Bad dreams could serve a vital purpose in your waking life, scientists have claimed. Researchers analysed the brains of people as they slept to discover which areas were activated as they experienced fear during their nightmares. They found that participants who had experienced scary dreams were able to ‘respond to fear-inducing situations much more effectively’ once they awoke. This finding led the scientist to conclude that ‘dreams help us react better to frightening situations, thereby paving the way for new dream-based therapeutic methods for combating anxiety’. So if you are experiencing bad dreams, it might be your brain’s way of preparing you for all the grimness of day-to-day life and psyching you up to face your fears. ‘Dreams may be considered as real training for our future reactions and may potentially prepare us to face real life dangers,’ said Lampros Perogamvros, a researcher in the Sleep and Cognition Laboratory in the Department of Basic Neurosciences at the University of Geneva.
During their study, the dream researchers used a technique called high-density electroencephalography (EEG), which involves placing several electrodes positioned on the skull to measure brain activity.
They discovered that certain regions of the brain are responsible for the formation of dreams and other regions are activated depending on the specific content of a dream, such as ‘perceptions, thoughts and emotions’. ‘We were particularly interested in fear: what areas of our brain are activated when we’re having bad dreams.’ Perogamvros added. The scientists from Geneva placed 256 EEG electrodes on the noggins of 18 subjects who were woken up several times during the night and asked about their dreams. ‘By analysing the brain activity based on participants’ responses, we identified two brain regions implicated in the induction of fear experienced during the dream: the insula and the cingulate cortex,’ explained Perogamvros. The insula is also involved in evaluating emotions when awake and is activated when someone feels scared. The cingulate cortex prepares ‘motor and behavioural reactions in the event of a threat’ – which means the strength and intellectual wherewithall to run away from danger. ‘For the first time, we’ve.. ve observed that similar regions are activated when experiencing fear in both sleep and wakeful states,’ Perogamvros added.
The researchers wanted to see if there was a link between the fear experienced during a dream and the emotions experienced once the sleeper has awoken from their slumber. They asked 98 participants to fill in a dream diary for a week. When they scanned the brains of people who reported scary dreams, they found the parts of the brain associated with fear were less active. ‘We showed each participant emotionally-negative images, such as assaults or distressful situations, as well as neutral images, to see which areas of the brain were more active for fear, and whether the activated area changed depending on the emotions experienced in the dreams over the previous week,’ said Virginie Sterpenich, a researcher in the Department of Basic Neurosciences at UNIGE. ‘We found that the longer someone had felt fear in their dreams, the less the insula, cingulate and amygdala were activated when the same person looked at the negative pictures. ‘In addition, the activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, which is known to inhibit the amygdala in the event of fear, increased in proportion to the number of frightening dreams.’ It’s hoped that the findings could help to create therapies which help people deal with anxiety.
