Pandemic nightmares: Effects on dream activity of the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy.
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Anastasia Mangiaruga, Alessandro Musetti, Maria Catena Quattropani, Vittorio Lenzo, Maria Francesca Freda, Daniela Lemmo, Elena Vegni, Lidia Borghi, Emanuela Saita, Roberto Cattivelli, Gianluca Castelnuovo, Giuseppe Plazzi, Luigi De Gennaro, Christian Franceschini
Journal of Sleep Research October 1, 2021 DOI: 10.1111/jsr.13300 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional survey Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 5,988 |
| Population | Italian adults during COVID-19 lockdown |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Adverse events Continuity hypothesis Health Mental sleep activity |
| Key findings | Italians reported more frequent nightmares and dreams during the pandemic, with predictors including young age, female gender, sleep duration, anxiety, and depression. |
Abstract
COVID-19 has critically impacted the world. Recent works have found substantial changes in sleep and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dreams could give us crucial information about people's well-being, so here we have directly investigated the consequences of lockdown on the oneiric activity in a large Italian sample: 5,988 adults completed a web-survey during lockdown. We investigated sociodemographic and COVID-19-related information, sleep quality (by the Medical Outcomes Study-Sleep Scale), mental health (by the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales), dream and nightmare frequency, and related emotional aspects (by the Mannheim Dream Questionnaire). Comparisons between our sample and a population-based sample revealed that Italians are having more frequent nightmares and dreams during the pandemic. A multiple logistic regression model showed the predictors of high dream recall (young age, female gender, not having children, sleep duration) and high nightmare frequency (young age, female gender, modification of napping, sleep duration, intrasleep wakefulness, sleep problem index, anxiety, depression). Moreover, we found higher emotional features of dream activity in workers who have stopped working, in people who have relatives/friends infected by or who have died from COVID-19 and in subjects who have changed their sleep habits. Our findings point to the fact that the predictors of high dream recall and nightmares are consistent with the continuity between sleep mentation and daily experiences. According to the arousal-retrieval model, we found that poor sleep predicts a high nightmare frequency. We suggest monitoring dream changes during the epidemic, and also considering the implications for clinical treatment and prevention of mental and sleep disorders.
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insomnia Symptoms, Nightmares, and Suicidal Ideation in a College Student Sample Undergraduate students at a large, public university in the southeastern United States | 2011 | Observational cross-sectional survey | n = 583 |
| Prevalence and Correlates of Frequent Nightmares: A Community-Based 2-Phase Study Middle-aged Hong Kong Chinese adults from the community, mean age 40.9 years (SD 5.5,... | 2010 | Cross-sectional survey with subsequent clinical evaluation (two-phase design) | n = 8,558 |
| Factors of home dream recall: a structural equation model Adults (general population sample) | 2003 | Cross-sectional survey with structural equation modeling | n = 444 |
| The Phenomenology of Lucid Dreaming: An Online Survey Respondents to an online survey about lucid dreams | 2014 | Online survey | n = 684 |
| Frequency of Lucid Dreaming in a Representative German Sample Representative sample of German adults | 2011 | Cross-sectional survey | n = 919 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 37
- The impact of the end of COVID confinement on pandemic dreams, as assessed by a weekly sleep diary: a longitudinal investigation in Italy. Journal of Sleep Research February 1, 2022
- The role of sleep and dreams in long‐ COVID Journal of Sleep Research November 18, 2022
- Nightmare content during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Influence of COVID‐related stress and sleep disruption in the United States Journal of Sleep Research August 18, 2021
- Dreams and Nightmares during the First and Second Wave of the COVID-19 Infection: A Longitudinal Study. Brain Sciences October 20, 2021
- Dream Activity in Narcoleptic Patients During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy. Frontiers in Psychology 2021
and 32 more in the library
Cites 15
- Dreaming and the COVID-19 pandemic: A survey in a U.S. sample. Dreaming September 1, 2020
- Peace of mind and anxiety in the waking state are related to the affective content of dreams Scientific Reports August 20, 2018
- Dreaming in the time of COVID-19: A quali-quantitative Italian study. Dreaming September 1, 2020
- Increased Awakenings From Non-rapid Eye Movement Sleep Explain Differences in Dream Recall Frequency in Healthy Individuals Frontiers in Human Neuroscience October 15, 2019
- Continuity between waking life and dreams of psychiatric patients A review and discussion of the implications for dream research University Library Heidelberg 2014
and 10 more in the library