0239 Mindfulness Moderates the Relationship Between Lucid Dreaming, Nightmare Distress, and Sleep Quality

Among 275 adults from the United States and Thailand, mindfulness predicted both nightmare distress and sleep quality, while nightmare distress predicted poorer sleep quality. A statistical trend suggested lucid dreaming may increase nightmare distress. Lucid dreaming was linked to worse sleep quality only for individuals with low mindfulness; for those with average or high mindfulness, a zero effect could not be ruled out. The findings suggest that lucid dreaming alone may not reduce nightmare distress, but combining lucid dreaming with mindfulness practices could lower distress and improve sleep quality.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Nightmares can cause poorer sleep quality. Various mechanisms have been explored as potential treatments for nightmares, including mindfulness practices and lucid dreaming. Presently, little literature has looked at the interaction effects between mindfulness and lucid dreaming to reduce nightmare distress. Methods A sample of 275 individuals was recruited from both the United States and Thailand via social media and a student pool of research subjects at UNC Charlotte. Data were recorded on participants’ demographic information, lucid dreaming from the Lucidity and Consciousness in Dreams Scale (Voss et al., 2013), Mindfulness using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionaire (Baer et al., 2006), Nighmares via the Nightmare Distress Questionaire (Belicki, 1992), and sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI; Buysse et al., 1989). Higher scores on each measure were associated with more lucid dreaming, more mindful behaviors, more severe nightmares, and poorer sleep quality. PROCESS model 8 was run to conduct a moderated mediation analysis (Hayes, 2018). Lucid dreaming was used as the predictor; sleep quality as the outcome variable, nightmare distress as the mediator and mindfulness acted as a moderator on both the direct and indirect pathway of lucid dreaming onto the mediator and outcome. Results Mindfulness was a significant predictor at both the mediator and outcome variables. Nightmare distress was a significant predictor of sleep quality. A statistical trend (p=.054) suggests lucid dreaming may have a positive effect on nightmare distress. In the indirect path, lucid dreaming had a positive effect on PSQI scores only for individuals with low mindfulness. Conclusion The moderated mediation suggests that individuals with low mindfulness may see a decrease in sleep quality from lucid dreaming. This could be due to lucid dreaming being associated with more severe nightmares. A zero-effect size could not be ruled out of the confidence intervals for individuals of average or high mindfulness, but the data suggest that lucid dreaming alone may not help treat nightmares, but the combination of lucid dreaming and mindfulness therapies could promote lower distress and better sleep quality. Support Psychological Sciences departmental funding