Dream loss due to sleep deprivation is a 'silent' health hazard, claims study

A new study coming from University of Arizona, Tucson, United States has labelled dream loss due to sleep deprivation as a ‘silent’ public health hazard.

Various factors have been studied by researchers that cause rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and dream loss. Typical sleep follows a pattern in which deeper, non-REM sleep is prioritised by the body.

People experience dreaming only later in the night and into the early morning during REM sleep.

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The study that was published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences also claims that this silent epidemic of dream loss may contribute to depression.

“We are at least as dream-deprived as we are sleep-deprived. Many of our health concerns attributed to sleep loss actually result from REM sleep deprivation", said Rubin Naiman, assistant professor at the University of Arizona in the US.