Dream Recall and Sleep Duration: State or Trait Factor
Michael Schredl, Stephany Fulda
Perceptual and Motor Skills October 1, 2005 DOI: 10.2466/pms.101.2.613-616 (opens in new tab)
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractPeople tend to remember their dreams more on mornings after they have slept longer than usual, even though individuals who generally sleep more do not recall dreams more often than those who sleep less. This conclusion comes from daily diaries kept by 196 participants over 28 to 111 days. The finding suggests that a person's own variation in sleep length, rather than their average sleep duration, influences dream recall. Morning sleep inertia may explain why longer sleep boosts recall.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 196 |
| Population | Adults keeping daily sleep and dream diaries |
| Duration | 28 to 111 days |
| Key finding | Intra-individual fluctuations in sleep duration were significantly related to dream recall, whereas interindividual differences in dream recall were not associated with differences in sleep duration. |
Abstract
Previous research regarding the relationship between habitual sleep duration and frequency of dream recall yielded conflicting results, whereas experimental manipulation of sleep duration showed a significant effect on dream recall. In this study analyzing both effects simultaneously, the findings from diaries kept by the 196 participants over 28 to 111 days indicated that intra-individual fluctuations in sleep duration were significantly related to dream recall whereas interindividual differences in dream recall were not associated with differences in sleep duration. Sleep inertia might be an explanation for this finding.