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Do people with Alzheimers dream the memories they have forgotten?
Posted on 7/13/25 at 9:25 am
Posted on 7/13/25 at 9:25 am
There is still some debate as to how much memory is lost and how much is simply inaccessible.
I woke up curious about this because I had a vivid dream last night about something during high school of which I had little more than a fading memory of before the dream.
I woke up curious about this because I had a vivid dream last night about something during high school of which I had little more than a fading memory of before the dream.
Posted on 7/13/25 at 9:29 am to Cell of Awareness
Joe Biden sure did
Posted on 7/13/25 at 9:29 am to Cell of Awareness
I think so. It could explain the good days vs the bad ones (vivid dreams fire the right synapses for a few hours).
I think there can be other stimuli though. Smells and tastes can trigger memories more effectively than just about anything.
I think there can be other stimuli though. Smells and tastes can trigger memories more effectively than just about anything.
Posted on 7/13/25 at 9:31 am to Cell of Awareness
quote:
I had a vivid dream last night about something during high school of which I had little more than a fading memory of before the dream.
There's your answer then.
Posted on 7/13/25 at 9:34 am to Cell of Awareness
People with Alzheimer’s and dementia do dream, but their dreams aren’t a safe space for them to access their memories. Some experience less dreaming due to sleep disturbances and insomnia whereas others experience more vivid and intense dreams that cause nightmares because their brains can’t really understand what they’re experiencing. The brain is literally damaged and deteriorating, so it’s not like a preserved mind is hidden in there trying to break out.
There’s a concept artist named The Caretaker that released six albums to illustrate what happens in brains with dementia. It’s been lauded by some neurologists as accurately representing the experience of someone with cognitive decline and dementia. If you do take a listen, try to imagine someone cutting through the static, the noise, the confusion to remember or understand memories and experiences. The dementia doesn’t quiet down during sleep. It’s always there.
My FIL has dementia, so I’ve read a lot about it to understand his condition. It’s honestly one of the most awful things for a human being to go through and we can only be thankful that the brain loses its ability to understand the experience. It would be absolute torture to be aware of what’s happening as it happens.
There’s a concept artist named The Caretaker that released six albums to illustrate what happens in brains with dementia. It’s been lauded by some neurologists as accurately representing the experience of someone with cognitive decline and dementia. If you do take a listen, try to imagine someone cutting through the static, the noise, the confusion to remember or understand memories and experiences. The dementia doesn’t quiet down during sleep. It’s always there.
My FIL has dementia, so I’ve read a lot about it to understand his condition. It’s honestly one of the most awful things for a human being to go through and we can only be thankful that the brain loses its ability to understand the experience. It would be absolute torture to be aware of what’s happening as it happens.
This post was edited on 7/13/25 at 9:35 am
Posted on 7/13/25 at 9:36 am to Cell of Awareness
I think they just dream and hallucinate even more in the dream world
My grandad wakes up saying absolute crazy shite after a dream, it makes no sense and there is no truth to any of it. He’ll accuse my grandma of turning off their computer or getting rid of the satellite tv and so much random stuff
My grandad wakes up saying absolute crazy shite after a dream, it makes no sense and there is no truth to any of it. He’ll accuse my grandma of turning off their computer or getting rid of the satellite tv and so much random stuff
Posted on 7/13/25 at 9:38 am to Lawyered
quote:
He’ll accuse my grandma of turning off their computer or getting rid of the satellite tv and so much random stuff
Well...did she?
Posted on 7/13/25 at 9:41 am to StringedInstruments
quote:
People with Alzheimer’s and dementia do dream, but their dreams aren’t a safe space for them to access their memories. Some experience less dreaming due to sleep disturbances and insomnia whereas others experience more vivid and intense dreams that cause nightmares because their brains can’t really understand what they’re experiencing. The brain is literally damaged and deteriorating, so it’s not like a preserved mind is hidden in there trying to break out.
There’s a concept artist named The Caretaker that released six albums to illustrate what happens in brains with dementia. It’s been lauded by some neurologists as accurately representing the experience of someone with cognitive decline and dementia. If you do take a listen, try to imagine someone cutting through the static, the noise, the confusion to remember or understand memories and experiences. The dementia doesn’t quiet down during sleep. It’s always there.
My FIL has dementia, so I’ve read a lot about it to understand his condition. It’s honestly one of the most awful things for a human being to go through and we can only be thankful that the brain loses its ability to understand the experience. It would be absolute torture to be aware of what’s happening as it happens.
My maternal grandmother had Alzheimers and as my mom and her two sisters had passed I ended up as the primary caretaker. She was in a good private faciliity at this point but it still was tough even just to watch and talk with her on my twice weekly visits. Once they get past a certain stage it does seem to be less a problem for them than those around them.
I have previously read a lot about our brain's capacity and how little we know and read more this morning specifically about Alzheimers and, like many things with the brain, there are a lot of maybes as to whether memories are actually destroyed or simply inaccessible.
Posted on 7/13/25 at 10:25 am to Cell of Awareness
Coincidence, I’m watching Knox Goes Away right at this moment. Good movie about a hitman with dementia.
Posted on 7/13/25 at 10:35 am to StringedInstruments
quote:
only be thankful that the brain loses its ability to understand the experience. It would be absolute torture to be aware of what’s happening as it happens.
Isn’t that what ALS is?
Posted on 7/13/25 at 10:40 am to PhillyTiger90
quote:
Isn’t that what ALS is?
ALS does not affect memory so it is quite different. Being aware does make it hard to handle but I THINK I would have a harder time forgetting my loved ones. It must certainly bring a level of frustration one not suffering from it could never comprehend,
Parkinsons in the same way allows you to keep your memory as you are locked in a shell.
There was a great POV House episode with Mos Def about a guy locked in his body and the frustations,
This post was edited on 7/13/25 at 10:41 am
Posted on 7/13/25 at 10:41 am to Cell of Awareness
in before, "ask Joe Biden."
Posted on 7/13/25 at 10:49 am to Cell of Awareness
Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.
Bill Hicks
Bill Hicks
Posted on 7/13/25 at 10:57 am to Cell of Awareness
Interesting question but sad to think about, such an awful, awful condition.
Posted on 7/13/25 at 11:49 am to Saint Alfonzo
Here's Tom with the weather.
Posted on 7/13/25 at 11:50 am to Cleathecat
I'd go with: the brain has multiple pathways and some are not used, until they are.
One of my uncles had Alzheimers and he'd gotten to a stage where he was hospitalized (this was when it was just being recognized as a problem). His mind was often gone. One day his wife came back from a visit and she was shaken: he had proposed marriage to her using the same words he had decades earlier.
So far, I seem to still be un-demented. But one morning I awankened and I just knew that it had been a couple of weeks since I'd called home and spoken to my parents and I needed to call them. After about five minutes, I remembered, both had been dead for almost two decades. But, darn it, it felt for a short while that I was "back then".
One of my uncles had Alzheimers and he'd gotten to a stage where he was hospitalized (this was when it was just being recognized as a problem). His mind was often gone. One day his wife came back from a visit and she was shaken: he had proposed marriage to her using the same words he had decades earlier.
So far, I seem to still be un-demented. But one morning I awankened and I just knew that it had been a couple of weeks since I'd called home and spoken to my parents and I needed to call them. After about five minutes, I remembered, both had been dead for almost two decades. But, darn it, it felt for a short while that I was "back then".
Posted on 7/13/25 at 11:59 am to Cell of Awareness
If they did, when they awoke, they’d forget them again. It would be pointless
Posted on 7/13/25 at 12:55 pm to Cell of Awareness
My dad died from Alzheimers about 7 years back. There were a lot of days where he seemed out of it and talking like we were all somewhere else doing something completely different than what we were doing. I always suspected his mind was going through memories and his brain couldn't tell reality apart from those memories, so he was in essence reliving those memories. I always went along with it trying to figure out where in the past his mind was. There was something morbidly fascinating about the whole thing.
This post was edited on 7/13/25 at 12:56 pm
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