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Do Dreams Affect Sleep Quality?

December 10, 2019 Dreams
 How your dreams impact on your sleep quality  How your dreams impact on your sleep quality

When we close our eyes at night, it can often feel like we’re stepping into a strange new universe where our subconscious does its utmost to keep us guessing. Dreams are yet to be fully understood and explained as a phenomenon by science, but we do know that our brains are highly active when we dream. As such, it only makes sense that our dreams or the things that ‘inspire’ it can affect sleep quality. 

There is a lot of research still to be done in this arena, but here are a few things we do know about the correlation between dreams and quality of sleep: 

WHAT DREAMS MAY COME: HOW NIGHT-TIME BRAIN ACTIVITY CAN IMPACT ON YOUR SLEEP 

Can’t Quite Recall Your Dreams? You’re Not Alone!

We are most likely to dream during the REM stage of sleep, which is categorised by rapid eye movement. At this stage of the sleep cycle, it's not likely that you'll be making clear memories. Additionally, dreams are triggered by the emotional centers of the brain, rather than the logical centres. This is why you probably don't recall your dreams very well. If you are a particularly ‘active’ dreamer, you may inadvertently lift yourself out of deeper levels of sleep. 

The Role of Dreams Is Yet To Be Discovered

Here are a few of the prevailing theories about dreams and the role they play in our lives. Some people believe that dreams: 

  • Are meant to confront emotional traumas in our lives by making connections about our feelings that our conscious brains can't make. 

  • Train us for flight or fight via the amygdala, which is more active when we sleep than when we're awake. 

  • Inspire us by giving us unimpeded access to our innate creative flow. 

  • Form part of an elaborate mental filing system, essentially sorting important memories from unimportant ones by working through thoughts and feelings. 

Health Conditions Can Have An Impact on How You Dream

Struggling to sleep because of a health condition? You are likely to dream more when you've had two or more nights of interrupted sleep because there are certain parts of your brain that will fire up when you eventually make your way into the REM cycle. If you're pregnant, the extra hormones your body produces will also affect the way your brain deals with thoughts and emotions, which often leads to very vivid dreams. 

There you have it - a concise explanation of how dreams can affect sleep quality. Keep an eye on the blog in the coming weeks and months for more interesting info on how your mind affects your sleeping body. In the meantime, we invite you to visit us in-store to find out more about our Comfort Solutions Lab® and the pressure-point technology that allows us to make custom mattress recommendations for every customer that uses it. 


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