#Buuut it provided a wealth of first hand experience that I may now use for writing!

[alighted-willow]

Adding on:

• Checking doors to make sure they're locked,

• Closing doors if they were open before,

• Getting a drink of hot water to help dissipate stomach cramps/nausea,

• Finding a position near a window to watch the outside world (either as a distraction or to look for threats),

• Checking to make sure nothing has changed in the house (especially if living alone),

• Staying perfectly still upon awaking to ensure no one detects a change in wakefulness (especially if someone/thing in their environment is an active or recurrent threat),

• Staying perfectly still upon awakening so as to verify that one is truly awake and not just in another nightmare,

• Staying perfectly still upon awakening so as to not aggravate wounds or unspecified pains ‘acquired’ during the dream, especially if that person hallucinates (is sleep deprived).

• Waking up, going “Dang it”, and rolling over to pass back out because they've accepted this as their norm or are just too exhausted to stay up anymore.

things people do after having a nightmare that isn’t crying

struggle to catch their breath

grab onto whatever’s close enough to ground themselves in reality

become nauseous / vomit

shake uncontrollably

sweat buckets

get a headache

things people do to combat having nightmares if they occur commonly

sleep near other people so they can hear the idle sounds of them completing tasks

move to a different sleeping spot than where they had the nightmare

leave tvs / radios / phones on with noise

just not sleep (if you want to go the insomnia route)

sleep during the day in bright rooms

things people with insomnia do

first, obviously, their ability to remember things and their coordination will go out the window

its likely they’ll become irritable or overly emotional

their body will start to ache, shake, and weaken

hallucinate if it’s been long enough

it becomes incredibly easy for them to get sick (and they probably will)

add your own in reblogs/comments!