The autonomic activity of nightmare sufferers during sleep and emotion-evoking picture viewing
European Psychiatry November 17, 2023 V. Tomacsek, B. Blaskovich, R. Reichardt et al.
People with nightmare disorder show faster heart rates during sleep, particularly before and during REM sleep, compared to healthy controls, but their heart rate variability is not lower. During an emotional picture-rating task while awake, they also show different heart rate and variability patterns, suggesting altered emotion regulation. Their subjective ratings of the pictures did not differ from controls. The findings point to both stable autonomic changes during sleep and situation-dependent responses to emotional stimuli in nightmare disorder.