:confused:Hi out there everyone! Just joined today, and have been curious about this subject for a while. I hope this is the appropriate forum for the question!
I am a 34 year old man. I have been a pack-a-day cigarette smoker for 13 or 14 years and an almost daily 4 to 8 cups a day coffee drinker for 10 or 12 years and have noticed that in that time, I have scarcely remembered half a dozen of my dreams. The few I have remembered have only been of fragmented images or three-to-five-second sequences of activity, with only one or two clearly remembered full-length dream "shows" as I call them.
I've been told that I can't possibly have gone that long without dreams or REM sleep, or else I'd be insane or dead. So what I'm curious about is the lack of memory of the dreams.
Also, in gaining weight and continuing to smoke, I have developed moderate obstructive sleep apnea. I was told that I probably suffered the OSA for at least 2 or 3 years before being diagnosed. For the last 2 years I have been using a CPAP machine to treat it and have had moderate to fair success with it. It seems to have had no effect on my dream clarity or memories. I also get less sleep than I used to. Before graduating college, I averaged 6 to 7 hours of sleep. I'd say that for the last 4 or 5 years I've averaged more like 4 to 6, occasionally getting even less than that.
Any opinions? Obviously I need to lose weight and quit smoking, but if I did, does anyone think there might be a correlation between the nicotine/caffeine and the dreams?
I'll hang up and listen.
BD
