Embrace the nightmare. Learn to take joy in the thrill like a roller coaster. They’ll stop at some point when you no longer view them the same, saddly. I learned to like them as a teen and then i either just stopped having them, or stopped remembering them compared to me other dreams.

You are in this dream but we do not grant you the rank of happy. Please, take a seat.

Sleep/central apnea diet/medication/alcohol/lack-of-weed are the four horsemen to my nightmares. The damn persistent dreams where my legs take 1000% effort to just crawl. Usually I have to walk/lunge backwards just to get anywhere. Fuckin weird and constant.

Whenever I relive happy memories in my dreams I wake up sad because I remember what I’ve lost.

I’ve read if we wake up knowing what we dreamt about we likely aren’t getting enough sleep. Since then I’ve worked hard in my sleep cycle and haven’t remembered more than a dream or two a year in more than a decade. That was my solution, maybe give it a go?

I think it has something to do with your brain playing both sides of the dream. You are coming up with how to react, but you are also at the same time coming up with what happens next. So if you dream a lion and you are like “uhoh, what if the lion tried to chase me, that would be a problem, I’d have to run away,” then you’re now dreaming about a lion that is chasing you and how you are running away.

As far as I know- and I’m far from an expert here- dreams are really just your brain trying to make sense of your brain doing whatever the fuck it is your brain is doing why you sleep. (maybe a de-fragmentation cycle to keep everything nice and functional? bad analogy, probably.)

in any case, your brain is trying to make sense of signals and synapses firing off, in what is basically a random pattern. so it cobbles together a reality as best it can and fit things to that.

Its also trying to maintain a certain amount of continuity with where you are. So, if you’re anxious while you fall a sleep, your brain is going to incorporate that anxiety.

Also, as Bigfish mentioned, the freaky/weird/anxious ones are more likely to wake you up so that you actually remember them.

In any case, I would suggest maybe changing your bedtime routine up and finding something positive/calming to focus on. crotchet works well for me. but it could be just about anything. a feel-good novel, or whatever. (I also suggest turning the screens off.)

might not change that the only things you remember are the unpleasant ones, but it might make them less frequent.

My dreams are weirdly problem solving. They give me insights on how to handle things.

It’s a way of organizing, learning and preparing you for the day ahead. It would be useful if it’s about life or death stuff. For me I stress too much about small stuff until that’s all I see, so sometimes we need to watch some gore and car crash videos to gain perspective.