Dream-Disturbed Sleep in Insomnia and Narcolepsy
Jung Hie Lee, Donald L. Bliwise, Emmanuelle Lebret-Bories, Christian Guilleminault, William C. Dement
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease May 1, 1993 DOI: 10.1097/00005053-199305000-00008 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational comparative study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 40 |
| Population | 24 patients with psychophysiological insomnia and 16 patients with narcolepsy |
| Citations | 36 |
| Key findings | Patients with narcolepsy reported more frightening, recurrent dreams and had shorter REM segments than patients with insomnia. In the insomnia group, shorter REM segments and higher REM density were related to more vivid, frightening, and disrupted dreaming, while few such correlations appeared in the narcolepsy group. The authors speculate that the mechanisms of disturbed dream recall may differ between the two conditions. |
Abstract
Both patients with narcolepsy and insomnia frequently present clinically with nocturnal sleep disrupted by disturbing dreams. Polysomnographic correlates of these reports are unclear. In this study, 24 patients with psychophysiological insomnia and 16 patients with narcolepsy were compared on selected polysomnographic and self-reported typical dream characteristics. As a group, patients with narcolepsy showed more frightening, recurrent dreams and shorter rapid eye movement (REM) segments when compared with patients with insomnia. However, within the narcolepsy group, there were few correlations between typical dream characteristics and any measure of REM segment length or REM density. In the insomnia group, shorter REM segments and higher REM density were related to typically more vivid, frightening, and disrupted dreaming. We speculate that the mechanisms of disturbed dream recall may be different in insomnia and narcolepsy.