Whilst trying to get to sleep last night, everytime I started to doze off - I had a sick feeling that I was falling!....I would wake up, heart beating and it would feel like the walls were closed in. This happened several times before I finally fell asleep !?

It's literally at the point of falling asleep - I'd breath in because I was falling and wake myself up.

Anyone else had this weird, freaked out thing happen? :confused: :gag: :confused:

i have it when i am just falling to sleep. In my (light) dream i will be climbing a ladder or something and fall off and it wakes me up with a right jump.

I've had this before, just when your at that point before falling asleep, you'll have a really vivid dream of falling or being injured in some way, and you'll wake up with a jump!

I read some where that it means you have something on your mind, and by going to sleep, you are trying to get this thought out of your mind and relax, but your mind throws this mental image at you with force, as if to say 'what are you doing going to sleep? You have things to worry about!'

Instead of just hitting the pillow, try spending 10 mins clearing your mind and breathing deeply to relax yourself, and you should nod off peacefully.

Anyway, if you think that's freaky, I was still feeling the effects of my anaesthetic last night after my root canal surgery, and feel asleep on the sofa.
I then had a dream that my gerbil had escaped and turned into some kind of freaky rabbit with huge teeth and was trying to bite my arm off!
I woke up, and looked over at the cage and there he was....staring at me like some devil gerbil!!:suspect:

I get this whenever I'm stressed out or got something worrying me.

I also have a dream where I can't wake up - thats horrible. I try to make myself wake up in real life so I can stop dreaming it, but I can't do it. its really horrible :( :(

I watched a program about this a while ago - cant remember what it was, but apparently it is a throwback to when we were all apes living in trees, when we sleep we have this falling feeling when woken to instinctively grab hold of a branch.

Something like that anyway!

the talk of dreams reminded me of one I had a month or so ago.

We were sleeping in the attic room whilst we decorated the bedroom, and I think it was not long after going to bed.

In my dream I could hear something climbing the stairs to the attic room (there was no door at the time), but I couldn't wake up or move to see what it was.
It probably only lasted 10 seconds, but I woke up when I made a huge effort and managed to throw one arm over and wake up my other half.
At which point she wanted to know what I was doing whacking her in the middle of the night and waking her up.

I don't have scary dreams very often, that's probably about only the 3rd in my life.

I get dreams like that, when I'm falling off a cliff or whatever and when I wake up I just fall onto my bed. It's very odd.

Thanks all! I think this sort of explains whats happening - so basically I need to stop stressing over things before bedtime. I am actually thinking alot about some new business plans I have organised. . . This is probably what it was.:thumbsup:

It was pretty scary though - thought I was dying!

I'm surprised its not happened to you before, happens to me probably 3 or 4 times a year.

I think I'm right in saying that it is not known what causes it, though as has been said, that it originally prevented us falling out of trees is one theory.

I experience this and I read somewhere that it happens when your heart skips a beat. I don't know whether it is true or not.

I've read that these types of dreams might be the brain's attempt to explain the falling sensation that precedes REM sleep. It's caused by the release of muscle tension when pre-REM paralysis sets in. Perfectly normal and harmless, though jolting.

your physical body is starting to let go of your astral body,

you are at the begining of astral travel, go with it its great,

next time you feel any and all sensations, you`ve all talked

about go with the flow, tell your astal self where and what you want to see and do..

its very relaxing try it some day

bye

I used to get it all the time, but now only get it everynow and again.

Really horrible, just as you fall asleep, wake up with a real shudder, heart racing, and you say a feeling of falling. It really scared me when it started, but knowing that lots of other people get it is really reassuring.

Try relaxing and winding down before bed, have a hot bath bath, read for a bit etc, try a drop of lavendar oil on your duvet, it doesn't stain, it evaporates off over the night and helps relax you.