title: Emotional content of dreams in obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome patients and sleepy snorers attending a sleep-disordered breathing clinic.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess prospectively the emotional content of dreams in individuals with the obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) and sleepy snorers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective observational study. Forty-seven patients with sleepiness and snoring attending a sleep-disordered breathing clinic, completed a morning diary concerning pleasantness/unpleasantness of their dreams for 10 days, and then had AHI assessed by a limited-channel home sleep study. Participants and groups: Sleepy snorers, AHI < 5: n = 12 (mean age = 51.00 years [SD 7.01], 7 males); AHI 5 -14.9, n = 14 (mean age = 49.71 y [9.73], 12 males); AHI ≥ 15, n = 21 (mean age = 56.33 [11.24], 16 males).
  
  
  RESULTS
  All groups reported similar numbers of dreams and nightmares during the diary period. The AHI ≥ 15 group were significantly higher on dream unpleasantness than were the sleepy snorers (p < 0.05); and when only males were analyzed, this difference was also significant (p = 0.01). As AHI increased across the 3 groups, there was a significant decrease in variability of dream emotions (Levene test for homogeneity of variance between the 3 groups, p = 0.018). Mean daytime anxiety and daytime depression were significantly correlated with mean dream unpleasantness and with mean number of nightmares over the diary period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with AHI ≥ 15 had more emotionally negative dreams than patients with AHI < 5. The variation in mean dream emotion decreased with increasing AHI, possibly because sleep fragmentation with increasing AHI results in fewer and shorter dreams, in which emotions are rarer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Wales, UK.
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.forename: Keir E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Iona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bartle
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ghosal
authors.forename: Lois
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Blagrove
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004325:Dreams / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods; D018579:Patient Selection; D017286:Polysomnography / Q000379:methods; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D012913:Snoring / Q000523:psychology*; D006113:United Kingdom