There is an intriguing article in Scientific American about the consequences of sleep deprivation. When the brain is finally allowed to catch up with sleep, it tries to make-up for the loss of slow-wave sleep, but it also tries to make up for the loss of REM sleep as well - by making it more intense! As a result, the dreams are like scenes from something like "Jumanji" - wild animals running around and other crazy stuff. A very good article about various ideas on the function of sleep and dreams.
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No wonder my dreams are like action movies on the weekends when I can sleep in.
Exactly the same as Novathecat- and I thought that was a bizarre glitch of mine, go figure...
That's because we need REM sleep as much as slow-wave sleep to de-arouse stress and keep our instincts intact!