World Sleep Day: What Do Our Dreams Say About Our Sleeping Patterns?

Is there a relation between the literal acts of sleeping and dreaming? Experts explain.

(Photo: Garima Sadhwani/FIT)

As a child, I used to have a recurring dream where I’d open my almirah, and bundles and bundles of clothes would start falling all over me. The clothes never actually reached me or the ground, but I’d see them falling, getting closer and closer, almost chasing me from the sky. I’d wake up feeling suffocated, panting heavily.

It’s been years since I had this dream (or was it a nightmare?) but I still remember how it made me feel. So now, as an adult who doesn’t have the money for therapy but (fortunately) asks people questions for a living, I reached out to experts to understand what our dreams tell us about our sleeping patterns.

The Two Types of Sleep

As it turns out, there’s no direct correlation between our sleeping patterns and the content of our dreams. But, wait, that’s getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s understand the basics first. 

Dr Vikas Maurya, Director & HOD, Pulmonology & Sleep Disorders, Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, New Delhi, explains that there are two types of sleep cycles that work in sync on an everyday basis.

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and Non-REM sleep

The REM sleep is the one in which we dream. The non-REM sleep is a deep sleep that gives our body the rest it requires to function well each day. Both of these take place cyclically and are crucial for our health.

Interestingly, as we grow older, our brain rarely goes into a deep sleep, which is why old people dream more often, shares Dr Maurya.

However, there are certain sleep disorders that might impact the way we dream. For instance, sleep apnea and narcolepsy. 

Sleep apnea is a disorder in which the sleep quality is very poor and the person keeps waking up, so they sleep excessively during the day as well. They might not have dreams because their brain might be skipping the REM sleep for them to actually get some rest, Dr Maurya tells FIT. 

On the other hand, narcolepsy patients might get frequent nightmares because the patients directly go into REM sleep.

Okay, now that the basics are explained, let’s get into the relationship between our sleeping patterns and the content of our dreams.

Content Moderation For Your Dreams?

Dr Manish Jain, Senior Consultant, Psychiatry, BLK- MAX Super Speciality Hospital, New Delhi, shares,

“There is no direct correlation between the literal act of sleeping and dreaming. As far as the content of the dreams is considered, it’s usually a combination of your fears, anxiety, thought process, and the events of your day-to-day life.”

But he does add that there are certain psychiatric conditions that might lead to the content of your dreams being more fearful or negative. For instance, people with depression or anxiety might have dreams where their fears are exhibited on full display. 

Dr Jain gives an example. Someone with a fear of abandonment might dream that they’re alone in a car, on a highway, or at a railway station, where the others are moving but they are not.

Sleep hygiene practices can be good to follow but they won’t have much of an effect on the content of someone’s dreams, shares Dr Jain. The predominant or deciding factor of the dreams still remains a person’s subconscious thoughts.

Shibani Krishnatraya, 24, a Literature student from Assam, however, has had a different experience.

“If I were to imagine my dream as a story, there is a proper beginning, middle, and end. And that’s the case when I maintain a sleep cycle. But if my sleep cycle gets hampered or if I’m not in a familiar bed, my dreams somewhat become patchy. Rather than having a proper beginning, my dreams would directly plunge into action mode or hover over whatever can go wrong in my life.”

Shibani Krishnatraya

While the content of your dreams and your sleeping pattern are not directly correlated, the former might suggest a few things about the latter.

• If your dreams are clear, it’s a sign that the brain is transitioning from REM sleep to waking you up. Similarly, if you clearly remember your dreams after waking up, it means that you were in the REM cycle of your sleep when you woke up or that you kept waking up in between your sleep for tiny time periods without realising.

• If you have frequent nightmares, your brain might be trying to deal with something traumatic. 

• If you think you never have dreams, your body might be prioritising deep non-REM sleep over REM sleep. This could probably be because you are sleep deprived or exhausted and your body needs the rest to re-energise.

“It’s virtually impossible for anyone to sleep without dreaming,” says Dr Jain.

In fact, Akansha (name changed on request), 23, who hails from Delhi, feels that her emotional or mental state has a role to play in the frequency of her dreams.

“I dream more often when I’m not doing well emotionally. I shifted rooms recently and made the setting similar to what I had back home, so I dreamt that I was back home. I’ve had very weird dreams about my exes even when I wasn’t in touch with them.”

Akansha

Nightmares? Not Normal?

According to a Harvard study, 3-7 percent of the population of the United States suffers from nightmares. The number, it suggests, is higher for children aged 3-6. 

Dr Jain maintains that nightmares are not normal. However, he does add that anyone can be susceptible to a nightmare, especially if they have any underlying psychiatric or mental health conditions. But their frequency should be a cause for concern.

If someone has frequent nightmares, their body might induce the REM sleep cycle when they fall asleep due to sleep deprivation, which might even lead to a lack of sleep and chronic insomnia.

But recurring nightmares are still a thing that often leaves a poor “aftertaste,” as Krishnatraya puts it, after waking up. She's often had nightmares that have made her tear up and bawl in her sleep. Krishnatraya shares,

“I have had a series of nightmares. I recently dreamt that a humongous red and copper snake first attacked my father, then my mother, and then it tried to attack me. When I was a little kid, I used to have nightmares of clowns trying to chase me. As I’ve grown up, I feel like it kind of had a sexual connotation to it, maybe the clowns were trying to harass me or something. And my cry for help was something more than what met the eye. And that is why I am afraid of clowns even now.”

In situations like these, both Dr Jain and Dr Maurya advise seeing a specialist to help you through these.