Dave and Laura enter the strange and frightening world of night terrors as they are joined by Dr Alice Vernon, Lecturer in Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University, who has written the acclaimed book, Night Terrors: Troubled Sleep and the Stories We Tell About It.

During the interview she outlines her own history of troubled sleep since childhood and how she has explored this through academic research into the subject, focusing on representations of sleep in science and culture.

We are introduced to:

The strange world of parasomnias, i.e. different kinds of disturbed sleep such as nightmares
Spooky sleep apparitions that leave you feeling haunted
Sleep disorders and involuntary movement
Sleep paralysis
Sleep walking
Lucid dreaming

Dr Vernon talks about the impact of severe parasomnias on her life as an adult and reveals how her parents dealt with her sleepwalking when she was young. She introduces us to her fun Cadbury’s chocolate gorilla dream for our "Dream of the Week" feature, and Dave and Laura open up areas for interpretation.

Dr Alice Vernon is Lecturer in Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University. Her research focuses on representations of sleep in science and culture. Her debut non-fiction book, Night Terrors: Troubled Sleep and the Stories We Tell About It, is published by Icon Books and was featured on BBC 4’s Book of the Week.

Alice on Twitter: @AliceVernon10

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Keep dreaming, and keep sharing your dreams!

Credits

Recorded by Sophie and Lev at the Boat Pod https://theboatpod.com

Edited by James Ede at Be Heard https://beheard.org.uk

Podcast Artwork Design by Kat Seager Design

Music:

Adventures by A Himitsu https://soundcloud.com/a-himitsu

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0

Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/2Pj0MtT

Music released by Argofox https://youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE

Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8

Series 1, Episode 3: Alice Vernon - Night Terrors, the Strange World of Scary Sleep 34:18 Share

The Dream Boat

Shownotes Transcript

Series 1, Episode 3: Alice Vernon - Night Terrors, the Strange World of Scary Sleep