Association Between Dreams, Anxiety, and Depressive Symptoms Among Japanese Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study
Clocks & Sleep June 26, 2025 Y. Tanaka, Yuichiro Otsuka, Suguru Nakajima et al. 1 citation
Among Japanese high school students, the frequency of rumination at bedtime and unpleasant dreams is strongly associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms. Rumination at bedtime showed an adjusted odds ratio of 10.60 for anxiety symptoms and 8.79 for depressive symptoms; unpleasant dreams showed 5.25 for anxiety and 10.13 for depression. Other dream features such as memory of dreams, emotional carryover, and awakening by frightening, film-like, fantastical, or recurring dreams also correlated with higher symptom prevalence, but pleasant dreams did not. These findings suggest that bedtime rumination and unpleasant dreams may serve as early indicators of declining mental health in adolescents.