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The Effects of Menstrual Cycle on Dreaming
Abstract
In this study we have investigated the effect that the menstrual cycle has on dreams, sleep quality and mood. A total of 16 women, university students, with a regular menstrual cycle of 28 days, not on any form of hormonal treatment were tested over five weeks. Methods of diary of dreams, daily self-evaluation of mood and weekly self-assessment of quality of sleep were adopted. Mood scores varied significantly during the menstrual cycle (p < 0.05) with improvement of mood around the time of ovulation and worsening during the pre-menstrual phase of the cycle. Sleep quality did not vary significantly during the menstrual cycle. During the pre-ovulatory phase of the cycle dreams had the highest levels of incongruity (p < 0.05), number of positive emotions (p < 0.0005), number of male-non-self-characters (p < 0.005) and erotic content (p < 0.001). While during the pre-menstrual phase dreams were longer (p < 0.05) and with a larger number of female characters (p < 0.005) and of negative emotions (p < 0.0005). These results suggest that the hormonal variations during the menstrual cycle may have an effect on dreaming. Both the preovulatory oestrogen peak and the presence of progesterone during the luteal phase may enhance memory processes involved in the dream production. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... Moreover, it is worth noting that modifications in dream activity appear related to hormonal variations (Bucci et al., 1991). For instance, it is well established that the hormonal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle are linked with emotional changes that in turn could affect dreaming (Natale et al. 2003). In particular, women report a greater presence of dreams during the preovulatory and pre-menstrual phases of the cycle, when progesterone and estrogen tend to increase (Natale et al., 2003). ...
... For instance, it is well established that the hormonal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle are linked with emotional changes that in turn could affect dreaming (Natale et al. 2003). In particular, women report a greater presence of dreams during the preovulatory and pre-menstrual phases of the cycle, when progesterone and estrogen tend to increase (Natale et al., 2003). Natale and collaborators (2003) also showed that dreams become significantly longer and more complex during the pre-menstrual phase when both estrogen and progesterone are present. ...
... On the other hand, progesterone might play a significant role in enhancing mnemonic function, which is crucial for the recall or generation of dreams (Natale et al., 2003). Notably, both progesterone and estrogen gradually augmented their concentrations during pregnancy, showing their peak in the last trimester (Renzo et al., 2016). ...
... The identity of characters, their age and sex, social interactions, and emotions have been identified as dream dimensions that are differently represented across phases. Natale, Albertazzi, and Cangini (2003) found that women report more positive emotions both in waking life and in dreams during the follicular phase than during the late luteal phase. Conversely, that phase is characterized by a more negative mood in waking life and by more negative emotions and more aggressive interactions in dreams. ...
... Our findings converge with those from the studies reviewed above toward an explanation based on physiological factors intervening in the dreaming process. For Natale et al. (2003), the physiological-that is, the hormonal-state of women during the different phases of their menstrual cycle contributes to brain activation, and through the retrieval of stored memories, to the construction of the dream. Bucci et al. (1991) suggested for their part that hormonal fluctuations affect emotional information processing, and more generally the overall neurotransmission system. ...
Women with severe premenstrual symptoms, who tend to have more mood changes during the late luteal phase of their cycle than do women with few or no symptoms, often complain of having unpleasant dreams. This study examined whether these women experienced more intense negative dream emotions during the late luteal phase of their cycle compared with women with minimal symptoms. It also examined whether there was a relationship between presleep mood and dream affect. Seventeen women participated in the study (9 with severe symptoms, 8 with minimal symptoms). Analyses of variance revealed an increase in negative dream affect and misfortunes during the late luteal phase (p < .05) for both groups. Aggressive interactions occurred only in the dreams of that phase, suggesting an impact of hormonal fluctuations on dreams. The severity of premenstrual symptoms, however, did not have a specific impact on dreams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... Descriptions written in the follicular phase contained markedly more sexual references than those written during the luteal phase. Near ovulation, women's dreams include greater sexual content (Natale et al., 2003) and, when given a choice of a film to view, they are more likely to choose an erotic one (Zillmann et al., 1994). From a study of 259 naturally cycling women followed over two cycles, Prasad et al. (2014) reported a mid-cycle spike in sexual activity linked with higher same-day estradiol and LH levels (though they did not detect an impact of progesterone levels). ...
How do women's sexual interests change across their ovulatory cycles? This question is one of the most enduring within the human evolutionary behavioral sciences. Yet definitive, agreed-upon answers remain elusive. One empirical pattern appears to be robust: Women experience greater levels of sexual desire and interest when conceptive during their cycles. But this pattern is not straightforward or self-explanatory. We lay out multiple possible, broad explanations for it. Based on selectionist reasoning, we argue that the conditions that give rise to sexual interests during conceptive and non-conceptive phases are likely to differ. Because conceptive and non-conceptive sex have distinct functions, the sexual interests during conceptive and non-conceptive phases are likely to have different strategic ends. We discuss provisional evidence consistent with this perspective. But the exact nature of women's dual sexuality, if it exists, remains unclear. Additional empirical research is needed. But perhaps more crucially, this topic demands additional theory that fruitfully guides and interprets future empirical research.
... Few robustly evaluated correlates of dream recall and content have been delineated [3]. Conflicting results have been presented regarding dream recall and dream affect vis-à-vis the menstrual cycle [4][5][6]. Progestagens in contraceptive pills may improve dream recall [7]. ...
The association between sleep and the menstrual cycle has been scarcely studied. This study aimed to investigate the association between dream recall and content and the menstrual cycle among a large sample of young women. To this aim, 944 women were asked about their day of menstrual cycle, whether they remembered the previous night’s dreams and if they did so to describe the dream content as pleasant or unpleasant. A total of 378 women recalled the previous nights’ dreams, with 199 reporting pleasant dream affect/content and 179 reporting unpleasant dream content. In women who recalled their dreams, there was an association of pleasant dream content with the luteal phase (p = 0.038). In conclusion, in women, the hormonal milieu of the luteal phase may influence dream content.
... This account entails a shift in motivational priorities towards mating behavior in the fertile phase of the ovulatory cycle, when conception provides a fitness benefit that outweighs the costs of sex, resulting in increased sexual motivation. A fertile phase increase in sexual motivation has repeatedly been found in sexual desire research (e.g., Arslan et al., 2017;Bullivant et al., 2004;Gangestad et al., 2002Gangestad et al., , 2005Natale, Albertazzi, & Cangini, 2003;Roney & Simmons, 2013): When fertile, women more frequently initiate sexual behavior, and experience stronger sexual desire and more sexual fantasies. This increase in sexual motivation could probably explain the general increase in attractiveness ratings of masculine bodies in the fertile phase of the ovulatory cycle. ...
Ovulatory cycle shifts in women’s mate preferences have been documented for several physical and behavioral traits. Research suggests that, at peak fertility, women tend to prefer men with characteristics that reflect good genes for short-term sexual relationships. However, existing findings have been criticized for methodological flexibility and failing attempts to replicate core results. In a large (N=157), pre-registered, within-subject study spanning two ovulatory cycles, we investigated cycle shifts in women’s mate preferences for masculine bodies. Using a large set of natural stimuli, we found that when fertile, women’s ratings of male bodies increased for sexual as well as for long-term attractiveness. Both effects were partially mediated by the estradiol-to-progesterone-ratio. Furthermore, moderation analyses revealed that both shifts were only evident in women in relationships, but not in singles. Contrary to previous findings, male masculine traits did not interact with cycle phase to predict attraction, indicating that women’s preferential priorities do not shift. Taken together, our results do not support women’s mate preference shifts, as assumed by the good genes ovulatory shift hypothesis, but are consistent with shifting motivational priorities throughout the cycle. Implications of these results for female estrus theories and methodological recommendations for future research are discussed.
... This method has been suggested as an acceptable alternative to determinations made through endocrinological assessment and has face value because it allows for individual differences in cycle length. This tested method has been chosen to subsequently minimise the possible bias (connection between cyclical variations of mood and specific phases of the menstrual cycle) of the participants ( Natale et al. 2003). ...
In this study we have evaluated the cyclical mood change throughout menstrual cycle in oral contraceptive (OC) users and non-users. A total of 62 young women, with a regular menstrual cycle and not clinically depressed, kept, for five weeks, daily records of their visual analogue ratings of mood, irritability, energy and tension (Global Vigor-Affect scale). A Profile of Mood States was performed weekly as a further self-evaluation of mood. Eighteen women were taking oral contraceptives and 44 were non-users. Only the depression-dejection dimension varied significantly during the menstrual cycle (p
... These findings are consistent with a recent study of 16 healthy young women (22.6G2.25 yr, range: 20-28) which found increased erotic content, positive emotions and increased plausibility of imagery in the preovulatory phase and aggressive interactions and negative emotions in the premenstrual phase. 100 A lack of monthly oscillations has also been reported. A polysomnographic study of 10 healthy women (18-24 yr) with low menstrual distress that assessed anxiety, hostility and sexuality found no changes in dream recall or emotional content across the menstrual cycle. ...
A review of the scientific literature clarifies several chronobiological features of dreaming. The literature supports the conclusions that dreaming 'intensity' and, to a lesser extent dream-like quality, is modulated by (1) a sinusoidal, 90-min ultradian oscillation, (2) a 'switch-like' circadian oscillation, (3) a 12-h circasemidian rhythm, and (4) a 28-day circatrigintan rhythm (for women). Further, access to dream memory sources appears to be modulated by (5) a 7-day circaseptan rhythm. Further study of these rhythmic influences on dreaming may help to explain diverse and often contradictory findings in the dream research literature, to clarify relationships between dreaming and waking cognitive processes, to explain relationships between disturbed phase relationships and dream disturbances and to shed new light on the problems of dreaming's functions and biological markers. Further chronobiological studies of dreaming will likely enable the development of theoretical models that explain how interactions between and within major levels of oscillation determine the variable characteristics of dreaming.
Women's perceptions of and responses to explicitly erotic stimuli have been shown to vary across the menstrual cycle. The present study examined responses to implicit eroticism. A total of 83 women provided reactions to paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe in 6 day intervals over the course of 1 month. Among freely cycling women (n = 37), 31% of their descriptions included sexual themes during the first half of their cycle, dropping to 9% of descriptions in the second half. In women using oral contraceptives (n = 46), there was no significant difference in descriptions across the cycle (13% in the first half vs. 17% in the second half). Results were discussed in terms of evolutionary psychology and social-cognitive perspectives on the relationships between hormonal fluctuations and sexuality.
This is the sixth 'Midwifery basics' series aimed at student midwives, and focuses on women's health needs. This second article explores the menstrual cycle, menstrual health and the ways in which this area relates to pregnancy, birth and midwifery. Students are encouraged to seek further information through a series of activities, and to link theory with practice by considering the issues described in the vignette below.
Evaluated changes in contents and language style of dream reports during the menstrual cycle in 7 women (aged 28–45 yrs) with premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Dream diaries were scored for referential activity (RA), and mean scores for overall RA and for the 4 individual RA scales (specificity, concreteness, imagery, and clarity) showed peaks in the early luteal phase (ELF), i.e., at the time of high gonadal hormone concentration. The dominant contents of dreams in the ELF reflected emotions directed toward other people, in contrast to the early follicular and late luteal phase themes of passivity and self-care. Results support the interaction of physiological, emotional, and cognitive events as postulated by the multiple code theory, and they are consistent with the study of S. K. Severino et al (1989). Several questions were considered concerning the precise impact of hormonal fluctuation on emotional information processing as reflected in dreams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS; n = 14) were compared with women without premenstrual syndrome (n = 14). The diagnosis was based on the volunteers' responses to the Premenstrual Assessment Form, their medical history, a physical examination, and the Utah PMS Calendar. After assignment to the non-PMS or PMS group, each subject was studied for one menstrual cycle and was evaluated, once during the follicular phase and twice during the luteal phase. On each of these occasions, circulating concentrations of estradiol and progesterone were determined, and the Depression Adjective Checklist (DACL), the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), and the Attributional Style Questionnaire were completed. Each subject recorded daily her physical symptoms on the Utah PMS Calendar. During the luteal phase, women with PMS had significantly higher levels of depression as measured by the DACL and MMPI than women without PMS. The two groups did not differ in the follicular phase. The women with PMS reported significantly more physical symptoms on the Utah PMS Calendar during the luteal phase, but reported no significant differences in symptoms during the follicular phase. These findings suggest a luteal phase disorder superimposed on a background free of psychiatric or physiological illness.
An analysis of the psychoanalytic records and daily vaginal smears taken during the premenstrual-menstrual phases of 125 cycles of 15 patients confirms previous findings of the close correlation between physiological and psychological processes. "The presence of estrone corresponds to the presence of active heterosexual libido. The presence of progesterone corresponds to a passive, receptive instinctual tendency." Four cyclical phases with corresponding hormone and psychological states are examined. In the early premenstrual, estrone is minimal and progesterone dominant, with incipient recurrence of heterosexual tendency; in the premenstrual phase progesterone diminishes with estrone variable but low, and a generally quiescent psychological state; in the late premenstrual, progesterone is suddenly extinguished, accompanied by eliminative tendencies and emotional tension or depression disproportionate to hormone production; in the last (menstrual) phase there is low hormone activity with emotional relaxation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Findings from basic neuroscience have provided explanations for the manner in which estrogen affects brain morphology and chemistry in areas that are known to subserve memory. Clinical studies in which estrogen was administered to elderly, naturally menopausal, and surgically menopausal women have generally found that estrogen enhances aspects of cognitive functioning. This effect appears to be specific rather than global in that verbal memory is positively influenced by estrogen whereas visual and spatial memory seem relatively unaffected. An extension of these findings from healthy middle‐aged and elderly women led some investigators to question whether exogenous estrogen might delay the onset or retard the cognitive deterioration in women with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Thus far. the evidence is scanty, preliminary, and uncontrolled. While these findings tentatively suggest that exogenous estrogen may delay and/or retard the cognitive symptoms of AD. more definitive conclusions await results of the critical prospective, controlled studies of estrogen administration to women with AD.
The difference between Sleep Stages 1 REM (rapid eye movement) and NREM (non REM) in reported dreaming is compared to several word frequency measures of characteristics of sleep mentation reports. Total Recall Frequency (total word frequency minus pauses, fillers, corrections, repetitions and commentary) discriminated REM from NREM with approximately the same strength as did global ratings of Dreaming. Although incremental repeated measures multivariate tests showed that each contributed some unique variance to the REM/NREM criterion, the unique portions were trivial in size. Frequencies of words that describe speech and visual imagery during sleep accounted for smaller portions of the REM/NREM variance. To the extent that a simple word frequency recall measure accounts for the same variance that such complex measures as dreaming and imagery share with REM/NREM, we may conclude that judges of Dreaming implicitly rely on a dimension similar to the Total Recall Freq. It is proposed that the cognitive difference between REM and NREM is essentially one of attention and memory. Given the high perceptual thresholds of REM sleep, the events attended to and stored in memory are necessarily unrelated to the surrounding environment and therefore differ from waking thought.
Two aspects of consciousness are first considered: consciousness as awareness (phenomenological meaning) and consciousness as strategic control (functional meaning). As to awareness, three types can be distinguished: first, awareness as the phenomenal experiences of objects and events; second, awareness as meta-awareness, i.e., the awareness of mental life itself; third, awareness as self-awareness, i.e., the awareness of being oneself. While phenomenal experience and self-awareness are usually present during dreaming (even if many modifications are possible), meta-awareness is usually absent (apart from some particular experiences of self-reflectiveness) with the major exception of lucid dreaming. Consciousness as strategic control may also be present in dreams. The functioning of consciousness is then analyzed, following a cognitive model of dream production. In such a model, the dream is supposed to be the product of the interaction of three components: (a) the bottom-up activation of mnemonic elements coming from LTM systems, (b) interpretative and elaborative top-down processes, and (c) monitoring of phenomenal experience. A feedback circulation is activated among the components, where the top-down interpretative organization and the conscious monitoring of the oneiric scene elicitates other mnemonic contents, according to the requirements of the dream plot. This dream productive activity is submitted to unconscious and conscious processes.
Twelve volunteers were studied. All were healthy women aged between 22 and 30. They were all taking oral contraceptives containing not more than 30 μg of ethinyloestradiol per tablet. Each recorded an indication of her mood and affect every evening for 30 days. This was done by using visual analogue self-rating scales. These were forms, one for each day, on which were two 10-cm lines separating statements describing extremes of mood (euphorbia to depression) and anxiety level (tranquillity to anxiety). Before retiring for the night the subjects marked each of the lines in the position between the two sets of statements that best described their state of mind at the time. Subsequently, by measuring the position of the mark on the lined, numerical scores from zero to 100 for depression and anxiety for each subject each day were produced. Two minimise any bias effects each woman started keeping records on a different day in the menstrual cycle and the records from the first two days for each woman were not analysed. The results from the group as a whole were pooled, and mean scores for depression and for anxiety for each day of the menstrual cycle, counting day 1 as the first day on which an oral contraceptive pill was taken, were calculated. The mean scores were then analysed by computer, calculating exponentially smoothed scores for each day and using Cembrowski et al modification of Triggs's technique for trend detection. There was a steady increase in mean depression scores while the subjects were taking oral contraceptives. Triggs's technique showed that when the depression scores were smoothed so that the exponential mean corresponded to a moving average containing seven observations this trend was significant (P<0.05) from days 11 to 19 of the cycle. The anxiety self-rating scores did not show any significant trend throughout the cycle.
Our scientific tools have rapidly advanced in recent decades. Urine tests and hormone assays allow us to know exactly where a woman is in her menstrual cycle and to document precisely her hormonal rhythms. Sleep-laboratory techniques allow us to know exactly when someone is dreaming so that we can obtain that communication that Freud prized so highly. Furthermore, we now have quantifiable means to measure accessibility to nonverbal mental representations, which derive from important advances in theory and method in cognitive psychology in the last several decades. None of the studies we surveyed combined these tools. The sleep-laboratory studies did not document menstrual-cycle phase with either temperature or hormone levels. Moreover, the relationship between their findings and daily functioning is still unclear. The psychoanalytic study by Benedek and Rubenstein carefully documented cycle phase, but statements about fantasy and conflict were large and sweeping and the focus was on drive-related rather than information processing effects. Careful work must be done by modern investigators before the field of medical psychoanalysis can address the basic questions of mind-body functioning that are at issue here. We have presented one approach to entering the communication network of mind-brain functioning, that is, the application of the dual-code model to dreams, in the context of the influence of hormones across the menstrual cycle. Although prior research has demonstrated cyclical fluctuations of psychodynamic themes in dream content (Baron, 1977; Benedek & Rubenstein, 1939a, b; Hertz & Jensen, 1975; Lewis & Burns, 1975; Swanson & Foulkes, 1968), the existence of a cyclical cognitive pattern as regulated by gonadal function has not previously been explored. While the findings are preliminary and limited, this is the first study to provide evidence that there are psycholinguistic styles characteristic of different phases in the menstrual cycle, and that this variation in verbal expression reflects a correspondence between hormone production and the ability to access and communicate nonverbal representations. Although the relationship between referential activity and phases of the menstrual cycle represents a statistical relationship and is hardly conclusive, the article does demonstrate how the dual-code model permits us to translate our psychoanalytic observations into operational terms. This provides one means of access to the network of communication between neuropeptides and mental representation, or in more general terms, between body and mind.
This article describes an easily administered Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) technique that can be used to detect changes in mood and subjective activation. The method yields two summary measures: Global Vigor (GV) and Global Affect (GA), each ranging in value from 0 to 100. The instrument was administered about six times per day in 38 healthy control and 6 depressed patients participating in temporal isolation studies. This yielded a total of 5,734 control subject sessions and 575 patient sessions. For both groups, frequency distributions of GV and GA were shown to be approximately Gaussian, and evidence was obtained suggesting that the instrument was being completed properly. On average, depressives were about 0.6 standard deviations lower than controls in GV and about 1.5 standard deviations lower in GA, confirming the validity of the scales. Measures of GV in controls were shown to be sensitive to both jet lag and diurnal variation, thus confirming the reliability and validity of GV in these situations. In two studies involving more than 50 days of voluntary seclusion, measures of GA were found to show an almost monotonic decline, tracking the decline in mood and confirming the reliability and validity of GA in that situation.
Mentation reports were collected from 23 subjects following awakenings from REM and NREM sleep and at sleep onset. Subjects organized these reports according to temporal sequence, and judges scored them for activity-based temporal units and for the composition of such units. The judgment data were subjected to analysis to determine whether reports differed systematically by state in either thematic sequencing (moment-to-moment setting and character continuity) or unit composition (density of characterization, setting articulation). Previous findings of inter-state differences in dream quantity (recall, length) were replicated. a sample of typical-length multiunit reports showed a number of stage differences, while samples of matched-length reports did not differ by stage in thematic sequence or the degree of articulation of single units. However, matched for length, REM reports continued to contain more per-unit self representation than did sleep onset reports and denser per-unit overall characterization than NREM reports. The results suggest that most inter-stage differences in dream "quality" are, in fact, by-products of inter-stage differences in dream quantity, but that there are residual stage differences that can coherently be attributed neither to differences in the continuity with which dream production processes are activated in different stages nor to differences in dream retrieval from different stages.
There is much evidence that progesterone has hypnotic anesthetic properties. In this vehicle-controlled study, we examined the effects of three doses of progesterone (30, 90, and 180 mg/kg) administered intraperitoneally at light onset on sleep in rats. Progesterone dose dependently shortened non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS) latency, lengthened rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) latency, decreased the amount of wakefulness and REMS, and markedly increased pre-REMS, an intermediate state between NREMS and REMS. Progesterone also elicited dose-related changes in sleep state-specific electroencephalogram (EEG) power densities. Within NREMS, EEG activity was reduced in the lower frequencies (< or = 7 Hz) and was enhanced in the higher frequencies. Within REMS, EEG activity was markedly enhanced in the higher frequencies. The effects were maximal during the first postinjection hours. The concentrations of progesterone and the progesterone metabolites 3 alpha-hydroxy-5 alpha-pregnan-20-one and 3 alpha-hydroxy-5 beta-pregnan-20-one, both positive allosteric modulators of gamma-aminobutyric acid A (GABAA) receptors, were determined at different time intervals after vehicle and 30 or 90 mg/kg progesterone. Progesterone administration resulted in dose-dependent initially supraphysiological elevations of progesterone and its metabolites in the plasma and brain, which were most prominent during the first hour postinjection. The effects of progesterone on sleep closely resemble those of agonistic modulators of GABAA receptors such as benzodiazepines and correlate well with the increases in the levels of its GABAA agonistic metabolites. These observations suggest that the hypnotic effects of progesterone are mediated by the facilitating action of its neuroactive metabolites on GABAA receptor functioning.
The notion that dreaming might alter the strength of associative links in memory was first proposed almost 200 years ago. But no strong evidence of such altered associative links has been obtained. Semantic priming can be used to quantify the strength of associative links between pairs of words; it is thought to measure the automatic spread of activation from a “node” representing one word to nodes representing semantically related words. Semantic priming could thus be used to test for global alterations in the strengths of associative links across the wake-sleep cycle.
Awakenings from REM and nonREM (NREM) sleep produce a period of state carry-over during which performance is altered as a result of the brain's slow transition to full wakefulness, and cognitive testing in this period can provide information about the functioning of the brain during the prior sleep period. When subjects were tested across the night—before and after a night's sleep as well as immediately following forced awakenings from REM and NREM sleep—weak priming (e.g., thief-wrong) was found to be state dependent (p = 0.016), whereas strong priming (e.g., hot-cold) was not (p = 0.89). Weak primes were most effective in the presleep and REM sleep conditions and least effective in NREM and postsleep conditions.
Most striking are analyses comparing weak and strong priming within each wake-sleep state. Contrary to the normal pattern of priming, subjects awakened from REM sleep showed greater priming by weak primes than by strong primes (p = 0.01). This result was seen in each of three protocols. In contrast, strong priming exceeded weak priming in NREM sleep.
The shift in weak priming seen after REM sleep awakenings suggests that cognition during REM sleep is qualitatively different from that of waking and NREM sleep and may reflect a shift in associative memory systems, a shift that we hypothesize underlies the bizarre and hyperassociative character of REM-sleep dreaming. Known changes in brainstem activity that control the transition into and maintenance of REM sleep provide a possible explanation of this shift.
To evaluate the effect of estrogen replacement therapy on sleep architecture, arousals, and body movements.
A 7-month, prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial.
Departments of obstetrics and gynecology and a university sleep center in Turku, Finland.
Seventy-one postmenopausal women, 4 of whom were excluded and 5 of whom withdrew from the study; the final study group consisted of 62 women.
Two periods of treatment with either estrogen or placebo.
Polysomnography for measurement of sleep and arousals and a static charge-sensitive bed for monitoring of movements and breathing. Self-reports of climacteric symptoms for 14 days.
Estrogen effectively alleviated hot flashes, sweating, sleep complaints, and headaches. Estrogen decreased the total frequency of movement arousals but increased alpha-arousals, especially during light non-rapid eye movement sleep (stage 1). Sleep latency, distribution of sleep stages, sleep efficiency, and total sleep time were similar during treatment with estrogen and placebo. Changes in serum E2 concentrations correlated with neither subjective nor objective sleep quality.
Estrogen replacement therapy improves objective sleep quality by alleviating the frequency of nocturnal movement arousals. It also reduces climacteric symptoms, especially vasomotor symptoms. Estrogen replacement therapy does not seem to have any effect on sleep architecture.
To test the hypotheses that: 1) an increase in endogenous progesterone levels during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle will alter REM sleep and mood state, and 2) a decrease in endogenous progesterone levels during postpartum will also alter REM sleep and mood state.
A longitudinal descriptive study utilizing ambulatory polysomnography for two consecutive nights at seven time points.
Subject's homes.
The first hypothesis was tested with 34 women studied during both the follicular and luteal phases of their menstrual cycle. The second hypothesis was tested with 31 women who completed the sleep studies during pregnancy and at one month postpartum.
N/A.
Women who ovulated (high levels of serum progesterone in the luteal phase) had shorter REM latency, more REM sleep, and more positive mood state compared to those who did not ovulate (low luteal progesterone). Compared to the third trimester (high progesterone), REM latency was significantly shorter at one month postpartum (low progesterone). Mood state was most positive at the second trimester and most negative at one month postpartum.
REM sleep and mood state were related to low progesterone levels during the menstrual cycle, but postpartum REM sleep and mood state were related to increased wake time rather than changes in progesterone levels.
The aim of this experiment was to compare the characteristics of mental activity during REM and Slow Wave Sleep (SWS). Forty dream reports and their mnemonic associations were collected from twenty subjects. The reports were analyzed for structure (number of temporal units, number of report multi-units, and narrative continuity), awareness (reality testing, subjective time), and content (self, setting, laboratory references, number of non-self characters, implausibility, body feelings, number and intensity of emotions, vividness). Associations were classified as episodic and semantic memories. Results showed that REM reports were significantly longer than SWS reports. Minor content SWS-REM differences were also detected, which were more quantitative than qualitative. The collected observations might support the tentative hypothesis that dreaming is a continuous process, which is not unique to REM sleep. Different levels of engagement of the cognitive system are responsible for the SWS-REM differences that were detected.
The effect of the menstrual cycle on dreams
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Methods in menstrual cycle research
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