![]() Newer studies suggest this effect can be shown in children and adolescents with nightmares, as well, though the research on this is still in its infancy. When given the drug Prazosin-a medication that lowers blood pressure and also acts as a blocker of the brain stress chemical noradrenaline-the vets in his study had fewer nightmares and fewer PTSD symptoms than those given a placebo. Support for this idea came from a study done by Murray Raskind on vets with PTSD, who often suffer debilitating nightmares. But we had recorded each participant’s sleep during the intervening night between the two test sessions, and we found that specific brain activity that reflected a drop in stress-related brain chemistry during the dream state determined the success of overnight therapy from one individual to the next.ĭreaming has the potential to help people de-escalate emotional reactivity, probably because the emotional content of dreams is paired with a decrease in brain noradrenaline. That in itself doesn’t say anything about the role of dreaming. In contrast, those who remained awake across the day showed no such dissolving of emotional reactivity over time. Moreover, there was a reengagement of the rational prefrontal cortex of the brain after sleep that helped maintain a dampening influence on emotional reactivity. Those who slept in between the two sessions reported a significant decrease in how emotional they felt in response to seeing those images again, and their MRI scans showed a significant reduction in reactivity in the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain that creates painful feelings. Twelve hours later, they were shown the same emotional images-but for half the participants, the twelve hours were in the same day, while for the other half the twelve hours were separated by an evening of sleep. ![]() How do we know this is so? In one study in my sleep center, healthy young adult participants were divided into two groups to watch a set of emotion-inducing images while inside an MRI scanner. Learn why sleep is key to peak performance. This means that emotional memory reactivation is occurring in a brain free of a key stress chemical, which allows us to re-process upsetting memories in a safer, calmer environment.ĭiscover how sleeping poorly can cause conflict in your relationship. At the same time, key emotional and memory-related structures of the brain are reactivated during REM sleep as we dream. REM sleep is the only time when our brain is completely devoid of the anxiety-triggering molecule noradrenaline. REM-sleep dreaming appears to take the painful sting out of difficult, even traumatic, emotional episodes experienced during the day, offering emotional resolution when you awake the next morning. ![]() It’s said that time heals all wounds, but my research suggests that time spent in dream sleep is what heals. Here are the two main ways dreams help us. Recent work in my neuroscience lab and the work of other scientists has shown that dreams may have a very particular function important to our well-being. ![]() Much of this I outline in my new book, Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, which summarizes the many findings we have about sleep and its function in our lives.īut what about dreaming? Does it also have a purpose?
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