Dreaming. The Science Behind It All.

Ever had that heavy feeling in the chest, wondering whether it was real or not after waking up? Everyone dreams when they sleep, though not everyone remembers it. Dreams can be a tremendous theatrical delight to the mind. Dreams can be about anything that might relate to the smallest detail of whatever someone has felt, seen, heard, thought of, or smelled. However, nightmares are also part of life. Nightmares can be terrifying or torturing to the one having them. Many people describe the same physical symptoms after waking up from a nightmare, such as feeling out of breath, a pounding heartbeat, pain in the chest, headache, dry mouth, sweating, or the inability to move immediately after waking up.

Dreams are experiences that occur during sleep while disconnected from the environment.

Nightmares

“Nightmares are defined as dreams with strong negative emotions which awaken the dreamer and that are vividly recalled upon awakening. They are common during childhood; 70–90% of young adults reported that they experienced nightmares at some time during their childhood.” This definition introduces the article ‘Factors affecting nightmares in children: parents’ vs. children’s ratings’ by Michael Schredl, Leonie Fricke-Oerkermann, Alexander Mitschke, Alfred Wiater, Gerd Lehmkuhl.

REM Sleep

Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep is described in the 'Dreams and nightmares in healthy adults and in patients with sleep and neurological disorders' article by Siclari F, Valli K, and Arnulf I. "When this sleep stage was first described in humans, researchers quickly noticed that subjects awakened from REM sleep frequently reported dreams, in 74 % of cases, compared to only 17 % in Non-REM (NREM) sleep.1 Dreaming was thus equated to REM sleep, as this also seemed to be highly consistent with the electrophysiological hallmarks of this sleep stage: saccadic eye movements occurring under closed eyelids, as if the sleeper was observing an animated scene."

Lucid Dreaming

The same article also explains the concept of lucid dreaming. "Lucid dreaming is a non-pathological variant of normal REM dreaming, in which one is aware of dreaming while continuing to sleep. Some lucid dreamers can even exert control over the ongoing dream scenario. Because eye movements are not affected by the muscle paralysis of REM sleep, lucid dreamers can ‘communicate’ with an external observer by using a predefined ocular code. Lucid dreaming is usually pleasurable and sought by many healthy people to increase positive experiences in dreams, but can be learned by patients with nightmare disorder to change nightmares into agreeable dreams. However, it is a challenging state to reach, and although 26 to 77% adults experience a lucid dream at least once, only highly trained persons are able to control the scenario and signal lucidity in a laboratory setting."

It is a fascinating subject, and there is lots to discover and explore.

Though many people have a nightmare now and then, others suffer from it regularly. Therefore, many studies have looked into the relationship between trauma and nightmares.

Trauma and nightmares

Traumatic events are usually re-experienced through nightmares or flashbacks.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, edition IV-TR (DSM-5), defines a nightmare as an ‘extremely frightening dream’ from which a person wakes up directly. After a nightmare, orientation is fast, and the nightmare leaves a detailed memory ‘usually involving threats to survival, security, or self-esteem.’

The interview with child psychologist Anna Perret explains the relationship between traumatized children, specifically in domestic abuse situations, and how trauma can impact a child from the very beginning of their life, even when they are still in their mother's womb. Though this interview is not focused on nightmares, it does enlighten and create awareness of how much early trauma affects people, and it can be found here.

Posttraumatic stress reaction or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could cause posttraumatic nightmares as a symptom after experiencing traumatic events. Nightmares can be as little as a dream that might create uneasiness or as big as having night terrors that could eventually lead to insomnia. A clinical review, 'Nightmares: from anxiety symptom to sleep disorder' by Victor I. Spoormaker, Michael Schredl, Jan van den Bout, states, "PTSD consists of three clusters: (a) intrusion: re-experiencing the traumatic event in nightmares or flashbacks; (b) avoidance of stimuli that could be reminders of the traumatic event; and (c) hyperarousal (e.g., insomnia, increased tension during the day).1 Posttraumatic nightmares are part of the re-experiencing cluster, and are one of the major complaints of persons who have PTSD.10,39,40 A prevalence of around 60% for nightmares was found in PTSD patients."

It also looks into the correlation to sleep. It mentions that nightmares disrupt sleep and could induce other sleep disorders such as "night terrors, chronic insomnia, and sleep-disordered breathing, although the latter finding applied to posttraumatic nightmares only. In the general population, nightmares have been associated with breathing problems (asthma) and increased snoring."

This clinical review includes the following topics: Drug-induced nightmares, Associated mental complaints and personality factors, Nightmare distress, Pharmacological interventions, Cognitive-behavioral interventions, A sleep medicine perspective on nightmares, and Theoretical implications: nightmares and the cognitive-behavioral framework.

Nightmare models

Another review conducted research differentiating nightmare models. "Models of nightmares production are broadly consistent with this large corpus of evidence linking nightmares to processes of emotional regulation. With few exceptions, these models emphasize the modulation or transformation of emotion as a central function of dreaming, and either an augmentation or disruption of this function as central to nightmares. Surprisingly, these theoretical models have been developed in relative isolation and are not well integrated with emerging findings in the neuroscience of sleep and emotions. The present section will summarize existing models of nightmare production, review recent evidence supporting or refuting them, and demonstrate—by outlining a new neurocognitive approach to nightmares—how these models may contribute to a new understanding of the genesis and function of nightmares."

Their models are mentioned with sub-models as follows:

Psychoanalytic models

Personality and evolutionary models

Boundary permeability

Image contextualization

Threat simulation

Neurobiological models

REM sleep desomatization

Mood regulation

It is clear that dreams are not just images one sees when sleeping, but there is a science behind dreams and nightmares.

Not to mention that having nightmares can be a serious matter, especially when it occurs a severe number of times to the point of suffocation. Therefore, take this matter seriously when one suffers from it.