# Why Do I Have Such Crappy Dreams? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 24, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-such-crappy-dreams/622901 "2012-05-24T01:17:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-such-crappy-dreams/622901/21 "2012-05-28T03:26:09Z")
I occasionally have similar frustrating dreams that revolve around going somewhere (like having to walk 10 miles in real time) or packing to move. These kinds of dreams (which you seem to share) are about being frustrated with how long it’s taking to get somewhere in your life or make changes. Cleaning the oven? Well, that could either be about being frustrated with common tasks in your life, or it could be about home and social nourishment (friendships and relationships) (the oven being about cooking, which is nourishment for ourselves and others). Something for you to consider on that front. So… Start training yourself. Tell yourself that when you do these things in dreams, you need to wake up. When you’re doing stuff like this, tell yourself “I don’t want to be doing this” and wake up. It might take a while, but eventually you’ll start waking up. When you do, don’t get angry, or stress out, or go right back to sleep. Stop. Change the subject (so to speak). Calm yourself, direct your mind toward something else you’d rather be dreaming about, release any stress or anger about it (part of that changing the subject bit) and then go back to sleep with your mind calm and pointed in another direction. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-such-crappy-dreams/622901/22 "2012-05-28T03:40:49Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > My experience is that my really great dreams come in the early morning. > Typically, I will wake up around 5 AM-I will stay in bed, and drift back to sleep. The really good dreams happen between 5 AM and 6:40 AM.-why is this? R.E.M. sleep is when dreams occur and this part of the sleep cycle occurs at the beginning and end of a slumber (with a much larger percentage of the total R.E.M. sleep coming towards the end; like in the early morning) ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-such-crappy-dreams/622901/23 "2012-05-28T03:42:23Z")
You’re more likely to remember them. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-such-crappy-dreams/622901/24 "2012-05-28T03:53:12Z")
_Although it is a water-soluble vitamin and is excreted in the urine, doses of pyridoxine in excess of the RDI over long periods of time result in painful and ultimately irreversible neurological problems. The primary symptoms are pain and numbness of the extremities, and in severe cases, difficulty walking. Sensory neuropathy typically develops at doses of pyridoxine in excess of 1,000 mg per day. However, a few individuals who developed sensory neuropathies at doses of less than 500 mg daily over a period of months have been reported._ > **[Vitamin B6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B6#Toxicity)** > > Vitamin B6 is one of the B vitamins, and thus an essential nutrient. The term refers to a group of six chemically similar compounds, i.e., "vitamers", which can be interconverted in biological systems. Its active form, pyridoxal 5′-phosphate, serves as a coenzyme in more than 140 enzyme reactions in amino acid, glucose, and lipid metabolism. > Plants synthesize pyridoxine as a means of protection from the ultraviolet-B radiation of sunlight and to participate in synthesis of chlorophyll. Animals... So, altho it is true that taking overdoses of this vitamin is generally dangerous over long periods of time, note "_painful and ultimately irreversible neurological problems."_ It’s stupid as all fuck to mess with anything where it can cause irreversible neurological problems, and it’s not known how long and how high to dose to do so. It is quite possible that a 500mg dose, even taken once a week will cause irreversible neurological problems after several years of such. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-such-crappy-dreams/622901/25 "2012-05-30T01:32:12Z")
Try setting your alarm at a different time, to maybe catch one of those crazy dreams you’re probably still having, but wind up forgetting about. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-such-crappy-dreams/622901/26 "2012-05-30T03:04:54Z")
Here’s a link from an academic journal: “Dreams are more negative than real life: Implications for the function of dreaming” [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02699930701541591#preview](http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02699930701541591#preview) Also I’ve never forgotten reading in \*Encyclopedia Britannica’\*s article on dreams (in the 1980s) that at least 65% of dream content is neutral or negative. That was very reassuring to me when I read it because at the time I was young and having many dreams that were irritating, upsetting or frightening. Like you I’ve found that with age my dreams have become less vivid and more prosaic and the wild and scary ones are thankfully few and far between. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-such-crappy-dreams/622901/27 "2012-05-30T11:31:12Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > For the first 30 years or so of my life, I had some pretty cool dreams — flying, sex with Frazetta girls, etc… > > If it’s relevant, I have no shortage of raw material to dream about. I read lots of fantasy and SF, I watch my share of porn, and I watch action movies and TV shows. Hmm, maybe my brain is telling me to slow down? All those ‘raw materials’ you mentioned seem to be a shift from the need for your mind to 'invent it’s own fantasy, to becoming reliant on someone else’s fantasy. You may have trained yourself not to come up with exciting things as your ‘raw materials’ have done that for you. Hense your dreams are boring as your mind has become lazy in this respect. What I am getting from your very short posting is that you need to be more into life on the playing field, interacting with others, as opposed to watching a staged games of Fantasy, SF and porn from ‘the bleachers’ of life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-have-such-crappy-dreams/622901.md?page=1)