Dreaming is usually a fun experience—you may remember getting amazingly vivid dreams as a child, wherein you were with your favorite superhero or received an amazing toy. If you no longer receive those amazingly vivid dreams, it may not be because you have grown up, but because you have sleep apnea!
In a study from the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, there was a group of 393 people that were tested. Seventy percent of those without sleep apnea were able to vividly recall their dreams, while the ones with severe sleep apnea could not recall their dreams so easily. A sleep apnea specialist in Jacksonville, FL, can help you better determine the cause of your lack of ability to dream.
As simple a problem as sleep apnea may sound to be, it can entail much more than the inability to have and recall vivid dreams—it is also closely related to feeling well-rested and having enough energy to last the whole day. Sleep apnea can also often go undetected, which is why sleep apnea diagnosis and treatment in Jacksonville are being prioritized.
Sleep Apnea And REM
Rapid Eye Movement (REM) is responsible for deep sleep. The three states of “being” include: wakefulness, non-REM sleep, and REM sleep. The non-REM kind of sleep accounts for about 80% of sleeping times in the average person, with the remaining percentage falling under REM sleep. The problem with sleep apnea is that people who have it do not enjoy enough time in REM—which is when dreams occur.
Deep sleep is also what is responsible for having a restful sleep at night. Sleep apnea can disrupt this, waking someone up because of an obstructed airway, which will then cause a lighter stage of sleep. After all, when someone stops breathing, the normal response is to wake up—which is why those with the disease in a severe form can have an extremely fragmented sleep pattern.
Some may experience not breathing during sleep at least 60 to 80 times in an hour, which wakes the brain up. Once the brain is awakened, it takes time to settle back down, which prevents you from falling back into a dream-state of sleep. Other people feel the effects of apnea in their dreams, wherein the choking sensation disrupts REM sleep, causing negatively charged dreams.
It is for this reason that people with sleep apnea wake up feeling more exhausted than usual and is why people seek sleep apnea treatment.
The Trick to Curing Sleep Apnea
Unfortunately, there is no pill that you can take to solve sleep apnea problems. What exists is called a CPAP device, which stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. This device allows the unobstructed passage of air into the user’s body, which will allow them to experience positive sleep, allowing one to feel well-rested and start dreaming again.
Sleep apnea doctors will often mention the phenomenon of REM rebound, which is how the body reacts to being in the stage of REM sleep longer than normal. This rebound is the body’s way of making up for being sleep deprived for so long, which may result in 30 to 40 percent REM sleep compared to the normal 20 percent. Patients may have a lot of dreams in the beginning, but this will taper off as time goes on.
Why a Sleep Apnea Doctor in Jacksonville Can Be of Assistance
Dreaming is one of the things that make sleeping interesting, and losing the ability to dream can leave people less satisfied with sleep, as well as leaving them more fatigued when they wake up. Sleep apnea is largely responsible for this, which can be fixed by using CPAP machines prescribed by our sleep apnea specialists in Jacksonville.
Sleep Apnea Treatment in Jacksonville, FL
Are you looking for sleep doctors to help you with sleep apnea treatment? Jacksonville Sleep Center has the best sleep apnea treatment and doctors in Jacksonville, FL. Get in touch with us and start your way towards a more restful sleep today!
