When you have a particularly realistic dream - one you wake up from extremely relieved that it was just a dream - does your body respond in the same was as if the dream were real or does a part of your brain know the difference.
For instance, if someone had a weak heart and they had a particularly stressful dream, could it trigger a heart attack?
I’d certainly argue that in the first moments after waking one is exhibiting symptoms of stress - increased heartrate, perspiration, etc. Mind you ianaw (I am not a whatever), and I’m only going by my personal recollection of nightmares.
Bump – because I’d like to know.
I am not a doctor either, but sleeping and dreaming are interests of mine and I do a fair amount of reading on the subject. REM sleep is generally accompanied by an increase in heart rate and blood pressure anyway and according to this site:
http://www.ats.org/news.php?id=66
(my coding’s not so good) these changes may be useful as a cardiac stress test. Emedicine.com is the only site I could find that directly states that nightmares cause physical symptoms of anxiety, but there is a generally agreed upon link.