i was questioning that, since i can remember in two years i havent dream a lot, now i cant remember i cant dream, is like i just sleep is pure black, do you have this? or do you dream too?
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There’s a difference between not dreaming and not remembering your dreams.
I’ve heard that you only remember your dreams if you happen to wake in the middle.
If you’re not getting enough sleep, or you’re not sleeping well, you won’t wake up enough to remember any dreams.
Sleep apnea seems to be a big reason for disrupted sleep. You might want to ask a doctor.
This does not happen to me. Commonly, I wake up 2-3 times every night, and I barely remember any dreams.
On the other hand, when I was taking quetiapine, I remembered 1-2 dreams every night (regardless if I was waking up at night or not).
But even when you don’t remember your dreams you still remember them being there. Maybe this is just me being stupid but I feel like I dream most nights but I may remember like bits of one or two a week and other nights it’s might just be burry colours and a general idea of the mood
I have never had many dreams, but they experienced an uptick when I started melatonin. Stress also makes me have more nightmares.
There is growing evidence that autism involves a dysfunction of the serotonergic system, particularly the central nervous system (CNS) pathway (Tryptophan -> 5-HTP -> Serotonin -> N-Acetylserotonin -> Melatonin). There are also studies showing that the conversion from N-Acetylserotonin (NAS) to melatonin is impeded in autism.
I did a lot of digging into this to try to aid my sleep and general health. Here are the key takeways:
- Vitamin D regulates serotonin synthesis and Vitamin D deficiency can reduce the amount of Tryptophan entering the CNS, so make sure you’re not deficient. Unfortunately Tryptophan competes with other large amino acids for entry into the brain, so if you can’t get enough through your diet, you can use 5-HTP supplements to aid serotonin production.
- Vitamin B6 is required for the conversion of 5-HTP to serotonin.
- Low magnesium has been correlated with a reduction in serotonin production.
- Melatonin supplements (anywhere from 5mg to 20mg) can help a lot with making up for the poor conversion from NAS to melatonin.
If anyone’s interested I can dig up the studies/references I used.
(As an aside, sleep apnoea will also reduce the amount of REM sleep, as past a certain point your brain will keep pulling you back into light sleep in order to breathe. If you haven’t checked if you have sleep apnoea, please do so!)
Thanks for sharing! I find this quite interesting as I continue to have this nagging need to establish what is the fundamental difference between autistic and NT neurotypes that result in the practical differences we experience. Do you know where I can read more about the latest science that focuses on this?
20mg sounds like quite an excessive amount. Are you sure about that? Do you have a source to support that claim?
You’re welcome. Unfortunately there’s no one place where you can read up on it; in my case I searched for any studies or papers on autism and/or serotonin to get a better understanding of how the system worked. Whilst some research is behind paywalls, a lot is still publicly accessible (ResearchGate is one such site). Google Scholar is probably the easiest way to search for relevant papers, though, as it usually lists where the full paper (as a PDF) is available.
Some of the papers I’ve come across that may be of interest to you:
- Serotonin is a key factor in motor function - Jacobs, B.L. and Fornal, C.A. (1999) ‘Activity of serotonergic neurons in behaving animals’, Neuropsychopharmacology: official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 21(2 Suppl), p. 9S–15S.
- Serotonin seems to play a role in “hot” vs “cold” processing; this may be why emotional processing is affected in autism - Robinson, O.J. and Sahakian, B.J. (2009) ‘A double dissociation in the roles of serotonin and mood in healthy subjects’, Biological psychiatry, 65(1), pp. 89–92.
- One form of the serotonin transporter is linked to increased sensory sensitivity, often found in autism - Homberg, J.R. et al. (2016) ‘Sensory processing sensitivity and serotonin gene variance: Insights into mechanisms shaping environmental sensitivity’, Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 71, pp. 472–483.
- Vitamin D’s role in serotonin synthesis and relevance to autism (this paper notes that CNS serotonin is lower in autism than in NTs) - Patrick, R.P. and Ames, B.N. (2014) ‘Vitamin D hormone regulates serotonin synthesis. Part 1: relevance for autism’, FASEB journal: official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 28(6), pp. 2398–2413
- Serotonin-NAS-Melatonin pathway affected in autism (Melke et al in particular notes the genetic basis for this) - Pagan, C. et al. (2014) ‘The serotonin-N-acetylserotonin-melatonin pathway as a biomarker for autism spectrum disorders’, Translational psychiatry, 4, p. e479., Martinez-Cayuelas, E. et al. (2022) ‘Melatonin Rhythm and Its Relation to Sleep and Circadian Parameters in Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder’, Frontiers in neurology, 13, p. 813692. and Melke, J. et al. (2008) ‘Abnormal melatonin synthesis in autism spectrum disorders’, Molecular psychiatry, 13(1), pp. 90–98.
- The TPH2 gene (which controls the rate-limiting enzyme for serotonin synthesis in the brain) may be involved in autism - Coon, H. et al. (2005) ‘Possible association between autism and variants in the brain-expressed tryptophan hydroxylase gene (TPH2)’, American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics: the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics, 135B(1), pp. 42–46.
As for the quantity of melatonin, that was in discussion with my doctor. He expected that the commonly available 2mg supplements wouldn’t do anything and that it would probably take 10mg to have a significant impact. He also said not to go above 20mg. In my case, 10mg works very well, but was increasing the risk of being tired the next day - so I am currently on 5mg (this helps, but I don’t sleep through the night as well as I did on 10mg).
Also on the safety side of things, be aware that 5-HTP should not be taken with SSRIs without careful medical supervision due to the interaction and risk of serotonin syndrome.
I have dreams every single night, and remember at least one of them once I wake up. Always have. Only exceptions are when I’m extremely tired or when I drink chamomile tea before bed. Found out about the latter last summer, and it admittedly kind of freaked me out; not having/remembering dreams is just… weird.
Do you smoke weed? I only experience or remember my dreams if I quit for at least a few weeks.
Many people report that keeping a dream journal significantly improves their recollection of dreams.
Makes sense. Sometimes you wake up and you’re still in a semi-dreamlike state where your brain is switching over from unconscious to conscious. I know when I’m in that state, I often still feel like the dream is still real. I’m sure if I wrote it down right away, I’d be able to remember it.
But then again, what’s the point of remembering your dreams? Like I guess it’s a bit interesting but it’s basically just the brain’s way of reformatting and optimizing memory.
One cool thing about remembering dreams you’ve had is that some stories might turn into storylines. For the past few years there has been a dream story going on in my sleep. Every now and then randomly there’s another dream that either continues or relates to that story. It’s pretty fun, like following an interesting TV show and waiting for new episodes!
For the longest time I didn’t ever dream. Now the only dreams I have are pointless brain dumps of random bs that come up after I wake up and fall asleep for 20 more min. Don’t ever remember them but they’re real garbage.
I never dream where I can remember if. I smoke weed daily. If i stopped a week, for sure they come back vivid as anything
I dream every single night. When I am going through stressful periods, I journal my dreams down immediately as best as I can remember them. There is usually a symbolic meaning in them that helps me connect with myself. It’s as if my unconscious intuition is communicating with me indirectly because it doesn’t have a language center, but it still exists and can communicate with fantasy stories. I kind of think that part of me is smarter than my conscious mind in some ways too. It’s pretty observant and wise.
Under stress or low sleep, yes. I think I don’t start to dream until near the end of my night sleep, I’m very vividly recalling them only if uninterrupted through a full night
I dream a lot. But I am also on melatonin.
Used to be I didn’t dream much. My Dr. Suggested I take 5htp to sleep better. Now I dream more often, and generally more vividly.
I’m not saying you should take it. I wouldn’t if my Dr. hadn’t told me to, but it has made a difference in my dreaming and quality of sleep.
Dreams are a normal process of sleep. What they are, to the best of my understanding, is your brain doing one of it’s sleep-tasks: memory transfer from short to long term storage. Normally, recording new memories is suppose to be “off” during the process. It’s most common to remember them when your sleep isn’t very restful or is disturbed during the part of sleep where that process takes place, REM sleep.
That being said I’m with ThrowawayPermanente, it’s extremely rare that I ‘dream’.
I didn’t dream for years until trying pot, then they started again and usually at least a few times a week
Strange, I’ve heard most who smoke (daily) don’t dream. And when they stop smoking, they get very vivid dreams for awhile.
I Don’t do it daily, but something about it got things going again
Almost never
I don’t remember how frequently I dream, but I know I dream things I can remember every once in a while. I also know I do dream a fair bit, but couldn’t tell you how much since I forget the majority of it after a few minutes of being awake.
