We’ve all heard of ‘restful’ sleep . . . but what about ‘healing’ sleep? Is it possible that dreaming could help reduce the pain of traumatic memories?
Researchers at UC Berkeley have found that when dreams occur during the REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep, our stress responses shut down, and the neurochemicals responsible for stressful feelings stop being released. Not only this, but REM helps reduce the negative effects of difficult memories.
“The dream stage of sleep, based on its unique neurochemical composition, provides us with a form of overnight therapy, a soothing balm that removes the sharp edges from the prior day’s emotional experiences,” said Matter Walker, PhD, the senior author of the study that was published in November in Current Biology.
For people with PTSD, this nightly de-stress function may not be properly working. Their emotional experience to their trauma is never successfully separated from their memory during sleep, which is one reason why they can have strong visceral reactions to flashbacks. Dreams normally provide perspective and understanding of daily experiences by reprocessing what has happened while in a low stress state.
One neurochemical, in particular, the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, is significantly decreased in the brain allowing REM sleep to work its magic. This is important because it gives dreams a low stress atmosphere to process our emotional experiences.
Dr. Walker made the connection between REM sleep and PTSD when he found that a generic blood pressure medication was helping people with PTSD get better sleep with less reoccurring nightmares. One side effect of the drug is a decrease in norepinephrine. When Dr. Walker put this together he realized the potential for REM sleep.
In my next post, I’ll tell you about a scientific study that looks specifically at REM sleep and reduced emotional reactivity.
But first, if you’d like to know more about the healing properties of sleep and what it can do for your patients, we have a gift prepared for you.
In “7 Ways Inadequate Sleep Negatively Impacts Health,” you’ll hear from Rubin Naiman, PhD – one of the leading sleep specialists in the country.
Because sleep is such an important part of physical and mental health, we’re making this special report available to you free of charge.
I hope you enjoy it.
But before you do, please leave a comment and let us know what you’ve observed – have your patients reported improvements in health after a good night’s sleep?
Sleep is basic. The healing nature,of sleep is often overlooked.
if you’re reliving the trauma in a reduced stress state in REM, then does that cause a person to be more tolerant of or indifferent to the actual recurring trauma or maltreatment in real life waking hours?
After suffering a trauma I started to dream a lot. I had just a few nightmares but when I fall asleep I go to beautiful places and see the dead who have gone before me. They are at peace, smiling, talking, I am happy and at peace, everybody is at peace, there is no hatred, malice or envy, just love and peace. It is so beautiful there, the colours are not like the colours on this earth. It is complete bliss. When I wake up I try to hold on to the dream as long as I can, cause when I open my eyes it’s back to the nightmare which is my life now.
A good night’s sleep helps us process the events that have happened to us, and it also allows us to be in a better mental and emotional state the following day as we continue to navigate through trauma.
Inadequate sleep is damaging, but sleep experiences can also be damaging. Nightmares and reliving traumatic events are obviously frightening and impactful to emotional state and daytime functioning.
If REM sleep does help with stress and trauma than it makes sense to expand the amount of time you dream each night.
Thank you
I just googled sleep and trauma recovery. I am one of the fortunate people who can sleep now and I am so grateful. I sleep a lot. It could be said this might be depression, but I’m working on a theory that just as people need sleep recovery from illness or to recover from accidents, it seems to me that sleep is a powerful way for the brain to convalesce.
I’m available for any research you might be doing….
Many did not survive the trauma I experienced and if there is anyway I can help discover ways to help others survive I offer myself and my experience.
I slept a lot after suffering a trauma. Day and night. One stretch was weeks long. I would wake just to eat and use the bathroom. This went on for over a year.
I believe this site contains some very good information for
everyone :D.
Just went through a traumatic time. Had a new grandbaby which to me is stressful enough but on top of that his temp dropped day 4 and he had to be hospitalized, IV antibx, antiviral, PICC LINE (which took 3 hours to get in) for me it was the equivalent of of IED’s and combat. He never had anything wrong and he’s home now thriving and I’m decompressing, catching up on sleep, and dreaming bizarre dreams but had the feeling I’m healing and restoring. This article confirms what I thought- thank you!
Lovely. I have started a new pcartice based on a concept I have taught for a long time. We are all connected. We are connected to even the things that are around us. It is all a reflection of ourselves. Find your voice in the connection whether it be extreme like or dislike, it is a reflection. Our voices allow us to us and reflect on the world some pretty awesome uniqueness!Much Aloha
IJWTS wow! Why can’t I think of thnigs like that?
I consider the mindfulness meditation that people have described on the NICABM teleseminars as being pretty much at the kindergarten level of mindfulness. Stronger training of the nervous system, more intense, and accompanied by visualization and MRT creates a much better capability of controlling body processes than mindfulness meditation does.
I have been very successful in almost eliminating the panic attacks (I had to learn that the panic attacks I had were different from the classic ones–I call them parasympathetic panic attacks since they reduce mobility rather than stimulate it, e.g. the freeze response of a baby, and yes, adults). I still get them when the brain is finding more links to memories from the first three years of life, but they are so reduced in intensity that were it not for mindfulness, I would never know I had just experienced one.
Furthermore, by directing the brain to disconnect synapses of the memories and physiological processes that went on when I was a baby (everything we have ever experienced is stored in the brain), I am at last able to talk about them without the extreme emotion that I felt as a baby, which blocked speech. I have learned that we can recall what happened from that time, but it takes special techniques because the place where that memory is stored (in the brainstem) is so changed by many fiber tracts that form in the first three years of life that these storage depots become very difficult to contact.
With this very intense training for the past 4 years, my own memory recall capability has increased enormously. Furthermore, I have had to get used to a very different physiology, not having the metabolism shut-downs, peristalsis halts, lack of thermoregulation of hands and feet, greatly increased lung capacity, etc. that I have had all of my life. The stinging nose I discovered was not an allergy, nor due to something from outside the body but was due to the metals in these toxins flowing up to the nose in the hypodermal and deeper connective tissue pathways that exist in the body (again I have thought out the function of the ct and its placement as a much more important part of our physiology than doctors give it credit).
There are thousands of things I discovered which are being put into a book on this technique, as well as another book on the structure and function of the nervous system, based upon my theories. I also put a lot of stuff into my blog on the use of mind-body medicine, and my comments on many science reports on the news and in journal articles on the lack of experimental evidence for many of the claims as well as how mind-body medicine techniques could help.
After menopause I stopped sleeping for 2 years. I read the book “Say Goodnight to Insomnia” and my sleepless nights were completely reversed. I sleep easily and restfully. I have recommended the book to many clients, most resulting in great success (if they go beyond buying and actually read!) It’s at least a start…
I have found that sleep disturbance and non restful sleep is troublesome and distressing for people whether it be short or longterm. For those with anxiety or depression,this adds to their misery, and when changed or improved it has a very positive effect upon their sense of wellbeing. It restores resilience and equilibrium, and people report more energy for self care/support which has immediate impact upon their physical health. When working with people with PTSD, I notice this is far more marked, and that the content of their dreams often leave them in a highly aroused and disorientated state. This can feel intollerable and interminable and is a factor in a person losing hope of a better life and becoming suicidal. I have also noticed people describing altered states of reality, and a euphoria, and people without a bi polar disorder reporting mania type episodes only associated with lack of sleep, which completely disappear when sleep is restored. I really appreciate your ‘gift’ of information, and look forward to learning more about this important subject.
Sleep disturbances are a common problem reported to me during my routine intake procedures. I am always eager to learn more about this area and especially in couples and how they differ in sleep needs and bedtime routines. Glad you are covering this.
I’m developing a class that will include sleep disorder intervention references so am happy to have all the information I can get.
Thank-you for your kind words. I think that it is trust in ourselves that brngis us back to finding that the answers are within. Only then we won’t feel like we have to catch up to others. When I remind myself that I have the answers inside, this anchors me.
I haven’t been able to dream for over two years, I suffer from ptsd I was recently was introduced to a product called sleep tonight enzymatic therapy. its about twenty dollars per bottle. I started dreaming again, and not the ones where I’m being chased. I am dreaming boring everyday stuff…it has given me back some hope…please try this. It is a holistic enzyme that helps restore coritisol levels to a balanced state. The only complaint I have is taht after awhile of taking the suppliment, I begin to wake up drowsey…then I quit taking it for a few days.
Intermittent sleep is a very common complaint of the women I work with, so I am always looking for good advice and workable solutions.
Sleep is definitely up there in Maslow’s Heirarchy of needs, in the “essential” category, along with food, clothing and shelter. I am looking forward to reading the report, and I’d like to mention another author to everyone whom I am reading with interest right now: Robert M. Sapolsky – “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers”(Henry Holt & co. 2004) It has a great chapter on stress and the various types of sleep. I recommend it.
No therapist here, but if you want to solve sleep problems for your clients, I strongly suggest giving them brainwave entrainment audio in the delta range, the brainwaves of deep sleep. In addition to helping them sleep, brainwave entrainment will, if listened to regularly over time, help them resolve their presenting problems. And you should definitely be looking into EFT for sleep problems caused by PTSD. It works well for removing the emotional content of the memories, allowing the patient to move past it.
As far as dreaming goes, listening to brainwave entrainment tracks in the theta range, the brainwaves of dreaming, will induce dreams, and make them vivid.
As I said, I’m not a therapist, so investigate and decide for yourself.
I find that regardess of the initial complaint, sleeping problems frequently exist even if patients do not initially identify them . Since incorporating mindfulness/Buddhist psychology into my work, I find myself treating many problems now as “journey of life” conditions and accordingly as patients’ ride through life becomes softer, anxiety, insomnia and other symptoms improve.
I always ask about sleep, because I think it’s hard to do anything if you’re not sleeping, and makes personal change that much harder.
this is gorgeous. I deal with this every day. It’s funny besuace as I was reading I was waiting eagerly for you to tell me your answer, how you found the way, and yet the truth is we each have to find our way just as you say listening. Love it.The Pleasure Nutritionist
Yes, certainly improvements in health is noted in my clients after a good nights sleep. Many sx’s are reported decreased. The key question is: how to promote a good nights sleep? In my observation, anything that increases parasympathetic dominance before going to bed is necessary and helpful. In particular, clients that receive Watsu aquatic bodywork, craniosacral treatment, auditory guided imagery or brainwave entrainment tapes, or a brief mindfulness meditation before bed, are able to support their nervous system to shift from sympathetic dominance to parasympathetic. Thank You.
I am a licensed therapist presently not practicing as I prepare to build a new business and to also look for work at the same time as money is in short supply. So, I am here to self-report. I don’t often remember dreams. I lost my father to cancer a year and a half ago. I worked with cancer patients providing support for 7 years. For the last year I have not been sleeping as well as I used to. I often have early morning awakening. I have also recently gone through menopause. I believe my sleep difficulties are partly due to the hormonal imbalance of menopause and stress related to my present lifestyle. I am moving to the other side of the country in about a month with my husband. I keep waiting for some balance to return to my life. I am working at helping that along by meditating and listening to guided imagery. Am open to further suggestions about stress and sleep. Thank you!
Dear Ruth
Thanks for the sleep info. Fascinating. May I add that I am the founder of the Lucas Foundation for Strategic Neck and Spine Care, and we observe the fascinating correspondences between the functional health of the neck and spine and the intimate part that REM plays in all kinds of relaxation response, and “self-healing”. We have observed, and measured, a cascade of REM and sleep related responses, including the “cure” of migraines, vision defects, sleep-apnea, dispraxia, bed-wetting, chronic joint-pain and anxiety, frozen joints, traumatic loss, low self-esteem, and correspondences with sunspot activity, biorhythm, left-right brain coherence, and Schumann wave levels.
I used to be aware of my dreams but now it’s a rare thing that I remember dreaming. Is that hormonal?
I am especially intersted in hearing more about working with dreams, especially in the treatment of trauma. Anny plans for a seminar series?
When my patients start to sleep better, they become calmer, more optimistic and most importantly – their immune system kicks in.
I would be very interested in an in-depth series about sleep deprivation and how to combat it – especially from the point of view of hormonal imbalance (which also includes in that PTSD patients). Thank you
Most of my clients with depression and also those with anxiety disorders sleep poorly. Tey are short of sleep and complain about often being unable to go to sleep easily or having secondary insomnia (early morning wakening). Helping them learn to put themself to sleep “anytime anyplace” makes a lot of diffrence to further therapy as their stress levels go down generally after a few good night sleeps.
While dreams may be therapeutic, they can also be promonitory! I was wholey distressed when I wakened but luckily I had an appointment with my shrink. I related the dream: I was in a metal enclosure, something happened that scared me, I knew if I didn’t get out of that enclosure I’d die.. (that’s the short of it.) He kept saying, “I don’t think that’s promonitory,,, I don’t think…etc. I didn’t “believe there was such a thing as a promonitory dream. HA!
About 2 months later I was squashed in an elevator in France that had no safety door. They thought I’d die and that my family should be called. I’d told the ambulance guy > “Only if I die call my daughter.” All turned out ok. It took months to heal my squashed liver. That’s the short of it. It was definitely reminiscent of the metal enclosure dream. Never had THAT happen again. I’m a believer. I’d written it in my journal before leaving the country. That dream told me what to do…it may have saved my life.
Helping clients to regulate their sleep patterns has in my experience had enormous enhancing effect on their general well being, and more specifically their mood. Clients with depression seem to regulate their mood better when time is taken get a regular sleep pattern.