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Disturbed dreaming during the third trimester of pregnancy.

Jessica Lara-Carrasco, Valérie Simard, Kadia Saint-Onge, Vickie Lamoureux-Tremblay, Tore Nielsen

Sleep Medicine June 1, 2014 DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2014.01.026 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Prospective cohort study Peer reviewed
Sample size 116
Population Nulliparous third-trimester pregnant women and non-pregnant controls
Duration 14-day prospective home log
Topics Dreaming
Keywords Bad dreams Disturbed dream recall Nightmares Pregnancy Sleep quality
Key findings Pregnant women reported more bad dreams and nightmares than non-pregnant women, and higher dysphoric dream recall correlated with lower sleep quality.

Abstract

The majority of women develop sleep impairments during pregnancy, but alterations in dream experiences remain poorly understood. This study aimed to assess prospectively and comparatively the recall of dreaming and of disturbed dreaming in late pregnancy. Fifty-seven nulliparous, third-trimester pregnant women (mean age±SD, 28.7±4.06 years) and 59 non-pregnant controls (mean age±SD, 26.8±4.21 years) completed demographics and psychological questionnaires. A 14-day prospective home log assessed sleep and dream characteristics and the Sleep Disorders Questionnaire measured retrospective dream and disturbed dream recall. Even though pregnant and non-pregnant women showed similar prospective dream recall (P=0.47), pregnant women reported prospectively more bad dreams (P=0.004). More pregnant women (21%) than non-pregnant women (7%) reported a nightmare incidence exceeding moderately severe pathology (>1/week) (P=0.03). Pregnant women also reported overall lower sleep quality (P=0.007) and more night awakenings (P=0.003). Higher prospective recall of bad dreams (r = -0.40, P=0.002) and nightmares (r = -0.32, P=0.001) both correlated with lower sleep quality in pregnant women. Late pregnancy is a period of markedly increased dysphoric dream imagery that may be a major contributor to impaired sleep at this time. Further polysomnographic assessments of pregnant women are needed to clarify relationships between sleep and disturbed dream production in this population.

Comparable studies

Other observational and cohort studies on 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
Nightmare Prevalence, Nightmare Distress, and Self-Reported Psychological Disturbance Young adults with a mean age of 20 years 2002 Prospective observational study n = 116
Long-term effects of extreme situational stress on sleep and dreaming Survivors of traumatic events who complained of sleep disturbances, compared with... 1987 Case-control study n = 11
The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well‐being Adults who reported dreams 2004 Observational cohort n = 147
Dreaming in NREM Sleep: A High-Density EEG Study of Slow Waves and Spindles Healthy human subjects 2018 Observational cohort n = 14

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