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We spend a third of our lives asleep. And a quarter of our time asleep is spent dreaming. So, for the average person alive in 2022, with a life expectancy of around 73, that clocks in at just over six years of dreaming.
Yet, given the central role that dreaming plays in our lives, we still know so little about why we dream, how the brain creates dreams, and importantly, what the significance of our dreams might be for our health – especially the health of our brains.
My 2022 study, published in The Lancet's eClinicalMedicine journal, showed that our dreams can reveal a surprising amount of information about our brain health.
More specifically, it showed that having frequent bad dreams and nightmares (bad dreams that make you wake up) during middle or older age, may be linked with an increased risk of developing dementia.
Yet, given the central role that dreaming plays in our lives, we still know so little about why we dream, how the brain creates dreams, and importantly, what the significance of our dreams might be for our health – especially the health of our brains.
My 2022 study, published in The Lancet's eClinicalMedicine journal, showed that our dreams can reveal a surprising amount of information about our brain health.
More specifically, it showed that having frequent bad dreams and nightmares (bad dreams that make you wake up) during middle or older age, may be linked with an increased risk of developing dementia.
An Early Warning Sign of Dementia Risk May Be Keeping You Up at Night, Says Study
We spend a third of our lives asleep.
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