Lucid Dreaming: Not Just Awareness, but Agency.
Journal of Sleep Research April 1, 2026 Severin Ableidinger, Luigi De Gennaro, Sérgio Mota-Rolim et al.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, about 30% of people frequently knew they were dreaming (lucid dreaming), and roughly half of those (17%) could influence their dreams (lucid dreaming with agency). Female gender and anxiety symptoms were linked to less ability to influence dreams, while dream recall, nightmares, insomnia, dream enactment behavior, sleep vocalization, short and long COVID, and PTSD were linked to more ability. Older age, dream recall, nightmares, and anxiety were linked to lucid dreaming without agency, while short sleep, being an evening type, and short COVID were linked to less of it. The different patterns suggest lucid dreaming with and without agency may be distinct sleep states, and this is the first study showing COVID-19 and long COVID are associated with lucid dreaming.