
Why do some people have nightmares while others really spend their nights in bliss? Like sleep, dreams are mysterious phenomena. But as scientists are able to probe deeper into our minds, they are finding some of those answers.
Here's some of what we know about what goes on in dreamland.
1. Violent dreams can be a warning sign
As if nightmares weren't bad enough, a rare sleep disorder
— called REM sleep behavior disorder — causes people to act out their
dreams, sometimes with violent thrashes, kicks and screams. Such violent
dreams may be an early sign of brain disorders down the line, including
Parkinson's disease and dementia, according to research published
online July 28, 2010, in the journal Neurology. The results suggest the
incipient stages of these neurodegenerative disorders might begin decades before a person, or doctor, knows it.
2. Night owls have more nightmares
Staying up late has its perks, but whimsical dreaming is not one of
them. Research published in 2011 in the journal Sleep and Biological
Rhythms, revealed that night owls are more likely than their early-bird counterparts to experience nightmares.
In the study 264 university students rated how often they experienced
nightmares on a scale from 0 to 4, never to always, respectively. The
stay-up-late types scored, on average, a 2.10, compared with the morning
types who averaged a 1.23. The researchers said the difference was a
significant one, however, they aren’t sure what's causing a link between
sleep habits and nightmares. Among their ideas is the stress hormone
cortisol, which peaks in the morning right before we wake up, a time
when people are more prone to be in REM, or dream, sleep. If you’re
still sleeping at that time, the cortisol rise could trigger vivid
dreams or nightmares, the researchers speculate.
0 comments:
Post a Comment