Your post made me smile. It's sounds like you've had a helluva week.
I get the shadow people thing. I;m normally very skeptical of everything, but I've also noticed things in my peripheal vision a lot recently. Who knows, maybe its just coincidental.
Would you classify your dreams as nightmares? The reason I ask is I often have "action-adventure" dreams, a lot like the ones you described, but I enjoy them. It's like living in a movie. Are you a lucid dreamer and able to control your dreams? Most of the time I can influence what I'm dreaming, change the direction if its getting unpleasant, but not always. To be honest, my nightmares are the dreams that totally mimic reality.
As for not sleeping, maybe your body doesn't need as much sleep as it used to. Generally this is true of everyone as we age....hence older folks tend towards insomnia. Try avoiding stimulating activities right before bedtime, like the internet, television, or games. Maybe a quiet meditation would help?
Cats are.....cats. Pretty much insane little creatures. I've got two, and they can drive you bonkers sometimes (especially racing up and down the stairs at 2 in the am...they sound like a herd of elephants). Maybe they are really bored? Perhaps set up some perpetual motion cat toy part of the day and let them wear themselves out.
I hope no major disasterous event occurs in the near future....or the distant future, for that matter.
) but still did the trick. 
apart from the bomb dreams, they were last year ready for this year. I published mine on Youtube and on here....
other than that what can you do(you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink) . I don't own a cat but most of the local cats of the area
seem to congregate outside my house everynight. 
