Waking up from a nightmare

Feature requests
1

From Linnet Graves on 2015/09/20 23:56:04 +0000

I often have nightmares/SP and struggle for a long time when no one is around to wake me up. I usually try making sounds or shaking movements so it would wake me up, it takes long. I couldn’t find an app/feature for that anywhere.

Copied from original feature request: http://urbandroid.uservoice.com/forums/264867-sleep-as-android/suggestions/9844527-waking-up-from-a-nightmare

2

From Christopher Hastings on 2015/12/19 11:42:56 +0000

There would be no easy way to tell if you were having a nightmare. From the outside you would look like you were in normal rem sleep. Unless you trained yourself to move your eyes in a certain way during nightmares, and used a camera and software to track your eye movements and wake you when you perform that specific eye movement. That's waaaay outside the scope of a cellphone app.

3

From Jarno V on 2015/12/04 06:53:59 +0000

IF this is a case of sleep paralyses, then try to move just your finger. Small motoric movement will snap you Back.

4

From David H on 2015/11/02 17:14:43 +0000

Are you trying to make the sounds and shaking movements from within the nightmare? If so, you probably aren't actually moving, because when in REM, your body goes into a state of paralysis called REM atonia, so that you don't hit anybody next to you or fall out of bed.
That said, if your nightmares are occurring in other cycles (which is less common, but possible), then you could still be moving. To find out, you could try recording your sleep with a camera all night.

5

From Linnet Graves on 2015/09/21 00:01:04 +0000

if someone knows something like that exists please link me to it, I can't believe no one needs that.

6

alright, I missed those comments back at the time, but I will clarify anyway, for the devs and others.
It might be true that it’s not possible to move during REM, that is the problem, actually. It’s the struggle of it. But it’s possible to make sounds. If these sounds can make a person in the room wake up from their sleep to wake you up when you’re in a lucid nightmare, there is a difference between it and a normal REM sleep.
By now I tried about 7 different techniques, including moving a finger. Each new one works for a shorter time than the previous until you get “immune” to it or something.

7

If you are willing to invest in a Mi Band 2 ‘wearable’ (about 35 Euro), the Mi Band Tools app (which is needed to use the Mi Band 2 with SaA) can give a ‘High Heart Rate Notification’ alarm on that wristband. That
alarm can be a series of vibrations which hopefully will wake you up from your nightmare. Everything can be configured, i.e. the heart-rate above which the alarm will be triggered, the length/number/pauses of the
vibrations, etc…

FYI, I wish I had bought my Mi Band 2, much, much earlier. It is such a small investment, the sleep tracking is better and nightmares can be so debilitating that anything that might help is worth the effort/cost.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if something is not clear, etc…

8

Nightware has been FDA approved for nightmare disorder, check this out! And, maybe the app can also benefit from this approach.