Vivid dreams are associated with a high percentage of REM sleep: a prospective study in veterans

Our novel finding is that veterans with a high %REM (defined as more than 25%) were more than twice as likely to report having a vivid dream than those with a lower %REM. We did not see a similar association between nonvivid dreams and high %REM. We did not find similar results in the literature. Therefore, we discuss our findings further using what is known about dreams, vivid dreams, and REM sleep.

Dreams are linked to REM sleep in both health and disease.³¹ The interrelation between dreams and REM sleep has been known since the 1950 s.³² In fact, it is the discovery of REM sleep in 1953 by Eugene Aserinsky and Nathanial Kleitman at the University of Chicago that “disrupted the supernatural zeitgeist (related to dreams) and placed dreams firmly into the realm of scientific investigation.”³¹ Due to the presence of hyperkinetic saccades, Aserinsky and Kleitman coined the term “rapid eye movement sleep.”³¹ However, many decades later the roles of sleep, REM sleep, and dreams remain largely unclear.³³

https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/full/10.5664/jcsm.10642