I mean, panic attacks where you hyperventilate are basically the drowning reflex going off. So given that a lot of the dreams in our case were literally suffoc

I mean, panic attacks where you hyperventilate are basically the drowning reflex going off. So given that a lot of the dreams in our case were literally suffocating (drowning, etc.), I'm pretty sure that some part of the brain gets awakened enough to realize something, if not exactly what.