Scientists have pointed to the ability of dreams to deceive the brain

Scientists from the IMT School of Advanced Studies in Lucca have found that vivid and exciting dreams create the illusion of deep and restorative sleep, even if brain activity remains high at this moment. This was reported by Popular Science magazine on March 24.

Traditionally, it is believed that deep sleep is accompanied by a slowing down of brain waves and a decrease in activity, a kind of "disconnection" from the outside world. However, new work has shown that dreams, especially during REM sleep, can affect the subjective perception of the quality of a night's rest.

To study the contradiction between brain activity and the sensations of a sleeper, scientists analyzed nighttime sleep recordings of 44 healthy volunteers. The participants slept in the laboratory under the supervision of high-density EEG sensors. During the experiment, the researchers repeatedly woke the subjects during the slow-wave sleep phase and asked them to describe their experiences immediately before waking up, as well as to assess the depth of sleep.

It turned out that participants reported the deepest sleep after vivid and immersive (creating the effect of presence) dreams. At the same time, fragmentary or vague images, when a person did not understand what was happening in a dream, were associated with a feeling of superficial rest.

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Experts described how a lack of night rest affects the functioning of the brain and cardiovascular system.

"In other words, not all mental activity during sleep feels the same: the quality of the experience, especially the degree of immersion, seems to be crucial. This suggests that dreams can change how a sleeper interprets brain activity: the more exciting a dream seems, the deeper it feels," said co—author of the study, neuroscientist Giulio Bernardi.

According to the publication, even when the physiological need for sleep decreased during the night, participants continued to feel that their sleep was getting deeper with vivid dreams. This indicates that dreaming helps maintain a sense of disconnection from the outside world, which is a key feature of restorative sleep.

"Understanding how dreams affect the feeling of deep sleep opens up new perspectives on sleep health and mental well-being. If dreams help maintain a sense of deep sleep, then changes in dreams may partially explain why some people believe they are not sleeping well, even when standard objective sleep indicators seem normal," Bernardi concluded.

The South China Morning Post newspaper reported on March 23 that lack of sleep is associated with a high risk of dementia. Scientists have emphasized that during sleep, the brain is cleared of toxic proteins, which are signs of Alzheimer's disease. According to the study, insomnia can be attributed to about 13% of dementia cases.

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