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Sleep Medicine May 2021The lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic had a strong impact on daily habits, emotional experience, mental health and sleep. A large body of evidence suggests that dreams...
OBJECTIVE
The lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic had a strong impact on daily habits, emotional experience, mental health and sleep. A large body of evidence suggests that dreams are affected by both waking experiences and sleep pattern. In this view, the lockdown should have induced intense modifications in dreaming activity. The aim of the study was to assess dream features during the lockdown in Italy.
METHODS
We used an online survey to collect self-reported demographic, clinical, sleep and dream data. Our sample included 1091 participants.
RESULTS
Results point to an increased dream frequency, emotional load, vividness, bizarreness and length during the lockdown, compared to a pre-lockdown period. Higher dream frequency and specific qualitative features were found in females and subjects with poor sleep quality, nocturnal disruptive behaviours and depressive symptoms. Most of the dream features assessed during the lockdown were predicted by age, gender, depressive symptoms, presence/absence of other people at home, and territorial area. A specific focus on sleep features revealed that sleep duration and several sleep quality indexes were the best predictors of dream variables. During the lockdown, dreams were also characterized by increased negative emotions, which were particularly frequent in females, younger adults, and participants with poor sleep quality, nocturnal disruptive behaviours, anxiety and depressive symptoms.
CONCLUSIONS
Our results confirm the hypothesis of a strong influence of the pandemic on dreaming, supporting both the hypothesis of continuity between wake and sleep mental processes and the view of a crucial influence of sleep quality and duration on dreaming activity.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; COVID-19; Dreams; Female; Humans; Italy; Male; Pandemics; Qualitative Research; Quarantine; Surveys and Questionnaires; Young Adult
PubMed: 33631710
DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2021.02.006 -
Sleep Jul 2022Early research suggests that the vestibular system is implicated in lucid dreaming, e.g. frequent lucid dreamers outperform others on static balance tasks. Furthermore,...
STUDY OBJECTIVES
Early research suggests that the vestibular system is implicated in lucid dreaming, e.g. frequent lucid dreamers outperform others on static balance tasks. Furthermore, gravity-themed dreams, such as flying dreams, frequently accompany lucid dreaming. Nonetheless, studies are scarce.
METHODS
We attempted to: (1) replicate previous findings using more sensitive static balance measures and (2) extend these findings by examining relationships with dreamed gravity imagery more generally. 131 participants (80 F; Mage=24.1 ± 4.1 yrs) estimated lucid dreaming frequency then completed a 5-day home log with ratings for dream lucidity awareness, control, and gravity sensations (flying, falling). They then performed balance tasks on a sensitive force plate, i.e. standing on one or both feet, with eyes open or closed. Center of pressure (CoP) Displacement and CoP Velocity on each trial measured postural stability.
RESULTS
Findings partially support the claim of a vestibular contribution to lucid dreaming. Frequent lucid dreamers displayed better balance (lower CoP Velocity) than did other participants on some trials and lucid dreaming frequency was globally correlated with better balance (lower CoP Velocity). Lower CoP Velocity was related to flying sensations in men's dreams and with more dream control in women's dreams. However, body height-possibly due to its relationship to sex-and levels of sleepiness confound some of these effects.
CONCLUSION
While findings only provide a partial replication of previous work, they nonetheless support an emerging view that the vestibular system underlies basic attributes of bodily self-consciousness, such as feelings of self-agency and self-location, whether such consciousness occurs during wakefulness or dreaming.
Topics: Awareness; Cognition; Consciousness; Dreams; Female; Humans; Male; Postural Balance
PubMed: 35522289
DOI: 10.1093/sleep/zsac105 -
Annals of Cardiac Anaesthesia 2018The assessment of a dream and its mechanisms and functions may help us to percept cognitions, emotions, and complex behaviors of patients. Hence, the present study aimed... (Observational Study)
Observational Study
BACKGROUND
The assessment of a dream and its mechanisms and functions may help us to percept cognitions, emotions, and complex behaviors of patients. Hence, the present study aimed to assess (i) the rate of perceived dream and its emotional load and content and (ii) the relationship between functions of dream with anxiety and depression.
METHODS
In this cross-sectional study, 167 cardiac patients who had undergone rehabilitation in the western part of Iran were assessed during May-October 2016. Research instrument included Beck depression inventory, Beck anxiety inventory, Schredl's dream emotions manual, and content analysis of dreams manual. The findings were analyzed through Pearson's correlative coefficient and multiple regression analysis.
RESULTS
The mean age of participants (66.5% men) was 59.1 ± 9 years. The results indicated that the emotional content of patients' dreams included happiness (49.1%), distress (43.1%), sad (13.8%), fear (13.2%), and anger (3%). Although women report more sad dreams than men (P = 0.026), there was no difference between them in terms of other components of dreams, anxiety, and depression. Regression models showed that anxiety and depression were significantly able to predict perceived dream rates (P = 0.030) and emotionally negative dreams (P = 0.019).
CONCLUSION
The increased rates of depression, especially anxiety, are related to increasing perceived dreams with negative and harmful emotional load. Regarding severity and negative content of dreams are reflexes of stressful emotional daily experiences, the management of experienced psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety is concerned as an undeniable necessity.
Topics: Aged; Anxiety; Cardiac Rehabilitation; Cross-Sectional Studies; Depression; Dreams; Emotions; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Sex Characteristics
PubMed: 30333332
DOI: 10.4103/aca.ACA_210_17 -
Sleep Medicine Reviews Dec 2016Patients with REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) exhibit increased muscle tone and exaggerated myoclonic twitching during REM sleep. In addition, violent movements of the... (Review)
Review
Patients with REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) exhibit increased muscle tone and exaggerated myoclonic twitching during REM sleep. In addition, violent movements of the limbs, and complex behaviors that can sometimes appear to involve the enactment of dreams, are associated with RBD. These behaviors are widely thought to result from a dysfunction involving atonia-producing neural circuitry in the brainstem, thereby unmasking cortically generated dreams. Here we scrutinize the assumptions that led to this interpretation of RBD. In particular, we challenge the assumption that motor cortex produces twitches during REM sleep, thus calling into question the related assumption that motor cortex is primarily responsible for all of the pathological movements of RBD. Moreover, motor cortex is not even necessary to produce complex behavior; for example, stimulation of some brainstem structures can produce defensive and aggressive behaviors in rats and monkeys that are strikingly similar to those reported in human patients with RBD. Accordingly, we suggest an interpretation of RBD that focuses increased attention on the brainstem as a source of the pathological movements and that considers sensory feedback from moving limbs as an important influence on the content of dream mentation.
Topics: Animals; Dreams; Humans; Motor Cortex; REM Sleep Behavior Disorder; Sleep, REM
PubMed: 26802823
DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2015.12.002 -
Annals of Clinical and Translational... Mar 2019Narcolepsy type 1 widely affects the architecture of sleep with frequent fast transition to REM sleep at both nighttime and daytime sleep onset. The occurrence of...
OBJECTIVE
Narcolepsy type 1 widely affects the architecture of sleep with frequent fast transition to REM sleep at both nighttime and daytime sleep onset. The occurrence of repeated sleep onset REM periods over the Multiple Sleep Latency Test offers a unique opportunity to identify EEG patterns predictive of successful dream recall after short periods composed of only REM or NREM sleep. It also permits to disentangle state- from trait-like differences in dream recall, by using a within-subjects design.
METHODS
A consecutive series of 115 first-diagnosed drug-free adult narcolepsy-type 1 patients underwent Multiple Sleep Latency Tests and were asked after each nap opportunity if they had or had not a dream experience. Scalp EEG power and a specific index of cortical activation (delta/beta power ratio), obtained from naps of 43 patients with both presence and absence of dream recall in the same sleep stage, were compared separately for REM and NREM sleep.
RESULTS
Successful dream recall was associated with an increased EEG desynchronization in both REM and NREM over partially overlapping cortical areas. Compared to unsuccessful recall, it showed (1) lower delta power over centro-parietal areas during both stages, (2) higher beta power in the same cortical areas during NREM, and (3) lower values in the delta/beta ratio during NREM in most scalp locations.
INTERPRETATION
A more activated electrophysiological milieu in both REM and NREM sleep promotes dream recall, strengthening the notion that the parietal areas are crucial not only in generating dream experience, as shown in brain-damaged patients, but also in the memory processing leading to recall.
Topics: Adult; Cerebral Cortex; Dreams; Electroencephalography; Female; Humans; Male; Mental Recall; Middle Aged; Narcolepsy; Polysomnography; Sleep; Sleep Stages; Sleep Wake Disorders; Sleep, REM
PubMed: 30911568
DOI: 10.1002/acn3.718 -
Clinical Psychology Review Mar 2023Nightmares occur across a wide range of psychiatric disorders, but outside of PTSD presentations are infrequently considered a treatment priority. We aimed to assess... (Review)
Review
Nightmares occur across a wide range of psychiatric disorders, but outside of PTSD presentations are infrequently considered a treatment priority. We aimed to assess evidence for a contributory causal role of nightmares to the occurrence of psychiatric disorders, and vice versa. A systematic review was conducted of longitudinal, experimental, and clinical trial studies. Twenty-four longitudinal, sixteen trials, and no experimental studies were identified. Methodological shortcomings were common, especially the use of single-item nightmare assessment. Thirty-five studies assessed the path from nightmares to psychiatric symptoms. Depression (n = 10 studies), PTSD (n = 10) and anxiety (n = 5) were the most commonly assessed outcomes in trials. Most were not designed to assess the effect of nightmare treatment on psychiatric symptoms. Treating nightmares led to moderate reductions in PTSD and depression, small to moderate reductions in anxiety, and potentially moderate reductions in paranoia. Nightmares increased the risk of later suicide outcomes (n = 10), but two small pilot trials indicated that treating nightmares might potentially prevent recovery of suicidal ideation. PTSD treatment led to large reductions in trauma-related nightmares (n = 3). The limited literature suggests that treating nightmares may be one route to lessening threat-based disorders in particular, suggestive of a causal relationship. Overall, however, nightmares in most disorders are greatly understudied.
Topics: Humans; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Dreams; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Suicidal Ideation
PubMed: 36566699
DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2022.102241 -
Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine :... Apr 2015To clarify whether motor behaviors and/ or vocalizations during REM sleep, which do not yet fulfill diagnostic criteria for REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and were...
STUDY OBJECTIVES
To clarify whether motor behaviors and/ or vocalizations during REM sleep, which do not yet fulfill diagnostic criteria for REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and were defined as REM sleep behavioral events (RBEs), correspond to dream enactments.
METHODS
13 subjects (10 patients with Parkinson disease [PD] and 3 healthy controls) originally identified with RBE in a prospective study (DeNoPa cohort) were reinvestigated 2 years later with 2 nights of video-supported polysomnography (vPSG). The first night was used for sleep parameter analysis. During the 2nd night, subjects were awakened and questioned for dream recall and dream content when purposeful motor behaviors and/or vocalizations became evident during REM sleep. REM sleep without atonia (RWA) was analyzed on chin EMG and the cutoff set at 18.2% as specific for RBD.
RESULTS
At the time of this investigation 9 of 13 subjects with previous RBE were identified with RBD based upon clinical and EMG criteria. All recalled vivid dreams, and 7 subjects were able to describe dream content in detail. Four of 13 subjects with RBE showed RWA values below cutoff values for RBD. Three of these 4 subjects recalled having non-threatening dreams, and 2 (of these 3) were able to describe these dreams in detail.
CONCLUSION
RBE with RWA below the RBD defining criteria correlate to dreaming in this selected cohort. There is evidence that RBEs are a precursor to RBD.
Topics: Aged; Dreams; Electromyography; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Parkinson Disease; Polysomnography; Prospective Studies; REM Sleep Behavior Disorder; Sleep, REM
PubMed: 25665694
DOI: 10.5664/jcsm.4698 -
The Journal of Neuroscience : the... Jan 2015Lucid dreaming is a state of awareness that one is dreaming, without leaving the sleep state. Dream reports show that self-reflection and volitional control are more...
Lucid dreaming is a state of awareness that one is dreaming, without leaving the sleep state. Dream reports show that self-reflection and volitional control are more pronounced in lucid compared with nonlucid dreams. Mostly on these grounds, lucid dreaming has been associated with metacognition. However, the link to lucid dreaming at the neural level has not yet been explored. We sought for relationships between the neural correlates of lucid dreaming and thought monitoring. Human participants completed a questionnaire assessing lucid dreaming ability, and underwent structural and functional MRI. We split participants based on their reported dream lucidity. Participants in the high-lucidity group showed greater gray matter volume in the frontopolar cortex (BA9/10) compared with those in the low-lucidity group. Further, differences in brain structure were mirrored by differences in brain function. The BA9/10 regions identified through structural analyses showed increases in blood oxygen level-dependent signal during thought monitoring in both groups, and more strongly in the high-lucidity group. Our results reveal shared neural systems between lucid dreaming and metacognitive function, in particular in the domain of thought monitoring. This finding contributes to our understanding of the mechanisms enabling higher-order consciousness in dreams.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Awareness; Brain; Cognition; Dreams; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Neuroimaging; Sleep, REM; Surveys and Questionnaires; Young Adult
PubMed: 25609624
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3342-14.2015 -
Psychiatrike = Psychiatriki 2016Dreams preoccupied the Greek and Roman world in antiquity, therefore they had a prominent role in social, philosophical, religious, historical and political life of...
Dreams preoccupied the Greek and Roman world in antiquity, therefore they had a prominent role in social, philosophical, religious, historical and political life of those times. They were considered as omens and prophetic signs of future events in private and public life, and that was particularly accentuated when elements of actions which took place in the plot of dreams were associated directly or indirectly with real events. This is why it was important to use them in divination, and helped the growth of superstition and folklore believes. Medicine as a science and an anthropocentric art, could not ignore the importance of dreams, having in mind their popularity in antiquity. In ancient Greek medicine dreams can be divided into two basic categories. In the first one -which is related to religious medicine-dreams experienced by religionists are classified, when resorted to great religious sanctuaries such as those of Asclepius (Asclepieia) and Amphiaraos (Amfiaraeia). These dreams were the essential element for healing in this form of religious medicine, because after pilgrims underwent purifications they went to sleep in a special dwelling of the sanctuaries called "enkoimeterion" (Greek: the place to sleep) so that the healing god would come to their dreams either to cure them or to suggest treatment. In ancient Greek literature there are many reports of these experiences, but if there may be phenomena of self-suggestion, or they could be characterized as propaganda messages from the priesthood of each sanctuary for advertising purposes. The other category concerns the references about dreams found in ancient Greek medical literature, where one can find the attempts of ancient Greek physicians to interpret these dreams in a rational way as sings either of a corporal disease or of psychological distress. This second category will be the object of our study. Despite the different ways followed by each ancient Greek physician in order to explain dreams, their common intention was to give a rational answer for the creation and content of dreams setting aside any supernatural beliefs. In addition they tried to explain in a scientific way the correlation that could have emerged between the story that took place in dreams and the events that happened in everyday life. Nevertheless, ancient Greek physicians focused especially on nightmares, which were associated with physical problems. For those physicians these nightmares included information about the corporal disease of the patient, which had a reflection in the dream, and they could help them to diagnose the problem in order to restore balance of the body.
Topics: Diagnosis; Dreams; Greece, Ancient; History, Ancient; Humans; Mental Healing; Parapsychology; Religion and Medicine
PubMed: 27837575
DOI: 10.22365/jpsych.2016.273.215 -
Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine :... Aug 2016
Topics: Dreams; Humans; Physicians; Respiration
PubMed: 27306394
DOI: 10.5664/jcsm.6074