Dream interpretation remains a highly subjective exercise, although psychiatrists and therapists may use a patient's dreams to help tackle their concerns.

 

 

Prodromal dreaming

 

The concept, called prodromal dreaming, “is controversial in broader medical professions,” psychologist Deirdre Leigh Barrett, PhD, a past president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, told Discover.

Bacha D. Can a dream warn you about cancer? Discover. Updated September 6, 2023.

 

Yet the concept persists because of anecdotal reports. In one of Dr. Barrett’s books, she describes an individual who had a dream that was pivotal in getting them a diagnosis for a potentially life-threatening health issue.

 

Some research has been emerging over the past several years to provide more definitive evidence that dreams, in some cases, might be signaling serious health issues that require medical attention. 

 

Portending mental and physical health issues

 

According to Michelle Drerup, PsyD, DBSM, a behavioral sleep medicine expert at the Cleveland Clinic, “there’s no real consistent, scientifically proven theory linking specific content back to what a dream means.”

What do dreams mean? Cleveland Clinic. June 14, 2022.

 

It is thought, however, that dreaming helps people sort through their emotions, with nightmares and stressful dreams more likely in those who are particularly anxious or depressed during waking hours. Nightmares also could be an aspect of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), representing a way of experiencing the original trauma all over again.

But it is not just mental health that may be playing into our dream state. People dreaming about their teeth falling out, for instance, may be grinding their teeth during sleep, a condition called bruxism. Or discontinuing antidepressant therapy—which suppresses rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when the most vivid dreams occur—may cause a “REM rebound” and a change in dreaming, according to Dr. Drerup.

A similar phenomenon also may occur with treatment for sleep apnea, which is associated with fragmented sleep. A review in Frontiers in Neurology, though, shows conflicting results of studies delving into the link between sleep apnea and dream recall or content.

BaHammam AS, Almeneessier AS. Dreams and nightmares in patients with obstructive sleep apnea: a review. Front Neurol. 2019;10:01127.

 

 

Dreams as a prelude to more serious conditions

 

What happens during the dream state may portend bigger medical problems in the future, too.

REM sleep behavior disorder is characterized by a lack of the typical temporary paralysis that occurs during REM sleep, allowing affected people to move around, with clear safety concerns. It is also associated with abnormal dreaming.

There is some evidence, too, that nightmares are an indicator of heart disease. In a study in Sleep, for example, military veterans who reported having nightmares that were severe, frequent, or both, had greater odds of having signs of high blood pressure or heart problems, even after adjusting for PTSD diagnosis.

Campbell AA, Taylor KA, Augustine AV. Nightmares: an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease? Sleep. 2023;46(6):zsad089.

And an earlier study demonstrated an increase in perceived spasmodic chest pain and irregular heartbeat in women ages 50 to 64 who reported frequent nightmares and poor sleep.

Asplund R, Åberg HE. Nightmares, cardiac symptoms and the menopause. Climacteric. 2003;6(4):314-320.

 

A 2024 study published in eClinicalMedicine explored the timing on onset for neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and other systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs).

Sloan M, Bourgeois JA, Leschziner G, et al. Neuropsychiatric prodromes and symptom timings in relation to disease onset and/or flares in SLE: results from the mixed methods international INSPIRE study. 2024 May 20; Epub ahead of print.

 

And when it comes to dreams and cancer, there is at least some evidence bolstering anecdotes, such as the one involving a bite from a panther. In a small study published in Explore, researchers surveyed 18 women with breast cancer who reported having “warning dreams” before their diagnosis.

Burk L. Warning dreams preceding the diagnosis of breast cancer: a survey of the most important characteristics. Explore. 2015;11(3):193-198.

Not only did most of the women say that “the dreams were more vivid, real, or intense than ordinary” (83%) and involved “an emotional sense of threat, menace, or dread” (72%), but many also said the dream included use of the words “breast cancer/tumor” (44%) or a sense of physical contact with their breast (39%).

 

“Warning dreams of breast cancer were often reported to be life changing experiences that prompted medical attention leading directly to diagnosis,” the authors concluded.