Asked by: Mary Benson, Lutterworth
People suffering from depression may experience unusual patterns of sleep. Typically, they move into REM sleep (the stage in which we are most likely to dream) more quickly, and there may be a greater number of eye movements per unit of time during this stage of sleep.
People who are depressed may wake up more frequently during the night, and are therefore more likely to remember their dreams.
Finally, there is some evidence that certain medications for depression can increase the frequency of nightmares. Other medications appear to do the opposite, but nightmares can occur during withdrawal from these drugs.
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