Why does THC withdrawal cause nightmares?

It is 1.30am here in Bali and half and hour ago I experienced a horrible vivid nightmare involving a huge monkey monster trying to kill me. I thrashed out my arms hitting Sabrina who was sleeping next to me and screamed loud enough to wake both my children who also sleep in the room with us.

I have no intention of going back to sleep now because I will almost certainly return to this dream, so instead I am going to sit at my desk and write about it!

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The nightmares have been a consistent problem in my life since I was the young child you can see above (with one of my sisters).

I am usually being chased by someone or something: soldiers, aliens, werewolves or unidentifiable creatures all with the intention of killing me.

My father suffered from exactly the same problem and I remember when sleeping in the bed with him how he would scream and hit me in his sleep.

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When I started experimenting with drugs in my teens I discovered that smoking weed cured my nightmares. And it was such a joyful discovery!

It seems to cure other things too. If I have a little smoke in the morning, I feel hungry. This may sound strange but I rarely feel hungry these days and actually have to force myself to eat. I am a sungazer, meaning that I stare directly at the sun during sunrise and sunset for periods of up to 44 minutes. And I am conscious that one of the side effects of this practice is an enlargement of the pineal gland which many people claim has given them the ability to take their nourishment directly from the sun, bypassing the physical aspect of eating. Anyway, I am digressing now and will do a separate post on sungazing.

For now I want to examine why I regress back to these dreams of being hunted and chased when the THC receptor sites in my brain are not being fed.

Many smokers say they don't recall their dreams in the morning but this is not the case for me. I dream every night and when I am smoking they are usually quite pleasant, albeit a bit strange.

Research tells us that the brain is most active during REM sleep and this is when we dream. The THC in cannabis reduces REM sleep and increases deep sleep.

Deep sleep is believed to be the most important sleep stage for repairing and restoring the body. Studies show that when deprived of sleep, the brain prioritises deep sleep over REM sleep.

While more research is needed, it’s possible that the ability of marijuana to increase deep sleep, even at the expense of REM sleep, might actually turn out to be a good thing.

From my perspective, it is most certainly a good thing! I am currently living a poly-phasic sleep cycle (I sleep twice in a 24h cycle as opposed to the traditional mono-phasic system of once at night) which gives me more energy and ultimately more hours to work. I usually sleep 3 hours at night and 2 hours after lunch. But the nightmares only come during my sleep at night.

Here you can see my current home in Bali.

A few years ago I went to see a specialist because I was so disturbed by my nightmares. I wondered if perhaps they had something to do with past life experiences. And whilst the 'professionals' did not believe this to be the case, other more spiritual types have told me that my dreams do in fact relate to my experience of previous incarnations in this physical realm.

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I suppose I will never know with any kind of certainty what the answer is.

So I have little choice but to simply get on with life! Research tells me that after 6-8 weeks of no weed, my nightmares should stop. But this is not the case for me. Six years ago I did an 18 month spell of complete abstinence from all drugs (including coffee!) and still suffered most nights from the feeling of being hunted and chased by those who want to kill me.

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Okay, I do feel a bit better now after writing this, so may try to go back to sleep for a few hours before my sungazing time at 6.30am.

And I ask now that only the HIGHEST & BEST ENERGIES are coming to me when I enter the REM stage.

It is done! It is done! It is done! And so it is. Thank you :)

Wish me luck!

Blessings to you all.

And in case you are interested, the photo at the top I took in Switzerland in 2014, where they were growing it publicly in the herb garden of a Chateau not far from Lake Geneva.

Yes, they are rather more open-minded about this plant in Switzerland than here in Bali where I am liable to spend rather a long time in prison if I smoke it.