Dreams

[Big Guy]

I hope this doesn't come off as a really weird kind of question, but I am curious. Does sleeping better induce more frequent dreaming? 

Prior to being diagnosed with OSA, I dreamed. I wouldn't say a whole lot, but some none-the-less. Some good, some bad, as normal I would suspect. 

Since being on my CPAP machine, I can't say that I dream any more or any less. But......my dreams now seem to be more vivid and articulate, if a dream could be thought of as so. More complete I guess I'd say. 

I don't know if I'm just imagining or if there is some real science to all of this. Have any of you noticed anything similar?

[mesenteria]

Sort of.  I think it's more like we sleep better, which helps us to get TO the better quality, or deeper states, of sleep.  We find we have to get up to pee less.  We don't get jerked out of the deepening sleep to realize we have to gasp for air...and then start the cycle of trying to get to REM sleep all over again...AGAIN!!

It was explained to me that the last one or two dreams we have, if our therapy is working, are the most beneficial.  I'm talking about those last dreams in the 40-90 minutes before we awaken naturally after at least six hours of sleep or more. My therapist urged me to find a way to 'get those in as often as you can'.

[Walla Walla]

From what I've read some say it doesn't matter if you remember dreams or not. You still having them as long as your sleep cycle is normal. I'd guess that since your better rested your able to remember the dreams better.

[ruach]

I used to remember my dreams when I woke up every morning, before using CPAP, and now it is very seldom that I remember my dreams.

For me, I feel like I do not sleep as well using the PAP device, but have been using it every night since I started using it in January 2013 - (first CPAP, then BiPAP, and now ASV).

[eseedhouse]

Dreaming is a normal part of a healthy sleep cycle. People with sleep apnea don't have a healthy sleep cycle, as apneas are likely to happen just as you start dreaming, and this wakes you up, disrupting the dream. You *need* to dream to be healthy.

When sleep apnea is treated you will, hopefully, go back to a normal dreaming cycle - but this can take some time. In lab studies, people who are artificially deprived of dream sleep start to dream much more than normal once the deprivation is ended. If your apnea has caused dream deprivation this will likely happen to you at the start of effective CPAP therapy. The more dreams you are having the more likely you are to remember some of them. Presumably as your sleep/dream cycle goes back to normal this will resolve itself.

[sjane]

I’ve been thinking about this lately- I recently was unable to use the CPap for a couple of nights and it felt as though I had more dreams without it, and that being asleep felt better because of that.

[Fats Drywaller]

I’ve been thinking about this lately- I recently was unable to use the CPap for a couple of nights and it felt as though I had more dreams without it, and that being asleep felt better because of that.

To me, that seems unusual, strange. One thing we can all guarantee is that if you keep on not using the CPAP (not that you would, or would want to, stop using it), you'll start to have the same serious sleep-disordered problems as before, including lack of deep sleep and therefore lack of dreaming. I suspect that the dreaming without CPAP was some kind of temporary glitch. Do you have dreaming-sleep OK with CPAP, just less of it, or what?

(Edited to add: OBTW, if it's early in your CPAP therapy, then just wait a few weeks for it to settle down, as you get used to everything, and you'll find out what your new, and much better!, normal is.)

I think I'm pretty much normal & average in that regard, and I've been using CPAP consistently, close to 100%, for many months, and in retrospect I love having dreams even when they're not good ones because it is deep sleep, REM sleep, necessary sleep. With CPAP I always wake up feeling rested (unless I've been having slight problems with machine or mask, and it's always obvious what's causing those), and the dreaming sleep is one reason among several for feeling rested. Even when I wake up feeling slightly disturbed by something in a dream, that's only psychological and it never has anything to do with my physiological restedness. Isn't that normal and expected? I hope so.

[Pipandor]

I seldom remember my dreams when using CPAP, whereas I used to remember more of them before. I attribute that to the fact that I was never far from consciousness when I suffered from OSA and therefore more likely to remember the dreams. I recently had to sleep without my machine for a week or so. The recall of dreams returned but so did the frequent nightly wakings and the fatigue. Luckily, I'm back on the machine, sleeping deeply and restfully 7-8 hours every night.

[SevereApnea]

Good thread about dreams.

I used to never remember my dreams before PAP therapy, or thought I never had them.

Then after I started PAP, I had more dreams or just remembered them much more.

Then I went through a patch where they were so vivid, almost Salvador Dali like, I think at times when I was struggling to find the right pressures, maybe pressures too high. Or maybe puzzle dreams, like I am lost in a maze or large building and trying to get in or out. Sometimes when I have a problem that I cannot solve I find myself dreaming about the scenario, if not actually coming up with a solution, sort of just mulling it over in my sleep. No Eureka! moments yet!

On 12th Jan I started trialling a Resmed Vauto: this is a comment from my notes:

"Dreams, yes I can't remember them but they seemed "softer" more gentle."

I find now I am often half awake and remembering dreams I used to have many years ago, especially ones I used to have often when I was younger, like I am revisiting them and giving them closure or whatever. It's almost like things are finally healing/falling into place. We certainly catch up on lost sleep and lost REM time, maybe we can also catch up on lost dream time.

Rafael Pelayo in "how to sleep" says dreams are important for solidifying memory, for creativity and mental health in general, and that we mostly remember dreams when we wake at the right time from REM sleep.

Here is another interesting thread on dreams by Rcgop.

[Big Guy]

I'm thinking the OTC sleep aids I'm taking are more responsible for the dreams than my CPAP therapy is.