Alerts, all the time, constantly while I'm laying in bed. I toss and turn all night, flip from side to side, on my back and so forth. Its a sensation that I have action I need to make, I can literally hear the alert in my head and it keeps me awake throughout the night. I have on occasion woken myself up completely to sit up and look around the room just because it felt so real I had to be sure.

The problem stems from the fact that hands are replaying in my head. I don't think they are specific hands, just hands my subconscious is creating from bits of memory.

I'm having a real hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. Hands are being dealt to me each time I fall asleep and the anxiety wakes me up. It literally feels like action is on you and you are time-banking down and then I wake up.

I'm sure the most common response will be "take a break", and yes, I take regular breaks from poker throughout the week already. I don't zombie out in front of my computer by any means.

I'm just curious if anyone else has ever experienced anything like this as well?

It's not the first time and it happens fairly randomly, don't think there is any correlation with hours played, perception of variance or profit won\loss. But, it does happen to me frequently, I can fall asleep again but, its definitely difficult as my blood pressure is at an uncomfortable level for rest.

Interested to know if there are a lot of people this happens to and how they managed it. thanks

Google "night terrors."

This reminds me of the time I had a dream that I was being strangled. It seemed so real. I woke up and I could hardly breathe. The blanket was tight around my neck and I was reaching behind my head. My hands had become wrapped up in the blanket. The more I tried to reach behind my head to grab whoever was strangling me, the more I strangled myself. Eventually I woke up completely and realized what was happening. Lol poker nightmares.

Well there are more variables that likely are causing this. How do you feel when you play poker? Are you constantly agitated? Are you managing your BR, did you have a Downswing that makes you feel like you need to win it back quickly? Dunno think about any reason that may be causing this. Maybe hands are playing in your subconscious somehow (though I think there's more to it likely) like you say but why would this cause you to react the way you are reacting. Do you have healthy balance otherwise? You say you take breaks but what does this mean, are you using the time to relax and do fun stuff etc etc.
I used to have a similar feeling in the beginning when going up in limits and not being used to it yet, but not as badly as you, with me once I got in my comfortable zone again things went back to normal. Have you tried meditating?

Dreams are warnings/messages from the subconscious.

I had terrors at night where I was slowly climbing a really long, dark spiral staircase. There was no hand-rail whatsoever. Every step was a pain in my entire body.
I was feeling a creepy presence behind me but when I was turning around, nothing was there, only dark steps.
At one point, a weak light was visible at the top. The presence was a lot more stronger than before. I was hearing a breathing sound but nothing was noticeable behind me, I was beginning to freak out and kept going on.

The more I climbed, the more I felt the urgency of reaching the ray of light. After what I felt was hours of eerie climbing, I was finally seeing the light coming from this door almost shut, only seperated by the last steps. The breathing was heavier and I didn't want to turn back to face what it was emanating from. I began to try running but I felt my legs, my calves were so weak that I was totally unable to do so.

When my fingers finally brushed the door knob, the door began to shut itself and I felt a strong pain on my chest as something was pushing me towards the center of the spiral staircase.

Then, I saw the face of a horrible decaying screaming woman jumping on me, trying to reach me as I fell in the center of the staircase, while I heard the door slammed and everything was dark again. Only left the breathing sound and wind on my ears as I was gaining speed.

Then I woke up.

I had this dream for weeks and I didn't have it anymore as I left France for Canada.

What could help is write about your dream without putting any limit to it. Don't judge or control your thoughts then analyze what you wrote once you feel you finished writing.

Hey plo ufo,

I think I experienced what you're trying to describe a few times when I was about 15. I was working at a supermarket on the check-out at the time this was happening, and I often felt quite stressed at work.

It happened probably 5-6 times in total, where I'd wake up in bed and have a really strong feeling that I was on the check-out and needed to swipe an item or put an item into a bag or something. It would take me quite a while after waking up to realise that there weren't any bags or items around, and that I was actually in bed. This feeling definitely made me anxious, and there was a sense of urgency like you described.

Maybe you could try disabling sounds in PokerStars, so that over time you might not hear the associated beeping etc. in these dream things, and hey that might mean you won't get woken up anymore. That's just a random guess though.

I know exactly what you are talking about and I feel for you. I suppose the only thing that I can think of is, are there other things in your life that are stressing you out apart from poker? That is the biggest factor for me. If all I had to do was play then I know that I would be sweet. I used to grind the $30, $50, $100 SitnGos. Now, due to stress in my life, I can only grind the $7 rooms and that is only on the days that I am not too stressed by these other factors in my life.

On the plus side, I think that all that extra "dream play" must be good for my game . I create some pretty tough situations for myself. It is almost like when I dream these hands, they are tougher than I ever encounter in reality online.

I've experienced exactly what you have, both with playing poker online, and feeling the urge it's my turn to act or I'm timing out, and as I'm a poker dealer, I've had it where I feel the action is to my right or left, or infront of me. I have literally sat bolt up right looking round my room as the feeling is so real. It takes me a few seconds to determine what's real and what isnt and then figure out what's going on, but I can usually get back to sleep quite quickly if I was in a heavy sleep prior.

Try relaxing and having a break between you ending your session and then going to sleep. Let your mind unwind, distract yourself from poker with other activities. Read, music, play solitaire on your pc for 20 mins or something before sleeping.

I listened to a radio program (podcast) that I like to listen to on NPR. This story is so good and extremely relevant. Check it out, and do some research, and you'll overcome the dream. Good luck: http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiol...wake-up-dream/

Ok this sounds extremely stupid, but its generally well known trick that works for alot of people.

Before you go to sleep, tell yourself (in your head) that you dont want to dream about anything poker related and that you especially do not want to dream about any poker tables with theses "time to act alarm bells". Just say so in your head before you go to sleep.

Sounds stupid, but give it a try. GL

I would think a positive suggestion would work better than a negative one. Otherwise, isn't it kinda like telling someone not to picture a purple cow? OP, if you wanna try this, I'd pick out something non-poker-related to think about as you drift off and tell yourself that's what you're going to dream about.

ive had this before. for me it wasn't so much timing out, but just as I'm dreaming seeing hands and having to act and feeling like i was multitabling while sleeping. just not a very relaxing state to be in while trying to rest!!! for me it was when i was grinding fulltime online seeing a ton of hands allday everyday. now that i play way less, (only play live now and at most a few times a week) i rarely get this at all anymore. i think it can just come with the territory of griding super hard online. standard imo

This problem still occurred many times after this thread was created. I recently took a week off from poker and had nothing poker related around me. My dreams became more normal or I was simply just able to sleep through the night.

I'm starting back now and we'll see what happens after I start playing 10hrs+. I've also changed some sounds in the table settings on Stars, a few noises that are less "threatening" or urgent sounding I suppose. Overall more peaceful ways to alert me of my action. Hope this helps.

Appreciate all the responses. Some good shares and advice.

I'll update if they come back. I'll also try to write down anything specific I can remember when/if they do reoccur.