[Dream content in different sleep disorders: sleep apnoea and hypopnoea syndrome, primary insomnia, idiopathic REM sleep behaviour disorder and narcolepsy type 1].

AIM: The aim of this study is to determine whether there are any differences in the dream content in different sleep disorders and to describe their characteristics.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

We studied four sleep disorders: sleep apnoea and hypopnoea syndrome (SAHS), primary insomnia (PI), idiopathic REM sleep behaviour disorder (IRBD) and narcolepsy type I. Each patient was asked to keep a dream diary for two weeks. The content of the diaries was transcribed and analysed for length, mental content, complexity and threat. The results were compared to establish differences.

RESULTS

Eighty-nine patients were studied: 23 with SAHS without continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) who had the highest number of dreams involving threats (32.5%); 19 with SAHS treated with CPAP who had the highest number of dreams involving objects (64.8%), descriptive elements (38%) and higher complexity (9.5%); 22 with primary insomnia who had the highest number of dreams with threatening events in the social sphere (57.7%); 12 with IRBD who had the highest number of dreams with failures (14%) and lower complexity (71.7%); and 13 with narcolepsy type I who had the highest number of dreams related to activities (84.3%) and threats to life (41.4%) These differences were statistically significant (p <0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Different sleep disorders are associated with different dream contents, which would be translating different underlying neurological processes. These findings should be replicated in studies that analyse more patients and add a control group without sleep disorders.