QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:
Dreams Department

Please remember, this column is designed to help the consumer seeking behavioral-health information, and not intended to be any form of psychotherapy or a replacement for professional, individualized services. Opinions expressed in the column are those of the columnist and do not represent the position of other SelfhelpMagazine.com staff.

Question

My dreams are very emotionally draining and I wake up exhausted the next morning. I also suffer from frequent insomnia, night terrors and headaches during the day. It is possible that my dreams are keeping me from getting a good night's sleep?

Answer

Waking up from dreams and not getting enough sleep can be very draining. Insomnia, night terrors (vs nightmares) and headaches are all symptoms that suggests you contact your physician. But it is unlikely that *dreams* are the problem. What is more likely is that your REM sleep is getting disrupted, causing greater dream recall. REM or Rapid Eye Movement, occurs about every 90 minutes of sleep and lasts about 20 minutes. During this time there is about an 80% chance of recalling a dream if awakened. Thus, any kind of sleep disturbance will increase the amount of dream recall you have.

For more information on Dreams and REM see the Self Help and Psychology Dream Science Page.

Also, there are now Usenet Newsgroups on Sleep Disorders, though we do not endorse these venues.

2/20/98

Richard Wilkerson is general editor for The Internet Dream E-zine, Electric Dreams, and director of DreamGate, the Internet Communications and Dream Education Center. He writes the Cyberphile column for the Association for the Study of Dreams Newsletter.