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Some nights are filled with happy dreams while others can only be angry dreams. Researchers have found in brain waves some clues that explain why edgy dreams occur when a person sleeps. The results of the study titled "Frontal Alpha Asymmetry EEG and Dream Effect: Alpha Oscillations on the Right Forehead Cortex during REM Sleep and Sleep-wake Prediction," were published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
The researchers found an imbalance between two left and right brain regions. This imbalance leads to troubling dreams. They called it frontal alpha asymmetry, which meant that brain activity was more intense on one side of the brain than on the other.
The British, Finnish and Swedish teams recruited 17 healthy volunteers (7 men and 10 women) whose brains had been scanned before sleep, during their sleep and after waking up in a sleep laboratory. They tried to determine the effects of various emotions such as anger and curiosity on the participants' brains. Electroencephalographic (or EEG) recordings of their brain activity were made at all three parameters. The participants were forced to sleep in the laboratories for two nights.
The results revealed that among people whose brain wave activity in the right frontal cortex was less than that of the left limbs during the waking period and during REM sleep, the odds were greater of living dreams in anger.
To detect the dream phase, participants were allowed to sleep and once they reached REM sleep (fast-moving sleep phase where dreams occur), they were allowed to sleep for five minutes before being awake to describe their dreams and evaluate their emotions. REM sleep is characterized by rapid pulse, rapid breathing, movement and dreams. The notes were either "angry" or "interest".
Principal investigator Pilleriin Sikka, from the University of Turku in Finland, said: "The expression of anger has been shown to be related to a relatively large left-wing feeling. [frontal activity]while anger control is linked to a relatively larger activity on the right side. Anger was felt in 41% of dreams and interest in 88% of dreams. The participants felt more anger in their dreams than during the evening awakening, while the badessments of the evening and morning anger did not differ. "
The team noted that the imbalance between the two frontal cortex was badociated with angry dreams or dreams badociated with suspicion and mistrust. Thus, this type of brainwave research can be used to detect the emotions and type of dreams experienced by the person, according to the researchers. This can help patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other forms of sleep disorders to write the authors.
The study was funded and supported by the Academy of Finland, the Finnish Culture Foundation, the Turku University Foundation and the Foundation of the International Association for the Study of Dreams and Dream Science. .
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