There was a time when medical professionals regarded dream analysis with the same disdain as witchcraft or astrology. But an increasing number of medical researchers now believe there’s a strong connection between dreams and bodily functions.
Now, they believe dreams may provide insight into health and may help detect some conditions years before overt physical symptoms manifest.
There is no consensus among scientists and medical researchers as to why we dream. Many people only recall dreams for a short period of time, if at all, and most dreams are forgotten once the sleeper goes back to sleep or wakes in the morning.
Dreams do not occur during all periods of sleep. They are believed to initiate when the sleeper enters rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, which is a light form of sleep.
Bad Dreams? Check Your Meds
If you are having more dreams than usual – or having more nightmares or very vivid dreams – it might be a sign of the state of your health.
Beta-blocker blood pressure pills are known for initiating nightmares in patients who take them. The pills widen blood vessels but also may alter brain chemicals in slight ways, producing nightmares.
Another health sign of bad dreams are related to the heart. A study of more than 6,000 patients in the Netherlands Journal of Medicine found that those patients who had an irregular heartbeat had more than three times the number of nightmares than those who had no heart problems. Those who also had chest pains had them increase sevenfold after nightmares. These two conditions may be related to breathing problems stemming from less oxygen reaching the brain, thereby triggering nightmares.
Migraine headaches may also be related to nightmares. The very painful headaches can strike at any time, but those that arrive at night may be triggered by nightmares, particularly those dreams that feature aggression or anger. It is believed that the migraine's onset changes brain chemistry.
Dreams also may be a sign of lack of sleep. Sleep paralysis may result from insomnia, which about one in 20 people will experience at some time in their lives. The condition, as the name implies, causes the patient to be “paralyzed” and unable to move shortly after waking up. The cause may be something in our brains that controls the muscles as we dream, and the inability to move upon awakening may indicate damage to that location in the brain.
The condition not only paralyzes the patient, but also creates the hallucination that someone is either pressing on their chest or is present in the room, both mere imaginary conditions. Either way, it can be a terrifying experience for those who experience it.
Other Causes for Weird Dreamland Trips
Outside conditions sometimes may play a role in dreaming. Being too hot or too cold may result in a dream that presents those conditions. This can disturb sleep and wake the dreamer. A fluctuation in female hormones is often a cause of temperatures rising during the night, creating dreaming conditions that reflect menstrual cramps, bloating or other conditions associated with menses or even menopause.
Pain is a major cause of people awakening during the night. After a few nights of poor sleep caused by pain, vivid dreams can occur. This is because the brain builds up a sleep debt over time, causing the patient to experience longer periods of dreaming sleep as a payback for missed time due to poor sleep. The condition is sometimes referred to as “rapid-eye rebound.”
Finally, patients who stops taking antidepressant medications may find that they experience rapid-eye rebound during the step-down. This is because those medications often cut short the dream sleep cycle.
Zzz…Zooming Around?
People who act out highly stressful situations in their dreams, such as being attacked or running away from danger, can be the victims of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease. This is manifested in what’s known as REM sleep behavior disorder, believed to be a symptom of brain damage in certain critical areas. We all are believed to have a “safety switch” in the brain that stops us from flailing about while we dream. Those who lash out during dreams are believed to be in the early stages of developing Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, and the thrashing may arrive as early as 10 years before the disease symptoms physically manifest themselves. It is believed to be among the earliest warning signs of these neurological diseases, and many physicians believe that early treatment may help lessen the impact of these degenerative conditions.
Nightmare? Order Up!
There have been comic tales for centuries about the effects of meals on the patient’s sleep. But medical researchers now believe that large meals or excessively fatty ones can be retained in the stomach longer, putting pressure on the valve between stomach and esophagus and causing food and acid to backwash, causing heartburn. It also can play a role in awakening someone from the dreaming state of sleep because it arrives in the first few hours after slumber’s onset.
Alcohol consumption can play a role in dreaming. Those who imbibe can experience very powerful and vivid dreams at the end of the night, usually triggered by the alcohol from the night before wearing off. This revives the body, usually triggering brain chemical activity that produces the dreams.
Dreams can also be related to major depression, being ill from a cold or flu, or fighting off infection. All are related to the dream-onset stage of sleep, and many researchers believe that the immune system uses sleep as a way to boost its defenses against invading viruses. Many patients also report antibiotics as a potential boost for vivid dreaming.
It’s clear that dreams do play a role in giving out warning signs that something is not right in the brain or body. As researchers study the sector more deeply, perhaps additional clues to the role of dreams in divining illness can be ascertained.