Does being in China make you have weird dreams?

[ChinaGurl]

I don't know if I've posted on this before, but China gives me crazy-assed dreams.

For example (and this dream is universal) I quite often dream that I'm back in Canada and it's Sunday afternoon and I have to get back to China for classes on Monday morning. And then, on my way to the airport, I keep getting distracted by parties and other things that need taking care of. (This is a dream I've been having since I got to China 2.5 years ago - not new and hence doesn't reflect my brand-new leaving status).

Lastnight's dream was a doozy - I was part of the X-Men or something like that, and we had to swim out to an island a la The Beach in order to save one of our members. The thing was, in order to get to the island, we had to camp for the night in the backyard of the training school of our rival superheroes. It turns out they were really nice, and they gave us plastic bags to put our stuff in and blankets to sleep under. I remember talking to one of my fellow superheroes, saying that the mother and father of so-and-so would be floored if they knew that we were here, among their children, and not fighting.

The strangest thing about my China dreams is they they're usually very vivid and not lucid at all. There are times when I'm sad to wake up and realize it was all a dream. And there are times when I can smell things in my dreams!!

How about all y'all? Ever have really weird dreams?

[Jazz]

I can 2nd your weird dreams... My dreams here have been the most vivid and clear dreams I have had in all my life... of course when its time to name one I can't be specific, but alot of my dreams are about flying and moving back and forth between China and Canada.

[Nate M]

I'm guessing that my wierd dreams have more to do with the incredibly hard and uncomfortable beds, which also tend to cramp my neck. That and the mushrooms.

[Raoul Duke]

Being in China IS the weird dream. After a day of it I sleep like a log.

[con's fly is open]

I have this recurring nightmare that I'm trapped in Canada, living with my parents. But what's the inner meaning?

[Jazz]

Freedom is what I might say You are living it and you dream the opposite... hahaha but what do I know

[Raoul Duke]

Con...it isn't a dream!
Pinch yerself, ya big silly.

[George61]

China itself is a weird dream. But a good one.

[woza17]

China gurl
I have the best dreams. They are so exciting sort of counter balances life I suppose. I could make great movies out of my dreams if I could remember them. All I know I hate waking up or being disturbed from one of them.
One of my favourite philosophers said they are a way for the mind to sort out the garbage like when you download your trash file from the internet others say it's significant. I say most of the dreams usually deal with something from that day. Who Knows.

[Newbs]

Not so crazzy- assed as more vivid. But that's still not saying much, back home I can hardly remember anything from my dreams. A couple of days later I think, did that really happen or did I dream it? Anyhow, I ramble, curse you C₂H₅OH!

What I've noticed here in China is that I sleep better and longer. 8 or 9 hours straight is not uncommon for me here, but back home, I wish.

Woza I've heard that theory about dreams being a way of filing the stuff in your head. There's something in that, I'm sure but I'm also sure that dreams have another function. I might dream of an horrific situation, say, the suicide of a friend. After I've dreamed it I find I can be more accepting of the idea or I'm less afraid of it, because I've already "faced the demon". Make any sense?

[Newbs]

Okay, for the ignoramii among you who did not major in Biochemistry at uni, C₂H₅OH is a chemical found in a variety of drinks that has a depressant effect on certain parts of the human brain. The first area that it depresses is the area that controls behaviour.

[Raoul Duke]

And this forum proudly stands as a living testament to that wondrous phenomenon of Nature.

[Mr Nobody]

EtoH is a crude drug which does a number of things.
It also suppresses dreams. This is actually an important and potentially psychologically damaging side effect.
Dream suppression can eventually lead to waking dreams ie psychosis.
Dreams are supposedly for processing of information (I wonder how they know that?) but i don't remember reading anywhere that dreams you remember are substantially different in this regard than dreams you don't. I also think that dreams you remember are more often caused by environmental influences (such as maybe hard beds, toasted cheese sandwiches, or unfamiliar environment etc) rather than psychological, simply making you remember the dream, rather than anything inherently different about the dream itself.
I am quite sure that good sleep in china isn't related to booze, unless you drink less in china, which sounds doubtful given the name of this place.
Possibly more to do with a satisfied life?
Weird fact - only the warm blooded animals dream. (mammals and birds) I wonder if dinosaurs dreamt and what did they dream of? Imagine some poor velociraptor dreaming of Jurassic Park. If birds dream, then i think that our idea of what dreams are for have got to be wrong. Imagine a sparrow having to work out much in it's life? for that matter, a mouse or a sheep? Hmmm. Sounds like it has more to do with brain not being dormant, like a computer on a screen saver, to me. But then, why dream psychosis?

[con's fly is open]

An extended period without dreams, I hear, can lead to repeating yourself unwittingly.
Someone told me that if you go without dreaming, you'll start to repeat yourself without knowing it.
Repeating yourself unconsciously may be caused by too going too long without dreaming, I recall.
Wait, I remember reading something about dreaming. What was it?

Um, what were we talking about?

[Roger]

Very interesting thread! If anything, my dreams in China are, as others have said too, more vivid. Where I lived before I had trouble remembering my dream the moment I woke. It was a struggle to get hold of one shred of it and save it into the day tochew on.

But in China I ofte3n know what I dreamt of during the previous night, and my drams generally are uneventful sequences of films.
A couple of dreams have been a little exceptional, though.

One was a real nightmare of memories of my childhood, involving a murder scene. I didn't recognise the facial features of the characters in that dream but I "knew" who they were - by association, I suppose.

Another dream was very peaceful indeed: shortly after accepting my first job I dreamt I was speaking Mandarin to a gaggle of totally unknown Chinese. (My CHinese at that time was beginner's).

[con's fly is open]

I've been noticing something about my dreams lately. Whenever there's a crowd scene, my unconscious lazily grabs whatever it can to people it: faces from my pub, often the cast of Friends (they have no speaking parts, thank God)... but lately half of them are Chinese, and for some reason most of them don't have ears, and they seem to wear a lot of white tank tops. Their skin is often yellow- I mean as in Simpsons cartton yellow. They're otherwise completely normal, and seem to be decent folks.
Not making this up. Can anyone recommend some good medication?

[Lotus Eater]

I have dreamed about speaking Chinese (unfortunately my dream Chinese is just as bad as my waking Chinese).

This week I dreamt that one of my students that I taught 2 semesters ago and have kept in good contact with invited me to his wedding. (He and his girlfriend had been talking to me about their relationship a couple of weeks earlier when we had dinner together). In the dream they hadn't told their families because they would have been stopped from marrying (they are both 2nd year students). I went to the wedding and convinced them to tell said parents.

Woke up and decided to SMS the student. Less than 1 minute later - a phone call from him - he had been attacked and knifed while downtown earlier in the week, and had only just got out of hospital!!

Was I supposed to ring him? Why have that dream then?

[ilunga]

Yes!

I maybe shouldn't post this. A bit of background:

My colleague/buddy has his own website that has a forum. It's pretty dead, just a few friends from back home post. I've recently nicked one of the forums for soccer betting musings. It's fun talking to yourself.

Anyway, in my dream my forum had become really popular. For some reason that I couldn't fathom, lots of teachers in China started posting and it really took off. Then out of nowhere I found myself in trouble with the cops. I was being accused of plagiarism. And my accuser.......none other than Raoul I found myself in his home. His wife was there giving me the evil eye. I had to explain my actions and make a grovelling apology. Raoul was quite cool about it. Unimpressed but understanding.
Then I woke up in a cold sweat.
I checked my forum and it was as dead as ever.
I want my mei nu dreams back

[Hamish]

He who steals from our forum steals trash.

[Raoul Duke]

ilunga said:

none other than Raoul .... I found myself in his home. His wife was there giving me the evil eye. I had to explain my actions and make a grovelling apology. Raoul was quite cool about it. Unimpressed but understanding.

Jeez! This is accurate enough to be truly frightening. Me- cool, understanding, unimpressed. My wife (who will NOT be here for May Day)- evil and demanding apologetic explanations. Are you SURE we haven't met? Hell, now I'M sweating...