This is a cool thread.........I hope guys keep weighing in.
I've never had the "old lady" visit, and it's been at least a decade since I had a real scare the hell outta me nightmare.
I discovered by accident that taking a vitamin B12 supplement over a period of time will ramp up my dream frequency, and really bring them a vivid level I'd never experienced before. I'm talking HD, color, full dialog, etc...........movie night while I sleep.
YMMV, because I'm wired backwards from the norm. I can fall asleep right after drinking coffee, but Benadryl makes my heart race. And the one time I drank "tension tamer" herbal tea right before bed, and felt anything BUT relaxed. But the B12 phenomenon isn't limited to just me, because I read a similar testimony on an amazon review for the same B12 I used.