Intense dreams can make a person feel well rested, says study

For the longest, dreams have been understood as a hindrance to good sleep, however, they might be assisting deep sleep, a new study has found out.

More than the number of hours a person sleeps, the perception of how well they sleep is also important to health, experts have found.

As per neural science, deep sleep has been associated with slow brain waves and a consciousness that fades away as the sleep progresses.

A study conducted by the researchers at IMT School of Advanced Studies (Italy) and later published in the journal PLOS Biology is challenging this thought, saying dreams carry more functions than estimated.

The study found out that immersive or emotionally charged dreams deepen the perception of a deep sleep even when the brain stays active.

In other words, vivid dreams can make people wake up with a feeling they have slept well, contrary to the belief a dreamless sleep has more depth.

What did the study find?

Immersive or vivid dreams are intense experiences that can produce a ‘sense of presence’ and make a person feel they are living inside the dream.

Such dreams can be both positive and negative, appear realistic or fantasy-based and might take longer to forget because of their intensity.

Even nightmares fall under this category, causing a strong emotional impression on the sleeper.

Scientists analysed the sleep of 44 healthy adults who were made to sleep in a laboratory and their brain activity was monitored using high-density electroencephalography (EEG), collecting about 196 overnight recordings.

The experiment was conducted over four nights, with participants woken up more than 1000 times. Each time, they were asked to describe how they felt just before waking up, and were asked to rate the quality of their sleep.

The results showed people felt well rested after both a dreamless sleep and also after having a vivid dream.

Among the shallow sleepers were those having fragmented dreams or experiences.

It was also observed that vivid dreams helped sustain the feeling of a deep sleep even when the body’s natural need for sleep decreased during the night.

How to know if a person had a vivid dream?

If a person has woken up from a dream which feels very realistic and remembers every detail of it, chances are high it was a vivid dream.

Many times, such dreams carry positive, meaningful experiences, other times they are scarier and can induce feelings of fear and anxiety.

The hallmark of these dreams is they usually occur during the Rapid Eye Movement (REM), which is the final stage of a sleep cycle.

Some experts believe dreams of such kind can help a person manage the emotions present in their waking life.

This study has now linked vivid dreams to a better restorative sleep.