Just wondering if anyone else's dreams are affected by what's on the TV or radio? Woke up to the screams from the movie Hellraiser this morning, desperate to find the remote because I couldn't take the bad dreams I was having. I noticed I woke up too angry to go back to sleep because of this.

Yes, absolutely! Any sensory input will be processed in your brain and thus influence your "sleeping thoughts" which are your dreams.

My husband left the tv on one night as we slept, and in the middle of the night, a History Channel program about Caligula came on. I woke up because I was having nightmares about Roman soldiers marauding!

Better to listen to ambient music as you fall asleep or wake up. I really dislike those jarring clock alarms! Waking up to a horrible buzzing is like hitting my head with an ax! Painful.

Yes, ambient music would be my choice, but my boyfriend was watching that horror channel when he fell asleep. I used to fall asleep listening to the Investigation Discovery Channel because it has soothing voices, but I got to a point where things in real life were not good. Even listening to the news would make my blood pressure rise; so I decided that the input was not doing anything but making my brain work overtime while trying to rest peacefully.

I have had similar experiences. When I watch an aggressive type show before I go to bed, I feel tense and agitated. Not good for restful sleep and peaceful dreams.

That’s natural. It’s all depends upon the genre. If we are watching a show of horror genre, we will definitely get a horror type of dream.