Nightmares where you show up naked for class have their own kind of horror, but the scariest nightmares may be more based in our real battles. A forum on VeggieBoards shows that many vegetarians actually suffer from "meat-mares," a nightmare based on anxiety of eating meat. One sufferer described a dream in which she watched a butcher chop up a live pig, saying, "It kind of haunted me in a way."
A brief survey of our editors reveals that some of us have experienced nightmares of cheating on their diets, and one former alcoholic sometimes wakes up freaked out after vivid dreams she's been secretly drinking. (Other substance users agree this happens when they go on the wagon.) Even those dreams of your teeth falling out supposedly represent a fear of aging.
It makes sense that major lifestyle choices would find their way into your dreams. After all, being on a strict diet or getting sober take up a lot of headspace during waking hours, so it's natural they'd seep into your unconscious as well. But these nightmares are typically worse than being chased by a witch or fighting a dragon, because they're inspired by reality.
Have you had any nightmares based on real-life fears?
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Monday 14 September
By Lauren
After I quit smoking, I had dreams all the time that I had started again. I would wake up and really think I had smoked. I think it's something I will always think about and crave on some level.
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Monday 14 September
By Michelle
I'm in college and have decided never to drink alcohol because my parents were both alcoholics (my mom is recovered). It's tough always being (literally) the only one not drinking but I've managed to find good friends who don't get on my case about my decision (too often, at least!) I've had some pretty frightening dreams where I finally cross the line and drink, which represents to me completely losing control. I know it wouldn't necessarily end my world if I were to start drinking, but I am palpably afraid of the things that could happen in my life were these nightmares to become reality.
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Monday 14 September
By sammy_delaney
Oh lord. I'm trying to get over a pretty bad breakup (I was dumped, hard), so i deleted my ex from my facebook, avoid his friends profiles, dont creep his band's myspace, basically avoiding any shred of him possible.
However, I dream that I'm looking at pictures of him and his new girlfriend, and I cant look away, or that I somehow end up at one of his gigs, and am frozen in place and forced to watch him.
Worse, these images are crystal clear, not weird blurry dreamy images.
My brain in cruel.
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