I think Astral Projection is more like going into trance and sending out your astral body as a sort of ghost, which allows you to travel and see/talk to people in the waking world, but not touch anything.
For the past few years my dreams have been mostly really boring. My knowledge that I'm dreaming tends to slip in and out all the time. One moment I'm jumping off a building to see if I can fly, the next I'm fearing certain embarassment because I was on a field trip and lost sight of everyone. The only effect it all really has is that my nightmares are hardly ever scary anymore, because I mostly know it's all fake.
I had fantastic dreams and nightmares as a kid
