Experiment 3 - The nightmare at 3:15

"What gets you to sleep at night?", somebody asked. I remember the first time I was asked that. That was a long time ago. But I am not ready to answer that. What wakes me up is more answerable.

A couple of months back I changed a couple of things in my bedroom. Then I started having a cluster of bad dreams. When I was discussing this with my boss, he suggested that the direction could have an effect on your brain activity and sleep cycles. So I was curious to find out more.

So I did some research. Does direction impact the nature of dreams? Are dreams supposed to wake you up from your sleep? Can you focus your mind to dream the kind you want? This is my experiment with sleep and how seemingly unrelated/related things affect the nature of dreams/nightmares. Below are a few of my observations.

Direction - West to East
Tiredness - Very tired. 4-5 kms jog/cycle around 9-10 PM
Sleep start - Around 12:30 AM - 1 AM
Rituals - Brush teeth, under sheets

1. Cycling along the side of a cliff and suddenly losing control and falling off it. Then I wake up from the fall
2. Jobless, totally broke. Everything I have is obsolete followed by cacophonic laughter from nowhere. Then I wake up
3. Slowly drowning by hanging upside down into a pool of water. Then I wake up gasping and looking around
4. Accidental pipe leak on the runway just when the jet is about to take off from the point. I am at the ground trying to fix it. The time is running out, the jet is getting closer. Then I wake up.
5. Lost my legs, both of them, a blast perhaps. Had to amputate. Now couldn't walk, or do anything without help. Then I wake up with a cold sweat
6. Beating a friend to a pulp thinking him to be an impostor, but he is not. Left how it could have happened, trying to make sense. Then I wake up
7. I killed someone in the past and I cannot get over it. If I agree to it, I cannot live peacefully. If I don't get jailed, I cannot be who I am. Guilt wrecks the mind. Then I wake up
8. Feeling that someone is watching me sleep, but obviously nobody. But then again I should just check. Then I wake up

All these dreams happen around 2-3:30 AM. Then I wake up. More often I remember seeing the time as around 3:15 AM on my phone. Then I sleep again, the tired kind of sleep where I don't remember anything.

Direction - East to West
Tiredness - Very tired. 4-5 kms jog/cycle around 9-10 PM
Sleep start - Around 12:30 AM - 1 AM
Rituals - Brush teeth, under sheets

No clues of any dreams. Pleasant or unpleasant, none of them were potent enough to disturb my sleep and wake me up.


My observations are inconclusive. Is it my subconscious mind fighting the battles my conscious mind doesn't want to? But why is the direction affecting it? There are a few more patterns to try out before attempting an explanation. This could just be a whim waiting to be brushed off. Or is it? Intriguing. This experiment is far from over.

So now, I ask you, my reader, a borrowed question. What keeps you up at night?

P.S: Some disturbances and interferences have been there, but ignoring that sort.