By Stephen BeechVivid dreams make sleep feel deeper - even when the brain is more active, suggests new research. For the experiment, participants were awakened repeatedly from non-REM sleep, a stage characterised by broad variability in both subjective sleep depth and dreaming. The results revealed that the deepest subjective sleep was reported not only when participants had no conscious experience, but also after vivid and immersive dreams. “If dreams help sustain the feeling of deep sleep, then alterations in dreaming could partly explain why some people feel they sleep poorly even when standard objective sleep indices appear normal. “Understanding how dreams contribute to the feeling of deep sleep opens new perspectives on sleep health and mental well-being.

Source: Daily Sun March 24, 2026 23:43 UTC