I suffer from vivid weird dreams (and very often violent nightmares) every night and never manage to sleep right through the night - I wake up often. When morning comes I am exhausted and, like Jen it, takes me ages to get going and sometimes the dreams stay in my mind for quite a while.
Also like Jen, a lot of my dreams are about school and studying, and seeing as I left college in 1965 .....................!!!! I also dream a lot about travelling and hotels and losing baggage, and also moving house. There are no many dreams that repeat themselves, that I too have difficulty sometimes in differentiating between dreams and reality.
I am an anxious person by nature so I presume this is why, but I would love a good restful nights sleep. Sleeping tablets, prescription or otherwise, make me feel absolutely awful the next day. I can't stand hot milk, which apparently is relaxing, and herbal remedies do nothing. :o(