Dreaming, insomnia, and choreographic creativity of young female dancers: a cross-sectional preliminary study
Masaki Nishida, Amina Goro
Creativity Studies May 12, 2025 DOI: 10.3846/cs.2025.18095 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 46 |
| Population | Young female contemporary dancers |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Creativity Cross-sectional study Developmental psychology Clinical psychology |
| Key findings | Nightmare frequency is less associated with subjective insomnia in creative choreographic dancers than in non-choreographic dancers, suggesting a possible resilience process. |
Abstract
Human creative activities have been postulated to be related to insomnia and dreaming during sleep. The current preliminary cross-sectional study investigated the associations between insomnia, dreaming, and creativity of choreography in young female dancers. Forty-six female contemporary dancers were included in the present online study and divided into two groups, creative choreographic dancers and non-choreographers, according to their experienced professional roles. The frequency and contents of dreams and nightmares were collected from the participants. In the choreographer group, the frequency of nightmares was significantly correlated with sleep duration and quality among Athens insomnia scale variables. Choreographers also exhibited a significant correlation between the frequency of nightmares and positive thinking tendencies. The non-choreographer group similarly revealed a significant correlation between the frequency of nightmares and Athens insomnia scale variables. The present results suggest that creativity in dance choreography is related to dream frequency, although it is less associated with dream content. Nightmare is less associated with subjective insomnia in creative choreographic dancers than in non-creative dancers, implying the involvement of neuro-psychological mechanisms related to the resilience process. Future research should explore the characteristics of creativity and regular sleep quality and could benefit from including external physiological measures to evaluate sleep propensities.
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
Cites 8
- Aetiology and treatment of nightmare disorder: State of the art and future perspectives Journal of Sleep Research January 29, 2019
- Self-Reported Effects of Dreams on Waking-Life Creativity: An Empirical Study The Journal of Psychology 2007
- Prevalence and Detailed Experience of Nightmare and Nightmare Disorder in Chinese University Students Sage Open April 1, 2021
- High Dream Recall Frequency is Associated with Increased Creativity and Default Mode Network Connectivity. Nature and Science of Sleep 2022
- The neural correlates of dreaming. Nature Neuroscience April 10, 2017
and 3 more in the library