I throw on my green Great Lakes Brewery t-shirt and start pulling on my sneakers. My boo comes down the hallway, takes one glance at me and groans. "You can't wear that shirt to the gym! It promotes beer drinking." Quizzically, I look at him, "but I wear this shirt to workout in all the time." "NO! You can't - think of beer bellies running on treadmills. Not good. I can't go with you if you wear that shirt."
Suddenly, our conversation is interrupted. My mom is pulling up our driveway while having a conversation with my dad and brother who are playing basketball on the asphalt front of her. Their conversation halts as something shrieks. My brother's mouth drops open, my dad points and screams "THE DOG, YOU'RE RUNNING OVER THE DOG." My mom backs up, as I run outside and cradle the dogs bloody head, knowing that death is imminent.
That is just a mild dream. Most of my dreams are worse than that - more violent and thriller-esque. My boo is convinced I have a sleep disorder. In leui of going to a sleep study, where I am convinced that I will be diagnosed with sleep apnea and have to wear a mask for the rest of my life, I'm doing my own research. Calling all doctors! (S - I mean you)
Can dreaming really be a sleep disorder? I have read that acting out your dreams is called REM Sleep Behavior Disorder. I don't act out my dreams, although sometimes I do move around a lot. Dreams happen during REM sleep, so my argument is that I just get a lot of REM sleep throughout the night, which probably means my sleep health is okay and I don't have sleep apnea. (If you couldn't tell, I'm obsessed with not have sleep apnea - my mom wears a mask and I'm just too young for that.)
I remember having about 2 dreams per night. That's probably a lot? My argument is that I only remember the bad dreams. In life, people generally remember the bad things more vividly and often than the good stuff. It's our biological way to ensure that we always remember the bad stuff so we know to avoid it so we can live. In my dreams, I've run away from killers and rapists, escaped bombs and nuclear attacks, and tried to solve serial murders that I had to solve before I inevitably became the victim. I think my conscience is just training me for the zombie apocalypse.
Boo is concerned because he thinks the bad stuff I dream and the rate at which I remember it is bad. Do I need help? Or should I learn to lucid dream so I can turn the bad dreams into good dreams?
In my very minimal experience, I'm not aware of any connection between sleep apnea and crazy dreams. Furthermore, there are other symptoms of sleep apnea (super loud snoring- enough to wake someone up, waking up suddenly at night short of breath, temporary pauses in your breathing as you sleep, excessive daytime sleepiness- almost bordering on narcolepsy, weight gain, AM headaches, etc. ) that I think you would have already noticed if in fact, you did have sleep apnea.
ReplyDeleteYou might have different sleep patterns which are causing you to have crazy dreams which is something I think would be picked up on a sleep study. But all that said, I'm not sure how that knowledge will help you get rid of said dreams. It's something you're always supposed to consider when you're ordering tests for a patient- what is its therapeutic purpose and how is it going to help me change the management of this patient?
//End doctor speak.
<3 \m/