Does being able to remember yesterday’s dreams mean you slept well? That’s not necessarily true!

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Do you still remember the dream you had last night?

For many people, dreams are a vague existence, seemingly there and not there, visible but not tangible. It seems to be true, but it is hard to describe in detail. However, some people with extraordinary talents can not only remember their dreams clearly, but also retell them to others like telling a story. In this regard, some people think that this is because the brain is working overtime when it should be resting, so it is a case of poor sleep quality; others think that being able to remember one's dreams clearly should be attributed to superior memory, which is a manifestation of a good brain.

So, which statement is correct?

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01

Can you remember the dream?

Depends on what stage you wake up

In fact, people will dream as long as they sleep. Human sleep is divided into non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM sleep) and rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep). Every night, we sleep from NREM sleep to REM sleep and then to NREM sleep. Generally speaking, we go through 4-5 such cycles every night, and vivid dreams occur in REM sleep. Some people wake up in the morning from REM sleep, and these people will remember their dreams very clearly. However, most people wake up in NREM sleep, and these people will feel that they have no memory of dreaming at all.

Therefore, you cannot think that you have a bad sleep just because you always remember your dreams. If you sleep soundly all night and remember clearly what you dreamed about when you wake up in the morning, it means that your sleep quality is very good.

Many insomniacs also feel like they are dreaming all night long. Why is that? Many studies have shown that insomniacs tend to wake up multiple times a night, and they tend to wake up during REM sleep. Therefore, these patients feel like they are dreaming all night long. Insomniacs tend to over-focus on bad things, and their dreams are about these bad things. As a result, these patients feel like they always have bad dreams, and equate "excessive dreaming" with poor sleep quality.

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02

We can only remember the last dream

The overlap of new and old memories creates "continuous dreams"

In REM sleep, we process the events and related emotions we experienced during the day. This process is the process of consolidating and processing memories, and also the process of processing emotions. In this process, many different thoughts will be formed. When you are awakened at different times, you are likely to recall different dreams. However, it is precisely because you only remember the dream when you wake up that you think you only had one dream. In other words, we only remember the last dream in this sleep period, and the previous dreams are covered up.

During REM sleep, we add new events to old memories to form new memories, so in theory, these "dreams" are not completely separate and independent. It is true that some people often wake up from REM sleep, and they can recall their dreams and form a "series", which is the reason.

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03

Someone who can always wake up from a clear dream

Better memory

Dreams during REM sleep are often very vivid, and people who wake up during REM sleep can clearly recall the contents of their dreams, even every detail. This kind of dream recall is not accomplished by memory, but a long REM sleep at night does indicate that you may remember more than others that day. This is because another important function of REM sleep is memory consolidation, and the length of REM sleep is related to memory consolidation.

Someone did an experiment in which everyone learned the same content, and those who had a longer REM sleep were able to remember more the next day than those who had a shorter REM sleep. From this perspective, it can indeed be understood that people who dream a lot and can remember their dreams clearly have relatively better memory.

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04

What you think about during the day you dream about at night

Only by letting go of your worries can you sleep well

Some people often dream about things that happened during the day, and may even suddenly realize the solution in their dreams. Some people then believe that this is "God's will."

"What you think about during the day, you dream about at night." Our brains do not rest completely during sleep, especially during REM sleep, the brain is still busy processing information for us and consolidating memory. The contents of dreams, including those "God's will", are the answers your own brain thinks of. The more you think about something during the day, the greater the probability of dreaming about it. Sometimes, things that you think about involuntarily before going to bed are also likely to appear in dreams.

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However, if you are entangled and troubled by something, and are still thinking hard before going to sleep, this will affect your sleep quality. Our sleep requires the brain to be quiet in order to sleep more soundly. If you think about something that affects your mood before going to bed, or read some books or movies with intense plots, it will affect the speed of falling asleep and the quality of sleep. Therefore, if you want to have a good sleep, you must be prepared before going to bed and temporarily put aside those troubles and entanglements. If you really can't control the direction of your brain, you might as well try to do relaxation training and focus on feeling your own breathing rhythm, so that you can stop those useless fantasies and have a comfortable sleep.

Author: Huang Chaoyang, deputy chief physician, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University

Review | Li Ning, deputy chief physician, Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University

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