Dreams and nightmares during the pandemic.
Somnologie : Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin = Somnology : sleep research and sleep medicine January 1, 2022 Severin Ableidinger, Franziska Nierwetberg, Brigitte Holzinger
During the COVID-19 pandemic, people began remembering more dreams, and dream content shifted toward themes such as sickness, confinement, and bugs, especially in the English-speaking world. Nightmare frequency also increased. Factors contributing to this change include more time spent in REM sleep due to increased sleep duration, which can produce bizarre and vivid dreams, and stress or poor mental health that reduced sleep quality, which can also boost dream recall. Dreams help regulate mood, so the rise in dreams and altered content may reflect a reaction to rising stress and declining mental health. As the pandemic progressed, further changes in mental health, dream recall, and dream content emerged, though data remain scarce.