I know I am dreaming way too early in the sleep cycle. Case in point: This morning I was dreaming and then I "woke up". The very longest it had been since I fell asleep" was an hour and I had "woken up" a couple times already. I know that we are not supposed to dream for way after that. I was lazy and continued to lay on the couch wide awake, which I shouldn't have. I then "slept" again, but I think I dreamt a lot then also. The meds I take continue to knock me out for long periods when I take them, but I'm always worried they won't. I shouldn't have gotten lazy and laid around so much. If I can" sleep" on nights after I have been pasted out from the meds I just "sleep" for short periods and I dream a lot. The "sleep" is also very broken with lots of awakenings. I'm just fed up with all this.

Hi Kara,

Early in my recovery i started having a lot of dreams during a light phase of sleep. I soon learned that it is very possible to dream during every phase of your sleep. I also learned that it was possible my ativan as well as my anxiety was causing me to have hypnagogic dreams (dreams that sometimes leave me feeling like I was oddly awake to begin with, or feel like 'thoughts' sometimes).

Chantillie

You are right Kara, REM normally occurs after the deeper NREM stages in predictable cycles each night. That's why you can take some satisfaction in knowing if you're dreaming vividly you're probably benefiting from the deeper stages of sleep.

And this is further backed up by studies that have shown people who are sleep deprived typically make up the deeper NREM stages first, before the REM.

As chantillie mentions, dreaming, once thought to happen only during REM sleep, is now considered to be a continuous process throughout the night.

However, the most vivid dreaming typically occurs during REM, when blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, brain activity, and respiration all increase, and though still asleep we are in something more akin to a nearly awakened state.

Interestingly, a recent study showed the pons is very important during REM. The pons is a deep inner part of the brain that blocks signals from the brain to the body during REM, creating a sort of paralysis that prevents us from acting out our dreams. But this study showed that apparently the pons is also involved with memory consolidation and retention, especially with emotional memories.

During each night's 5 or 6 cycles of NREM-REM, the earlier cycles typically have more NREM and less REM, but during the later cycles toward morning the amount of NREM decreases and REM increases.

However, as we age, we often enter a REM stage faster, and the amount of time spent in the deeper NREM stages is typically reduced compared to when we were younger. This is normal consequence of aging and nothing to be concerned about.

Regarding the effect of sleeping pills and other psychoactive drugs, I suspect yes there is some interaction, but this question is best directed to the doctor who prescribed them.

Thank you for responding. What's weird is that I have been dreaming and then I "wake up". I haven't been asleep not long when I have "woken up". A lot of times I have been asleep only an hour tops and a lot of times even less than an hour and I've already been dreaming. I've dreamed way too soon in the cycle, which I shouldn't be or, like you guys have said, there is a little mental activity going on in all phases of sleep, which I hope is true and I'm dreaming in another phase also.

Hi Kara,

People that have depression typically have their REM sleep more towards the beginning of their sleep. That is one of the biological markers. Antidepressants generally delay and suppress rem.

You could be experiencing rem rebound if you were on drugs that suppress rem and stopped taking them.