Frequent nightmares have a high prevalence and constitute a risk factor for psychiatric conditions, but their pathophysiology is poorly understood. Our aim was to examine sleep architecture and electroencephalographic markers-with a specific focus on state transitions-related to sleep regulation and hyperarousal in participants with frequent nightmares (NM participants) versus healthy controls....
Abnormal arousal processes, sympathetic influences, as well as wake-like alpha activity during sleep were reported as pathophysiological features of Nightmare Disorder. We hypothesized that in Nightmare Disorder, wake-like cortical activity and peripheral measures linked to arousals would be triggered by physiological processes related to the initiation of REM periods. Therefore, we examined...
Although a growing body of research indicates that frequent nightmares are related to impaired sleep regulation, the pathophysiology of nightmare disorder is far from being fully understood. We examined the relative spectral power values for NREM and REM sleep separately in 19 individuals with nightmare disorder and 21 healthy controls, based on polysomnographic recordings of the second nights'...