Dream Recall and Content versus the Menstrual Cycle: A Cross-Sectional Study in Healthy Women.
Ioannis Ilias, Nicholas-Tiberio Economou, Anastasia Lekkou, Andrea Romigi, Eftychia Koukkou
Medical Sciences July 21, 2019 DOI: 10.3390/medsci7070081 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cross-sectional survey Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 944 |
| Population | Young women |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Dreams Menstrual cycle Sleep Women |
| Key findings | Pleasant dream content was associated with the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. |
Abstract
The association between sleep and the menstrual cycle has been scarcely studied. This study aimed to investigate the association between dream recall and content and the menstrual cycle among a large sample of young women. To this aim, 944 women were asked about their day of menstrual cycle, whether they remembered the previous night's dreams and if they did so to describe the dream content as pleasant or unpleasant. A total of 378 women recalled the previous nights' dreams, with 199 reporting pleasant dream affect/content and 179 reporting unpleasant dream content. In women who recalled their dreams, there was an association of pleasant dream content with the luteal phase (p = 0.038). In conclusion, in women, the hormonal milieu of the luteal phase may influence dream content.
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 3
Cites 17
- Questionnaires and diaries as research instruments in dream research: Methodological issues. Dreaming March 1, 2002
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- Spotlight on dream recall: the ages of dreams Nature and Science of Sleep 2018
- Dream Affect and the Menstrual Cycle The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease July 1, 1980
- The Functional Role of Dreaming in Emotional Processes. Frontiers in Psychology 2019
and 12 more in the library