Dreams and nightmares in healthy adults and in patients with sleep and neurological disorders.

Dreaming is now linked to specific brain activity patterns thanks to advances in neuroimaging. Neurological conditions such as lucid dreams and parasomnias reveal that dreaming is reflected in physiological signals, behaviors, and brain activity, with the body sometimes enacting dream content. However, the dream body can differ from the real body: patients with congenital paraplegia can walk in dreams, those with sleep apnoea rarely suffocate, and phantom limb pain can disappear. These conditions offer valuable models for studying the mechanisms underlying dream experiences.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Dreams are experiences that occur during sleep, while we are disconnected from the environment. Thanks to recent progress in neuroimaging techniques, it is now becoming possible to relate dream features to specific patterns of brain activity. Some conditions occurring in patients with neurological disorders, such as lucid dreams and parasomnias, not only have diagnostic value, but also offer a window into the dream process. They show that dreaming is reflected in physiological signals, behaviours, and brain activity patterns, and that the body can enact dream content. Yet, the dream body can also be distinct from the real body; in their dreams, patients with congenital paraplegia can walk, those with sleep apnoea rarely suffocate, and phantom limb pain can disappear. These conditions provide valuable models for future studies investigating the mechanisms that underlie oneiric experiences.