Nightmares

[saltywater]

Hi guys!!
I´ve been having nightmares every nigt since i started the challange...8 days ago.
Is this normal, or just me?????
I wake up so anxious.... :(
Let me know if this has happened to anyone else.
thanks

[JMD]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! I had such a bad emotional dream last night I almost called in sick to work because it shook me up so much!! I wonder if this is part of detox and the unconscious/sunconscious mind healing?? I am curious as to what others will say!!??

JMD

[Amberly]

emotional detox? I've had a few. Not too bad. Maybe not more than usual. Maybe you're a little apprehensive about a change in lifestyle. ?

[saltywater]

I think my transition to raw was very spontaneous...i´ve been kind of playing with raw since i went to vegetarian cooking school at 19...now nearly 10 years later at 28 i finally took the plunge and eating raw for me makes sense and is oh sooo yummy!!!!
But i think that raw foods also plays a big part in your spirituality, and maybe that is the root to my nightmares... maybe it cleans dust from a lot of hidden stuff inside of me... maybe i am more sensitive to things happening around me...i really don´t know, but sorry guys it´s really comforting to know that i am not the only one having nightmares :D

[sweetgoddess]

This is so normal! Please don't worry.

We let go of so many things in the dream state, and it is a huge blessing! It is so much easier to work through things in that manner, as opposed to working them out in our waking, physical state. I have a suggestion, and that is to write your dreams down in a little book or journal no matter how silly they may seem at the time. Down the road you will be amazed at what they were saying to you, or what they preceeded happening outwardly. Truly! If you do this regularly your dreams will become clearerand a toolyou will be able to use well.
I have studied dreams for many years.They are a gift, that guide us well after we learn how to view and recall them. And we definitely detox alot in the dream state!

Warmly~
Carmel

[Arky]

I don't know about detox, but I do know that if I consume a mineral-rich food or drink (a primary example being a fresh mixed vegetable juice) shortly before going to bed, I do experience some very very intense dreams (although mine do not generally take the form of nightmares, thankfully). On a cellular level, there is evidently a great deal going on during normal sleep, as this is when the body has the greatest resources available for dealing with the remnants of the day's activities, both on a physiological and a neurological level.

Consider the fact that eating a high-raw diet may:

* Increase the quantity of alkaline minerals in the diet (resulting in a surge of cellular activity to capitalise upon this if one's cells have been starved of alkalinity for an extended period of time - common on SAD). Boosting one's levels of alkaline minerals may also very-considerably improve the efficiency with which cells communicate with one another (the internal chemistry of cells is slightly acid, while the outer environment ~e.g. the blood~ should be slightly alkaline, in order to create a voltage potential via which cells may communicate with one another). The brain does not contain blood but it does still rely massively on correct mineral balance for neurological communication across cell membranes at the synapses (e.g. 'membrane potential', which is critically reliant upon sodium and potassium- both alkaline minerals). Therefore, an influx of hitherto-deficient minerals might be expected to improve neurological functioning (Dr Abram Hoffer has documented incredible influences of vitamins on psychological and neurological funtioning - minerals are every bit as critical to neurological function, if not more so). The brain is extremely active during sleep - greater mineral availability might conceivably result in an increase or improvement in brain fucntion during sleep.

* Eating more alkaline foods will result in the release of stored acid toxins from bodily tissues - we know that most 'maintenance' is performed by the body during it's otherwise-resting state (sleep) so we may expect toxins to be released at an elevated rate during sleep. It would be incredible if a bloodstream full of released toxins did not exert some effect upon neurological (and thus psychological) functioning, so it is quite possible that toxins may, to some small extent, influence your nightmares.

* We also know that stored acid wastes can impede the function of peripheral blood capiliaries. Increasing the alkaline status of one's body may be expected to result in the gradual dissolution of such wastes, and thus improve blood flow around the body. This could conceivably improved transport of nutrients to, and across, the blood-brain barrier, again influencing neurological functioning, whether awake or asleep (many people undergoing relative 'alkalinizing' of the body report an increase in alertness, which may be due to improved oxygen transport in the blood as well as other positive effects of increased availability of important alkaline minerals, such as the aforementioned cellular membrane potential).

Obviously, this is an extremely complex issue, with a multitude of contributory factors, many of which will continue to elude science for centuries to come, but let me just say that I concur, to some extent, with your observations, and I do not think you are imagining your symptoms in the slightest. Perhaps the above might go some way to explaining both my self-observations, and your own.


J.

[saltywater]

Thanks to all :) You sure have made me, at least, more comfortable with what´s happening!!! I was getting a little scared, but looking at nightmares from the view point of detoxing, i´ll just let my dreams flow... sure enough today i´ll have a beautiful one :D

[Arky]

...of course, cheese eaten just before bedtime (for the non-vegans out there ;)) gives one some crazy dreams/nightmares, too! :D


J.

[weirdestpersonalive]

Nightmares?... no... but dreams about eating SAD foods?... yes. The past couple nights I've been having dreams of eating foods I used to eat. First I think it was beef stogonoff, then just last night it was some kind of pastry. Well... I hope I dont' start having nightmares... If so I know where to go for help. ;)

[misslinda]

When I was about 10 day into my fasting, I kept dreaming about blood.

Since then I have not. :)

[leeleelocs]

wow Arky that was some type of deep explanation, wish I was that smart.
SaltywateI had my first bad dream last night after eating late( raw pumkin pie). It was real strange and in living color. Teach me to break my rule about eating past 7pm.

[dreamrawalwz]

I think it can be some form of detox. The nights after I consume cooked foods I have dreams/nightmares. Yesterday I had brown rice and had a dream I was binging on it. I assume that's when it was detoxing out of my body. When I've been raw for a month or so (and beyond) I don't dream at all. I fall asleep extremely fast, deep, and wake up refreshed ready to start the day.

[shakti17]

i agree, sounds like normal detox. i notice that if i have a heavy cooked meal late in the evening (of course i don't do that anymore! ;) ) i would always have nightmares! especially if there was an animal product involved -- i felt i was absorbing the tortured animal (usually a fish)'s consciousness!

for me late night eating=nightmares

[wolfieandbetty]

I also had dreams about eating SAD food. Caused alot of anxiety. Would dream that I was eating pizza and mid-bite became aware of it and that I shouldn't be doing it. I would wake up very stressed out. Haven't had these dreams in a couple of weeks tho'. Guess it's normal...

catherine