[polyprotic]

For the past few years I've been taking advantage of my REM cycle to nap efficiently (I've figured out the duration to within a few minutes). I have memorable nightmares (so they can't be night terrors) related to my PTSD. I was wondering if I could disrupt my sleep before I slip into REM in order to prevent dreaming. I know Dement did a study on REM deprivation, which showed that people who have been deprived tend to compensate by taking a larger percentage of sleeping time for this stage. But as far as I know, none of his subjects had any truly adverse reactions. Thoughts?

[Perna]

I'm so sorry about your nightmares. Night terrors come during non-REM sleep (but some dreaming can occur during non-REM sleep also).

You have to have REM sleep and it happens multiple times a night, for multiple periods of time, especially in the early morning; I doubt you could control all REM sleep but sleep deprivation (what you would probably end up with trying to "control" your sleep) is not something I would mess with.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1188226-overview

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0201085713.htm

I would work in therapy on the post traumatic stress. People dream multiple times a night, they just don't remember their dreams; I'd work on "training" myself to either deal with the dreams or not remember them. It has been my experience that dealing with the dreams in therapy can lessen the "need" for remembering them.

http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB....asp?Doi=96362

[Dave255]

Wanna switch? I rarely have dreams, or maybe I do but forget. I liked my dreams.

[mschu528]

REM sleep is essential for the restoration of the brain's electro-physiology and -chemistry. The only real ways to avoid REM are insomnia and having a trustworthy companion wake you up every 40-50 minutes. Having experienced both, I wouldn't recommend either. I'm not sure which of Dement's many studies you're referring to (as far as I know, all his studies implicate the necessity of all 5 stages), but basic physiological psychology implies immense repercussions from substandard sleep cycles, especially lack of REM sleep. I would highly recommend taking care of the PTSD symptoms with a licensed therapist in a manner that doesn't interrupt your circadian rhythms.

I hope you have luck taking care of the nightmares!

I thought there was a study that stated that people who were disrupted so they never reached the REM stage felt unrested as though they hadn't slept at all, so rem sleep is where the bulk of the recharging takes place