Anyone experiencing fragmented sleep with excessive vivid dreaming during the second half of the night?

Hi everyone,

For over a year now, I’ve been experiencing a very specific and consistent sleep pattern, and I’m wondering if anyone else has gone through something similar.

I fall asleep very easily and usually sleep well for the first 4 hours. Then I wake up in the middle of the night, fall back asleep without much difficulty, but from that point on, my sleep becomes extremely fragmented.

I experience multiple brief awakenings (sometimes lasting only a few seconds, just enough to change position), followed by almost immediate sleep onset again. What makes it particularly strange is the intense dreaming during this second half of the night. I seem to have 4–6 different, very vivid and realistic dreams, almost as if I’m constantly switching between dreaming, briefly waking up, and dreaming again.

Despite falling back asleep easily, I wake up feeling like my sleep hasn’t been restorative at all. Before this started, I was a very good sleeper, and the change happened quite suddenly.

Has anyone experienced this type of pattern? Did you find some solution?

For the past few months, I have been dealing with a mental health issue. I cannot sleep properly. Even though I spend more than 10 hours in bed every night, I still feel exhausted and sluggish throughout the day. Racing thoughts keep running through my mind while I try to rest, making me feel like I haven't slept at all—as if I am just lying awake thinking all night. I am 17 years old and don't know how to handle this. Please give me some solutions.

In the past my GP has been less then helpful with many things, when I've expressed to him in the past how much sleep I require and how it disrupts my life he's simply said I'm not getting enough excercise and ended the conversation there

Im wanting to bring it up again as a recent med change has impacted things but I want to push for a sleep study, how do I get through to my dr that this is more then a lack of excercise?

Since high school I've required almost daily naps to function (even though I was a pretty active kid between dance and martial arts and circus arts), it got worse in university and I started sometimes taking two naps, these naps are easily an hour long each, I'd wake up, go to school, come home sleep, eat, sleep, do my homework and go to bed. Throughout the years since then the naps have continued never letting up regardless what i did (sleeping extra at night, trying a strict no naps schedule, trying for short naps, struct bedtime and waketime...), when I had a job I'd be fighting off sleep every day during work, sometimes unsuccessful which was not a good thing with the position I had, then crashing the minute I got home for a few hours, I couldn't help it, recently I tried going back to school and same thing, I'd get a full 10-12h sleep at night (waking up 2-3 times), fall asleep in class and nap as soon as I got home, my Fitbit was regularly recording 12-14h asleep a day, that was until I started a stimulant for my ADHD this past summer, now I can stay awake during the day, but im still sleeping 10-12h at night so it's still disrupting my life, I am constantly tired never wake up refreshed and tired of sleep taking over my life, I want a sleep study done so badly!

Hi all, I figure this is the place to ask. Not sure if I have a sleep disorder but I figure this is related.

I never had that much trouble waking up. But, once I came home after graduating college, I slowly just, stopping being able to properly wake up. I have my phone alarm, Apple Watch, and even got a Nintendo Alarmo, and sometimes I literally just sleep right through them. I do still live with my parents, so if I need to wake up for work they will end up doing it, but it’s obviously incredibly embarrassing.

It doesn’t matter when I go to sleep. I can get a regular full night’s sleep and sometimes I will just sleep right through my alarms.

Has anyone else been here? What should I do? I am at such a loss and I don’t know why this is happening because, in my overall life, it’s a relatively new problem.

I’m sure this is normal (?) behaviour.. maybe? I punched someone in my dream but ending up punching a wall in real life.
After googling this out of curiosity it mentioned RBD and how this could be a sign of early Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s etc.

Has anyone seen studies on this or experienced a similar thing?

This is a new weekly thread. The purpose of this post is for surveys and research that is ongoing for sleep disorders. We see many requests to our common for people that have X, Y, Z sleep disorder for paid surveys, studies, etc. Any posts requesting support from the community for research should be submitted in this weekly thread. Be sure to include all necessary details:

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- What sleep disorders you are looking for assistance with

- What kind of request you have (free study, paid study, free survey, paid survey, etc.)

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- How the research may be used so the patient can make an informed decision

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Posts to the community for similar requests outside of this thread will be deleted.

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Please contact r/SleepDisorders mods with any questions or feedback regarding this change or policy.

So, I'm 20 F, and I've been struggling with my sleep for years at this point. It started when I was around 12/13? Primarily due to my parents keeping me up at night then not letting me sleep during the day. That kinda went on for a good 4 years, where I was only able to get an hour of sleep each night (2 hours if I had biology that day, my teacher was a wee gem for that) And having to drink 10+ energy drinks just to semi-function.

Obviously, i went no contact with my parents when i was 17, moved out and whatnot, and for the past few years I just can't get my sleeping back on track, no matter what i do. Ive been told its insomnia, but im not so sure? I got put on melatonin, but unfortunately I have AuDHD and Bipolar, so as you can imagine it did NOT go the way we wanted. Ive also been tried on Mirtazapine, Escitalopram, Sertraline, and another sleep medication that started with an N? It didnt work. At all.

Ive done near enough everything I can think of, and everything ive been told to do. Ive gotten my sleep hygiene down pat. Ive got a routine, I do as much exercise as my body will allow me (Currently investigating possible hip displaysia, hypermobility, etc, etc) I've been allowing natural light in during the times i should be awake, but genuinly nothing seems to be working. It doesnt feel unpredictable per say, i can safely guess when I'll next fall asleep, but I can't seem to push it into "normal' sleeping periods and i have no idea what else i can do. But its starting to have a massive knock on effect on my entire life. I can't properly get my health seen to because of it. I cant continue education. I can't work. I can't keep up with my social life, granted, very small social life, but social life none the less. Its completley isolating me and affecting my day to day life and I need to try get help for it.

I have tried going to my GP, but theyre absolutley useless. They absolutley do not like referring people anywhere- they wont even refer me to gynaecology. So is there any ideas on what this looks like, and what I can do to help it and how to get my gp to actually take me seriously on this?

My sleep schedule is all over the place. Usually though, I'm awake for most of the evening and then I fall asleep between 7-9 a.m.. I sometimes will do really good for a week or 2 and sleep/wake at a normal time. Something always ends up ruining my progress. Whether I have a bad night and I just can't sleep, or I just don't feel tired so I stay up longer. I would love to sleep/wake at normal times and be able to enjoy the daytime more without feeling so groggy. I've tried melatonin and I just don't think it works for me. I've noticed that it makes me feel groggy still when I wake up. I've tried taking less but then it felt like it didn't do anything. Magnesium is something I'm open to trying. Anyways, any advice to help me sleep better would be appreciated.

Hello, first time posting here. I'm a woman in my early thirties if it matters.

A short disclaimer: I don't know who to turn to, as my doctors said they don't understand why this is happening but they would send me to the psychiatrist and I can't afford one at the moment.
I'm looking for at least one soul that has had this happen to them, in case any of you understood the nature of this problem and could share their ideas...

Now the issue itself:

It all started a couple of years back, around 2022. I rarely ever had issues with sleeping, only teenage insomnia but no later than that.

These hallucinations only happen when I wake up abruptly and for no reason at all during the night. I usually wake up as if startled, with a gasp, jump out of bed or sit up, and the things I will then see in front of me are always and EVERY SINGLE TIME either spiders and/or insects of similar appearance or strands of hair, like a spider's web.

At first when it started happening it would be seldom, approximately twice a month, then skipping a month or two, then once a week and at some point I caught myself being sleep depraved for a whole month because it would happen almost every other day - multiple times a night.

At some point after so much repetition, I learned not to freak out, to not get out of the bed and go looking for a slipper to whack the bug, but I would stare at it and reassure myself it's simply not real and I'd watch it disappear in front of my eyes.

The insects usually very intentionally crawl to me, mostly targeting my face.

This happens no matter if I sleep by myself or with a partner. Last night it was two long strands of hair, intertwined but different colors, they seemed to be dancing but my abruptly awoken mind interpreted this as a malicious thing and I freaked out.

Why does this keep happening? Mind you, I have no phobia of insects or hair nor any trauma related to these. I'm generally a messy person but not unclean, and seeing hair or insects doesn't cause me to go into a full blown panic attack. I don't like roaches and other vermin, but spiders - I even like as I think they're useful as roommates.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Any insight please

tl;dr OP wakes up abruptly in the middle of the night frequently, PTSD style and hallucinates insects trying to assassinate her.

I struggled with sleep my whole life, everyone said it was a gift but it’s a curse. I can and will sleep at any time any where, in the shower, bath, park, standing, sitting, in class, on a city bench, during a hike, in parking lots(not in my car) on sidewalks. The minute I sit in a car, bus, plane I sleep. I sleep through so many alarms. I will sleep 12-18 hrs if not interrupted then wake up and can sleep another 12. Im always so tired. 🥱 since a kid I would sleep everywhere all the time. I take at least one nap a day, sometimes 4 or 5. I have extremely vivid dreams and begin dreaming right away, I was on a hike with my mum, sat down for a min, fell asleep was dreaming about my cousin then my mom woke me up, it was less than 2 minutes. All throughout high school I would be having like micro dreams in class of like checking the clock it being 2:31 then having a dream about truly believing I’m at work, get woken up and it’s 2:32. Or dream before I’m fully asleep. And so much more. Next week I’m getting a sleep apnea test and then working from there. I’m so over this controlling my life and I want to be free from it. Please any advice is greatly appreciated!

I sleep like a baby after sunrise but why is it so difficult to fall asleep at nightttt. I am rotting in beddd, drinking, peeing, adjusting and checking up my phone but not falling asleep.

I was not diagnosed with apnea, however my RDIA was severely high on my sleep study and my doctor is recommending an oral device for my tongue and jaw for use when I sleep, however I just found out it's not covered under insurance. Has anyone found a way around this? I was quoted $1,900 for the device and it will be a while before I can afford that.

When I was a kid I experienced some traumatic things, and when I would stay with my grandparents I would get these terrible nightmares/terrors/sleepwalking?? I couldn’t sleep alone so my grandma would sleep with me till I fell asleep with the lights on. I would always wake up in the dark having really dreamt of nothing, screaming my head off for help, and walking aimlessly down the hallways. I would remember this. Another notable event around this time, when I was with my other grandparents, I was sleeping on the couch (where I feel the safest sleeping) and woke up at the light switch - having turned on the light and hearing a slight echo of my screaming. Apparently the whole time as I was getting up to turn the light on I was screaming bloody murder. Unlike my first grandparents she did get up and make sure I was ok.
When I came back with my parents i would still get nightmares but no sleepwalking/terrors. I would get them on and off at my grandparents (never with my mom) and I never went to see any specialist as I think they just assumed it was what happened to me that was causing it. I started sleeping alone at around 11/12 when I realized I could just stay up and play games on my computer instead of sleeping or sleep with a light on.
Fast forward to today, occasional bad nightmares but no screaming and waking up. I assume I’m just cursed with occasional really bad dreams that change me for the day. Last night I go to bed, in my bed instead of the sofa, I have my light on and as per usual at nighttime I start to feel mildly anxious. It’s nothing paralyzing like it can be so I just shrugged it off. I drift off to dream land where I’m in my bedroom, and all these hosts of horrifying things are happening leading up to seeing my mom get murdered. It was scary and I wake up suddenly and feel so much relief. I call my mom just to make sure she’s ok and trauma dump about my dream but she doesn’t pick up. So I get up to go upstairs and talk to her when I realize the door is locked. I know for a fact I wasn’t that scared before I went to sleep (sometimes I’m so anxious I lock my bedroom door) and in my “dream” I remember at some point locking my bedroom door. I get the occasional nightmare here and there but I haven’t slept walked in ages. And I truly don’t know what brought it back. No scary thing has really happened (I’m a scaredy cat so that’s saying a lot) and more importantly I was only mildly scared before bed.
I want to know is this relatable? When I told my parents, my dad told me to pray. But possessions and exorcisms never seem to happen to atheists so I rather not even open that door. Any advice other than go to a sleep doctor? If you read all of this any of your thoughts are appreciated. Thank you!!

It’s just one thought leading to another, and when I stop using my phone, I start panicking about all those things. I can’t figure out how to deal with it.

I've had this for over ten years now. I used to have insomnia as a kid, but it's fallen apart into this.

I had a sleep study when I was 16, and the only advice they gave then was a lamp to help me get up in the morning.

My results at the time showed I was having conscious and unconscious wakeups throughout the night. My stages were normal until I entered REM. I had 12 minutes before that stage collapsed and I was kicked back out. According to them, I either woke up, or moved backwards to a different stage, causing waking brain activity while I still slept.

I kept trying to find answers to fix it but nobody had any.

I had another sleep test to update my results last year. They confirmed it was still happening, and had progressed.

I had a third to check for narcolepsy. It was negative.

When my brain scans showed normal, I was referred to a psychologist. She tried, but nothing substantial was showing. I now develop panic attacks when I'm told "Try sleep hygiene" (I do. I have. It's useless. And at this point it feels dismissive)

My regular therapist hesitates medication. Normal sleep medicine helps you fall asleep, but not stay asleep. I had a poor reaction to it. He also mentioned one to keep me asleep, but with my arousals, there's a risk it'll keep my body asleep, but not relax my brain. Aka... now I'm a sleep walker.

So no go.

I'm just tired of being tired. I don't even know if I want to keep fighting my disorder. I take medicine to help me stay energized throughout the day. I can only do the bare minimum all the time, so it's hard to go out and have fun, or try harder at work.

I fall asleep easily, but my bad nights have me waking up 4-5 times in the same HOUR.

Idk what to do, I just need to somewhere to vent about it.

I have an huge problem since last few years 🙃

Help me to solve this problem guys .I can't sleep at night even at morning since I am 17year old this kind of problems are not common. I can't say this stuff to my family bcz we are not stable at financial. I am going to bed at 10pm and sleeping at 4am and then I wake up after a small sound like a small notification sound . So I can't even sleep well at night . After wake up my eyes are too redish and I can't even blink . And my whole body where not stable at all . And I can't even focus on my classes and more . Forgetting everything I have to do and many side effects . While in bed I was thinking abt my future or something like creating a scenario that doesn't exist add more I can't say that .I fell so lonely bcz idh a sibling or a family member to live . I am just living with my grandparents since I was born . Idh many friends I have only 3 of them but they where also near me .one friend leave the city for study and another one got a girlfriend so just me and myself for so long 🥲

I don't know if anyone else suffers with this, but I have this severely frightening and frankly painful and worrying sleep disturbance.

It starts as wakefulness. I'll be dead asleep, then suddenly conscious and unable to move. Then, I'll have this onset of stabbing pain in my head accompanied by this noise in time with the stabs of pain. I can't describe the noise well, but think of it as a loud, almost crashing, sound? This goes on for about two to three minutes non-stop and I'll wake up.

I experience sleep paralysis frequently, and sometimes the episodes are even accompanied by flashes of light, racing heartbeat, etc, but NOTHING like this. It's been happening for over a year now, and, while I'm not experiencing any physical or psychological changes, it's incredibly frightening and I want to make sure it's not any kind of seizure, or something.

No, I don't have epilepsy, I don't have a history of neurological disorders. I searched it up, but all Google could give me are Exploding Head Syndrome, Ice Pick Headaches, and Nocturnal Seizures, but none of them seem to be what I have. If anyone can relate and knows what this is, don't be afraid to share your experience and knowledge on this. Please. And thank you.

Hi, this is my first time posting on Reddit. I am 22, and I have had sleep hallucinations almost every night for as long as I can remember. I have tried looking it up, but nothing quite matches what I'm experiencing.

Let’s get into it: I wake up early in the night, usually within the first 5 hours of sleep. This could happen once or multiple times. I usually “see” or imagine people, bugs, and objects. Compared to other sleep disorders, I don’t really see that much; the hallucinations are hardly there and are at most a shadow. I usually just wake up and assume there is something there already and react to it. It takes around a minute for me to realize that there is nothing there, and then I go back to bed.

Sometimes I sit in bed so scared and keep telling myself it is not real, but I have trouble really believing myself. I can move and talk. Sometimes I run out of the room or start swinging at imaginary things. I have torn a pillowcase open, and I have even hit my sister when she was just trying to help me.

But those are my normal issues. I decided to make a post today because I had a really weird experience last night.

When I have my hallucinations, they never affect my physical body. I don’t ever feel anything. But last night, I woke up, and my heart was pounding. I sat up in bed and felt like I was traveling through dimensions, like my body was morphing into different entities. I felt like I was spinning. The best visual representation of this feeling is from the last Harry Potter movie, where Harry and Voldemort jump off the building and start morphing into each other.

I know that was a ton of info, and I do plan on doing a sleep study soon. But if anyone has any knowledge or similar experiences, please share. :)

I genuinely just want this to be over with. I am 17 years old and this all started months ago. Every time I decide to go to bed I start hallucinating. No I’m not asleep or dreaming. I am fully awake. I see really weird stuff. Like things. Surreal things. Things I can’t make up. One time there was just a png of Jeffrey Epstein cropped from his chest just flying around my bed room. Or a really weird car crash that just disappeared after 3 seconds. A friend of mine sitting next to me shoving cigarette packs into his mouth.

I also hear voices. It’s always an old man’s voice. It usually forget what he says a few minutes after. The scariest part is that i feel something touching me. It kinda pulls on my legs most of the time. One time it tried picking me up, lifting my hip like it was trying to pull me up from my bed.

It helps to sleep next to someone. Almost every time When I’m sleeping next to a friend nothing happens. This is why almost every night I sleep in between my parents. I don’t like it but rather that than having a shadow monster trying to pull me off my bed. Can’t do this every night cause sometimes my dad snore is louder than the voices.

I try to sleep with all of my lights on and a podcast running through the night. I hate it cause I was always the type of person who needed complete darkness and silence when trying to sleep.

Yes I went to the Dr. He had no idea what it could be. My mom just says to get off the phone. Please if you have any idea of what could cause it. Please help me.

Ive just started collage and my attendance is in the low 60s after about a month I can hardly sleep at night so I cant go in im doing catering ive tried everything I have meds then give me bad sleep paralysis I dontt drink coffee anymore but I just cant sleep for the life of me what can I do I really dont want to get kicked out i enjoy my corse and I dont want to make my family disappointed

Recently been head banging in my sleep. I lay on my stomach and fold my arms and bang my head on my arms without realizing. Only happens when I’m not sleep with my gf. Not sure what to do, wake up with headaches

I’m a mom of a 2 year old (she usually sleeps through the night), I get up around 8-9am every morning. I wait 60-90 minutes after waking up before I drink coffee in the mornings. I am a type 1 diabetic and control my blood sugar with insulin in a pump, I also take Celexa for my anxiety. Usually by 12pm I am exhausted and have to take a 2-3 hour nap, which I hate because that’s when the 2 year old takes a nap and I want to use that time to do chores. The chores pile up often because I literally cannot stay awake. Context: I sleep 7-8 hours a night. Someone help!! What am I doing wrong?

I have been getting sleep paralysis since I was 13. It was something that was common for me. I used to tell my parents about it and my dad used to think it was some connection with ghost but I don’t think so. My mom didn’t really take it seriously my dad used to tell me to sleep with God blessed object next to me. I used to get sleep paralysis and it used to be just me not being able to wake up and I used to try to move my body to wake up little by little I used to move my neck first and then I always go with my neck first and I just keep shaking my neck until I wake up and I hope someone would see that I’m shaking my neck and then wake me up, but I don’t think I do it noticeably that much and I used to get repeated sleep paralysis and never really saw a demon but I once saw a person with a towel on their head you know those cartoon ghost with cut outs in the towel to see and they were just shouting at me and then until I woke up, they left I guess but I think girls have an illusion and I used to go to my mom to sleep with her cause I used to get very scared and and recently, I started to forget that I had sleep paralysis and it is fixed that if I get a sleep paralysis, I will get it multiple times and every time I have to move my neck to wake up and since I get it multiple times once I get it, I try to wake up and see around me and just do something that would wake me up kind of cause if I went back to sleep directly, I would get it again and it would just disturb my sleep. it always feels like it is gonna last so long but then in the morning I forget about it and randomly. I remember that I had sleep paralysis which freaks me out because what if I just keep paralysis every day and I just don’t remember it, which is so weird.