Lucid dreaming and associated sleep and dream factors among university students in West Bank Palestine
International Journal of Dream Research 2022 DOI: 10.11588/ijodr.2022.1.81192 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 390 |
| Population | University students in West Bank Palestine |
| Topics | Dreaming Lucid dreaming |
| Key findings | Lucid dreaming prevalence was 71%, with a frequency of 0.77 (SD=1.85) lucid dreams per month. Awareness of lucid dreaming was 38.5% and associated with incidence. Nocturnal awakening and dream characteristics (frequency, recall, daydreaming, meaningfulness) were associated with lucid dreaming, while sleep time, latency, duration, and perceived quality were not. |
Abstract
Lucid dreaming is a phenomenon in which the dreamer is aware that he/she is dreaming while the dream is still going on. Many studies investigated the prevalence of lucid dreaming in various populations; however, no study has been conducted in the Arab Middle East region. As age and cultural differences in attitudes towards dreams may influence lucid dreaming, we aimed to investigate lucid dreaming and associated sleep characteristics among university students in West Bank Palestine. This cross-sectional study was conducted through an online questionnaire and a total of 390 students participated. The results revealed a prevalence of 71% and frequency of 0.77 (SD=1.85) lucid dreams/month. The awareness level of lucid dreaming was 38.5% and significantly associated with lucid dreaming incidence. Participant demographics and certain sleep factors such as sleep time, latency, duration and perceived quality did not influence lucid dreaming. However, nocturnal awakening significantly associated with the occurrence of lucid dreams. Dream characteristics including dream frequency, dream recall, day-dreaming and perceived meaningfulness of dreams were all associated with lucid dreaming and positively correlated with its frequency. The results show comparable lucid dreaming patterns to other populations and indicate its dependence on many dream characteristics.
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on lucid dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Lucid dreaming: an age‐dependent brain dissociation Students aged 6-19 years | 2012 | Survey | |
| Terror and bliss? Commonalities and distinctions between sleep paralysis, lucid dreaming, and their associations with waking life experiences Adults aged 18–82 years | 2016 | Cross-sectional survey | n = 1,928 |
| Increased Lucid Dreaming Frequency in Narcolepsy Patients diagnosed with narcolepsy and healthy control subjects | 2015 | Cross-sectional study | n = 979 |