed to see my phone (Blackberry). I handed it over to them and they found porn pictures on it! I don’t mean in the browser, I mean real photos that I apparently took. Well, this was hugely embarrassing and I had no explanation, although I thought maybe I had taken them while drunk or something. And then, my boss asked to see my phone and informed me he was cancelling it and I might be getting fired. I woke up right at this point and was overwhelmingly happy to discover it was all a dream. I was almost crying in despair. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/33 "2013-06-14T15:24:02Z")
> [@Al\_Bundy](#): > > I seriously doubt they dream about me. Well, Putin is dumping La Putinette, Lyudmila. (“You da milla!” “No, You da milla!” “You da milla! I’ve learned everything I know at the feet of the master… You da milla…!”) Just be careful if he offers you a 12 Steppes program… ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/34 "2013-06-14T15:24:50Z")
> [@FirstLoser](#): > > A common recurring dream for me is that I am in some situation that requires I dial 911 on the telephone to summon help (fire, police, ambulance…it varies in the dream). > However, for different reasons in different dreams, I’m unable to. For example, I repeatedly push the wrong numbers, or I push the right numbers but different numbers show up on the display on the phone, or I dial correctly but no one ever answers, etc. > > Last night in the dream, my gf fell and hit her head and lay on the floor unconscious. We were someplace I don’t recognize, and some sort of meeting was about to begin. I frantically tried dialing 911 over and over…but this time, the phone was capable of dialing only two digits. IOW I dialed 91, but it was impossible to dial the last 1. > > To make things worse, as I was trying to summon help, everyone else in the room proceeded with whatever meeting was scheduled…without offering to help. > > To me this is obviously anxiety related (I have a lot going on right now that is causing a lot of anxiety), and perhaps also a feeling of a lack of control. > > Anyone else care to analyze this? I think your dream reveals feelings of inadequacy and fear of failure. You mention you have a lot going on and maybe these things are potentially life-altering and beyond your ability to control. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586/35 "2013-06-14T16:33:19Z")
I think it is possible that you dream lots of stuff, including in the same dream, but your conscious mind picks out stuff to pay attention to. And the memory of everything else in the dream fades away, like it always does, and you are left with the impression of a coherent dream. Dream interpretation is like a Rorschach test. What you interpret can give insight into your waking thoughts, but the dream itself is meaningless. Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recurring-dream-whatsit-mean/617586.md?page=1)