Here's an interesting question

Last year I was diagnosed with moderate to borderline severe sleep apnea.
I've been on a CPAP machine for 13 months.
I'm being told I'm now a very very heavy sleeper. I've slept through thunderstorms and even a lighting strike in my backyard.
I've also noticed when I wake up, I have no memory of any dreams.
Is that normal?

Iflyacrj wrote:Last year I was diagnosed with moderate to borderline severe sleep apnea.
I've been on a CPAP machine for 13 months.
I'm being told I'm now a very very heavy sleeper. I've slept through thunderstorms and even a lighting strike in my backyard.
I've also noticed when I wake up, I have no memory of any dreams.
Is that normal?

Yes that is how normal people sleep. In order to remember your dreams you must wake up enough to store the memory.

I seldom remember my dreams, but I do know I dream almost every night.

Sheriff

BlackSpinner wrote:

Iflyacrj wrote:Last year I was diagnosed with moderate to borderline severe sleep apnea.
I've been on a CPAP machine for 13 months.
I'm being told I'm now a very very heavy sleeper. I've slept through thunderstorms and even a lighting strike in my backyard.
I've also noticed when I wake up, I have no memory of any dreams.
Is that normal?

Yes that is how normal people sleep. In order to remember your dreams you must wake up enough to store the memory.

Is this true? So remembering your dreams is not a good thing?? I would never dream or remember my dreams pre-CPAP. Since CPAP I dream and can actually remember alot of them. I thought this was a sign of progress

Sheriff Buford wrote:I seldom remember my dreams, but I do know I dream almost every night.

Sheriff

Sheriff, please don't think I'm trying to be smart-alecky here, because I'm not. I'm wondering the same thing about myself, but how do you know you dreamed if you have no recollection of them?

I kind of gauge how well I slept by whether or not I remember dreaming; sometimes I do and sometimes I don't, but I usually feel about the same the next day either way.

Old Dude, It's possible to know you dream and not remember the dream. About six weeks after I started paping, I woke up in the night from a dream. I remembered it clearly at that moment, and while it wasn't a nightmare, it wasn't a pleasant dream. I went back to sleep and in the morning all I could remember of it is that I had a dream... couldn't remember anything except that it was unpleasant. I was happy that I'd had a dream, for it meant that I was finally getting some REM sleep.

I think the mind has ways of protecting us. The dream wasn't worth remembering, so my mind deleted the imagery or whatever it was that i didn't want to remember.

Everyone is different (how many times have we heard that?)
Timing contributes; if you are aroused right after a dream, you will recall it.
I used to have lots of apneas during my dream stage (REM, if you like)
Before CPAP, I woke up many times a night, with vivid recollections of disturbing, strenuous dreams fresh in my mind.
After CPAP, My Zeo tells me I drop into REM and deep sleep regularly, but remain asleep afterward, oblivious to my dreams.
Some sleep through/after dreams and apneas and don't remember their dreams.
Perhaps, after starting CPAP, they finally get enough rest so they are not "zonked" when a dream ends, and can remember.
I would suspect that nobody knows for sure if anyone never dreams:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/dre ... -not-dream

What I've heard is that dreams take place in short-term memory in such a way that they seldom make it into long-term memory... and by short-term memory we're talking a few seconds. So if you wake up during a dream you might remember it, and in the morning you'll probably remember waking up and remembering the dream without actually being able to remember what the dream was about.

You do seem to remember dreams better if you wake up quickly, think about them, and don't go back to sleep right away. Disturbed sleep, for instance, waking up in a panic because you're choking, may make you remember the dreams more. Some people do report more vivid dreams and remembering them when they're doing CPAP.

Eliminating your apnea seems to have opposite effects on different people. Some have fewer dreams or sleep more deeply. Some have the opposite result.

The fact that your sleep changes probably indicates something good in terms of showing that your CPAP is doing something for your apnea. I'm not sure the direction of the change is all that meaningful.

I now sleep so soundly, I've slept through thunder storms and wake up alarms. I had to turn the volume way up so the alarm can wake me

I dream all of the time. Almost always I am walking long distances which is something I can't do now. Some I recall for a few moments when I wake up, sometimes I can remember them quite vividly. I can sometimes seed a dream by thinking about something before I go to sleep.

Krelvin wrote:I dream all of the time. Almost always I am walking long distances which is something I can't do now. Some I recall for a few moments when I wake up, sometimes I can remember them quite vividly. I can sometimes seed a dream by thinking about something before I go to sleep.

Strange, I also dream of doing things I can't do anymore. Such as running, dancing & other strenuous activities. I've always called it my ''wishful dreaming'. Amazing to know someone else dreams this way too. I usually remember dreams in fragments & what I remember is quite vivid. I've never been able to direct my dreams by thoughts when falling asleep. Sounds like a cool trick, that way you could insure only 'sweet' dreams.

You may be in need of a "bedtime story"