Why do not I have dreams and whether it is necessary to worry about it

Where do dreams come from?

When we sleep, our body does not plunge into a state of unconscious rest, but switchesSleep Basics / Cleveland Clinic between the phases of slow and REM sleep. They fully replace each other, onlyM. Price. The risks of night work / Monitor on Psychology. American Psychological Association if a person sleeps at night, because the work of circadian rhythms is disrupted during the daytime. This is a kind of biological clock that is responsible for how we rest.

During phases of rapid sleep the brain remainsSleep Basics / Cleveland Clinic very active. The first of them lasts about 10 minutes, closer to the morning they become longer. At these moments, our eyes under closed eyelids begin to move intensively, breathing becomes faster and becomes irregular. In these phasesS. Izawa, S. Chowdhury, T. Miyazaki et al. REM sleep – active MCH neurons are involved in forgetting hippocampus ‑ dependent memories / Science we see vivid, memorable dreams.

During periods of long sleep, tooJ. M. Martin, D. W. Andriano, N. B. Mota et al. Structural differences between REM and non-REM dream reports assessed by graph analysis / PLoS ONE there are dreams, but usually they turn out to be simple, fragmentary, dim and inconsistent.

All our dreams are based on memories, feelings and images received during waking hours, and even the strangest of them have elements borrowed from reality. This is largely why, for example, people with depression mayP. L. Franzen, D. J. Buysse. Sleep disturbances and depression: risk relationships for subsequent depression and therapeutic implications / Dialogues in clinical neuroscience have nightmares. They are reflect severe mental condition.

Are there any benefits from dreams

Scientists have not yet fully decided why a person needs dreams. The most popular explanation is that they canBrain Basics: Understanding Sleep / National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke help us cope with emotions and understand the world around us. So, during sleep, memories are taken awayG. B Feld, J. Born. Sculpting memory during sleep: concurrent consolidation and forgetting / Current opinion in neurobiology and are either embedded in our knowledge bank (long-term memory), or deleted. That is, we get rid of all that is superfluous. This is a kind of unloading.

There is also a studyD. J. Cai, S. A. Mednick, E. M. Harrison. REM, not incubation, improves creativity by priming associative networks / Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the authors of which found a link between the amount of REM sleep and creative thinking. Scientists believe that vigorous mental activity associated with dreams helps to develop associative connections in the brain.

So far, however, much more is known about the benefits of sleep in general. For example, during it,Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep / National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke toxins.

Why dreams do not dream

More often than not, there is nothing wrong with that. But sometimes the absence of dreams indicates health problems.

They dream but you forget them

Most people seeBrain Basics: Understanding Sleep / National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke dreams that collectively last about 2 hours a night. But we forget almost all of them. Therefore, it may seem that you have not dreamed of anything.

The fact is that during REM sleep, the ability to remember information deteriorates.S. Izawa, S. Chowdhury, T. Miyazaki et al. REM sleep – active MCH neurons are involved in forgetting hippocampus ‑ dependent memories / Science. This is because the hypothalamus begins to work neurons, which are responsible for the production of melanin-concentrating hormones.

Most often, only thatJ. M. Martin, D. W. Andriano, N. B. Mota et al. Structural differences between REM and non-REM dream reports assessed by graph analysis / PLoS ONE a dream that I had before waking up. When we wake up, our memory begins to function normally again. The ability to remember returns and the dream is not forgotten.

Plays the role and content of sleep. The brighter and more specific it is, the better it remains in the memory. For example, the images that we see in the phases of long sleep are more like static photographs, rather than movies. Therefore, such dreams are poorly remembered.

You are over 60 years old

With age, the amount of REM sleep, as well as sleep in general, decreases in a person.Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep / National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Therefore, older people may gradually stop dreaming. This is a natural process and should not be feared.

You have sleep apnea

This is a sleep disorder in which breathing is interrupted. EventuallyM. Schredl. Dreams in patients with sleep disorders / Sleep Medicine Reviews the body cannot enter REM sleep. It is worth considering the possibility of this disease if you suddenly stopped dreaming.

You have narcolepsy

It is neurological disorderwhich causes bouts of daytime sleepiness and interferes with the normal routine. Because of this, natural regulationM. Schredl. Dreams in patients with sleep disorders / Sleep Medicine Reviews REM sleep is disrupted. As in the case of sleep apnea, the development of such a disease may be indicated by the sudden disappearance of dreams.

You are using certain substances

Difficulties with the transition of the body to REM sleep may arise due to the use ofSleep Basics / Cleveland Clinic antidepressants, alcohol, nicotine, or coffee before bed. For example, antidepressants relax and therefore induce deeper stages of sleep, while caffeine, conversely, leads to insomnia.

What to do to make dreams come back

If you always sleep soundly, but in the morning you can never or very rarely remember what you dreamed, there is nothing to worry about. It's just that your body worksM. Blagrove. Dreaming and personality / The new science of dreaming so that dreams are not remembered or are remembered very rarely. This may be offensive, but it does not mean anything bad.

If you still want not to forget your dreams, use the advice of Robert Stickgold, professor at Harvard University School of Medicine, which he gave in an interview.S. Dowling. Many of us struggle to remember the details of our dreams. The reasons lie in the complicated cycles of our sleep / BBC Future BBC:

• While you fall asleep, repeat that you would definitely like to remember today's dream.
• Drink water before bed. Getting up out of need at night, you will activate your memory and better remember your dreams.
• Linger in bed a little after waking up. Think and try to remember what you could dream about.

If you stopped dreaming with age, you will hardly be able to do anything about it. In any case, regardless of your age, it will be beneficial to keep your sleep healthy. SleepBrain Basics: Understanding Sleep / National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke 7-9 hours a day, try to relax and not use gadgets before going to bed, do physical exercise and observe the regime. Not the fact that this will help to dream, but it will definitely have a beneficial effect on health.

It will be usefulSleep Basics / Cleveland Clinic give up alcohol and cigarette abuse. It is also best not to drink coffee at night. This will get rid of the negative effects of these substances on sleep. It is worth taking drugs only if they are prescribed by a doctor.

If you suspect that you have a sleep disorder, make an appointment with your doctor. Only a specialist will be able to prescribe treatment. For example, for apnea patients,M. Schredl. Dreams in patients with sleep disorders / Sleep Medicine Reviews therapy using an apparatus that maintains airway pressure.