The Effects of Lucid Dreaming and Nightmares on Sleep Quality and Mental Health Outcomes.
Michelle Carr, Westley Youngren, Martin Seehuus, Raphaëlle Semin, Emma Angle, Wilfred R Pigeon
Behavioral Sleep Medicine 2025 DOI: 10.1080/15402002.2024.2423297 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1,332 |
| Population | General population |
| Topics | Dreaming Lucid dreaming |
| Citations | 6 |
| Key findings | Nightmares alone explain associations between lucid dreaming and poor sleep quality, anxiety symptoms, and stress, but both nightmares and the combination of nightmares and lucid dreaming are associated with increased depressive symptoms. |
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate relationships between lucid dreaming and sleep and mental health outcomes within a representative sample of the general population. We also sought to examine how nightmares interact with the relationship between lucid dreaming, sleep, and mental health outcomes. Participants (N = 1332) completed measures of lucid dream frequency, nightmare frequency, anxiety and depressive symptoms, stress, and sleep quality. Hierarchical regression models were conducted, where step-1 examined the direct effect of lucid dreaming on all outcome variables, and step-2 added nightmares into the equation (to examine direct effects of lucid dreaming frequency and nightmares, and the indirect effect of nightmares). Step-1 results demonstrated that lucid dreaming positively predicted poor sleep quality, stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Step-2 results revealed that nightmares were the only significant predictor of poor sleep quality, stress, and anxiety symptoms, accounting for all of the variance of lucid dreaming. Nightmares and the interaction of nightmares and lucid dreaming positively predicted depressive symptoms. Our results suggest that nightmares alone explain associations between lucid dreaming and poor sleep quality, anxiety symptoms, and stress. However, both nightmares and the combination of nightmares and lucid dreaming are associated with increased depressive symptoms.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on lucid dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Student volunteers trained to become lucid and signal lucidity with horizontal eye... | 2009 | Observational study | n = 6 |
| Neural Correlates of Dream Lucidity Obtained from Contrasting Lucid versus Non-Lucid REM Sleep: A Combined EEG/fMRI Case Study Experienced lucid dreamers | 2012 | Observational cohort | n = 4 |
| Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep. Individuals during REM sleep, including frequent lucid dreamers, a novice, and a... | 2021 | Observational study | n = 36 |
| Lucid Dreaming in Narcolepsy Consecutive patients with narcolepsy and healthy controls | 2015 | Case-control study | n = 106 |
| Metacognitive Mechanisms Underlying Lucid Dreaming Human participants split into high- and low-lucidity groups based on reported dream... | 2015 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cited by 4
- The clinical neuroscience of lucid dreaming. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews January 14, 2025
- A narrative review on the neurobiology of lucid dreaming: mechanisms and therapeutic potential. Annals of Medicine and Surgery January 21, 2026
- The Future of Parasomnias. Journal of Sleep Research October 1, 2025
- Stability of Lucid Dream Frequency and Lucid Dreaming Skills Over a 7-Year Period Imagination, Cognition and Personality September 1, 2025
Cites 20
- Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Sleep September 1, 2009
- Frequency of Lucid Dreaming in a Representative German Sample Perceptual and Motor Skills February 1, 2011
- My Dream, My Rules: Can Lucid Dreaming Treat Nightmares? Frontiers in Psychology 2019
- Studies with lucid dreaming as add-on therapy to Gestalt therapy Acta Neurologica Scandinavica January 30, 2015
- Nightmares affect the experience of sleep quality but not sleep architecture: an ambulatory polysomnographic study Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation February 12, 2015
and 15 more in the library