A systematic review of dreams and nightmares recall in patients with rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder.

REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) involves the loss of muscle paralysis during REM sleep, causing people to act out dreams, which are often vivid and violent. This review systematically examines studies on dream recall in RBD, using both retrospective and prospective designs, to provide a comprehensive overview of qualitative and quantitative dream features. The work highlights that studying dreaming in RBD helps understand unique aspects of the disorder and reveals neurobiological, electrophysiological, and cognitive mechanisms of REM sleep and dreaming.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behaviour disorder is a REM sleep parasomnia characterised by the loss of the physiological muscle atonia during REM sleep, resulting in dream enactment behaviours that may cause injuries to patients or their bed partners. The nocturnal motor episodes seem to respond to the dream contents, which are often vivid and violent. These behavioural and oneiric features make the REM sleep behaviour disorder a potential model to study dreams. This review aims to unify the literature about dream recall in REM sleep behaviour disorder as a privileged approach to study dreams, systematically reviewing studies that applied retrospective and prospective experimental designs to provide a comprehensive overview of qualitative and quantitative aspects of dream recall in this REM sleep parasomnia. The present work highlights that the study of dreaming in REM sleep behaviour disorder is useful to understand unique aspects of this pathology and to explore neurobiological, electrophysiological, and cognitive mechanisms of REM sleep and dreaming.