Frequent dreaming vs. seldom dreaming, who has better sleep quality? The answer is...

People often ask: Oh, I dream too much at night. Is there something wrong with my health?

Let me first state the conclusion: whether a person is healthy or has good sleep quality does not depend on whether he dreams or how many dreams he has.

Why do we dream?

Dreaming itself is a normal physiological phenomenon of sleep. On average, most people dream about 2 hours every night. Moreover, dreams can occur in any stage of sleep. Among them, dreams are the richest and most vivid during the rapid eye movement (REM) stage.

You may have this feeling: before waking up in the morning, you often feel that you have been dreaming. This is because in the second half of the night (including the time when you wake up near the early morning), rapid eye movement sleep accounts for a larger proportion and there are more opportunities to dream.

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Does that mean everyone dreams? I am not sure about this question.

Is there anyone who has never dreamed in his life? This question cannot be answered clearly. After all, dreaming is very subjective, and there is no objective instrument to determine whether a person is dreaming at the moment. However, from the data of the population surveyed by scientists, it can be concluded that dreaming itself is a normal physiological phenomenon.

Nightmares affect sleep quality

Scientists have used polysomnography monitoring to monitor sleep outcomes and stages, and found that dreaming alone does not affect sleep (nor does it affect sleep structure), but nightmares are an exception. Note that medicine has a stricter definition of nightmares, which refers to a nightmare that "wakes you up" from sleep. Because you will wake up and often make people afraid to sleep, nightmares will affect sleep. The kind of dream that is very nervous and scary but does not wake you up is called a "nervous dream." Nervous dreams are normal and usually benign.

When it comes to nightmares that affect sleep, you may be a little worried: I have had this kind of nightmare; my children have had nightmares; is this a big deal?

In fact, it is normal for children and adults to have nightmares occasionally. Although it will affect sleep and daytime state at night, as long as it is not frequent, there is no need to worry.

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However, if you experience any of the following, you should see a doctor:

The nightmare occurs more than once a week.

Nightmares that interfere with your sleep, mood, and/or daily activities.

The nightmares started at the same time you started taking a new medication.

You should know that frequent nightmares will lead to insufficient sleep, anxiety, fear of sleep, and active reduction of sleep. Sleep deprivation will cause the rapid eye movement period during sleep to rebound (become more), which will lead to more nightmares, entering a vicious cycle.

Therefore, at this time, don't resist, it is recommended to see a specialist. There are two purposes:

1: Evaluate the underlying causes of frequent nightmares, some of which are treatable.

2: Treat the symptom of nightmares itself, reduce the frequency of nightmares, and reduce the impact on life.

Excessive dreaming affects sleep quality

Then why do many people feel that they have many dreams, did not sleep well, and are not in good condition during the day?

At this time, you need to put aside the dream problem and start looking for the cause directly from "poor sleep and bad daytime state". For example, the sleeping environment has changed, the body is uncomfortable, the mood has changed recently (such as anxiety, depression), certain medications have been taken recently (including health products, Chinese herbal medicines), and there is a special sleep disorder.

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Here is an example of what a doctor encountered in the outpatient clinic. Mr. A found that he had a lot of dreams and frequent nocturia in recent years. He felt dizzy when he woke up in the morning and felt sleepy when he was in meetings or on the bus during the day. After further questioning, it was found that he had gained 10kg in weight in recent years, had more social activities, and his snoring became louder. At this time, the doctor suspected that he had obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome. A polysomnogram was performed, and the results showed: severe obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome, which means that Mr. A's breathing stopped an average of 30 times per hour when he slept at night.

At this time, "feeling like having a lot of dreams" and "feeling like you don't sleep well and feel bad during the day" are both the result of a sleep disorder called obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome. Having a lot of dreams itself is not the cause.

Summarize

Dreaming is a normal phenomenon during sleep, and is a manifestation of brain activity during certain sleep stages. Everyone goes through multiple sleep cycles every night, and most people will have multiple dreams during a night's sleep, but not all dreams will be remembered. Therefore, dreaming itself is a normal physiological phenomenon, but if you often have nightmares (the kind that wakes you up in shock), or if you feel that your daytime state is significantly affected even though it is not a nightmare, it is recommended to seek help from professionals.

References

[1] Pagel, JF (2000). Nightmares and disorders of dreams. American Family Physician, 61 (7), 2037–2042, 2044.

[2]Paul,F.,Schredl,M.,&Alpers,GW(2015).Nightmaresaffecttheexperienceofsleepqualitybutnotsleeparchitecture:anambulatorypolysomnographicstudy.Borderlinepersonalitydisorderandemotiondysregulation,2,3.

[3]https://www.sleepfoundation.org/nightmares/nightmare-disorder

[4] Aurora, RN, Zak, RS, Auerbach, SH, Casey, KR, Chowdhuri, S., Karippot, A., Maganti, RK, Ramar, K., Kristo, DA, Bista, SR, Lamm, CI, Morgenthaler, TI, Standards of Practice Committee, & American Academy of Slee pMedicine(2010).Bestpracticeguideforthetreatmentofnightmaredisorderinadults.Journalofclinicalsleepmedicine:JCSM:officialpublicationoftheAmericanAcademyofSleepMedicine,6(4),389–401.

Planning and production

Author: Yu Zhouwei, attending physician of neurology, author of "Sleep Formula"

Review | Peng Zhiping Director of the Science Department of the China Sleep Research Society