Symptom dynamics among nightmare sufferers: An intensive longitudinal study
Britta Dumser, Gabriela G. Werner, Thomas W. Ehring, Keisuke Takano
Journal of Sleep Research November 9, 2022 DOI: 10.1111/jsr.13776 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Intensive longitudinal study (daily diary with actigraphy) Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 16 |
| Population | Young women with regular nightmares |
| Duration | Around 30 days of daily sleep diary and actigraphy |
| Measures | sleep diary, actigraphy |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Citations | 6 |
| Key findings | Higher fear of sleep and lower subjective sleep quality were significantly associated with greater nightmare distress, with individual differences in the strength of these associations. Pre-sleep arousal showed no expected within-person associations with nightmares or fear of sleep. The authors argue fear of sleep is central to nightmare etiology and sleep disturbances, and call for personalized models explaining heterogeneity in nightmare triggering. |
Abstract
Nightmares are considerably prevalent in the general population and are known to be closely associated with a variety of mental disorders. However, not much is known about the immediate antecedents and consequences of nightmares. Therefore, we used intensive longitudinal assessments to investigate the night-to-night within-person associations between nightmares on the one hand and fear of sleep, somatic as well as cognitive pre-sleep arousal, and sleep quality on the other hand. Young women with regular nightmares (n = 16) maintained a sleep diary for around 30 days; upon awaking, the participants reported on nightmares and sleep quality during the past night as well as the pre-sleep levels of arousal and fear of sleep (which resulted in 461 observations). Participants also wore an actigraph, which provided objective sleep parameters. Multilevel modeling showed that higher levels of fear of sleep and lower subjective sleep quality were significantly associated with higher levels of nightmare distress. Furthermore, we found individual differences in the strength of these associations, which implies that factors proximate to nightmares may vary across individuals. Pre-sleep arousal, however, did not show expected within-person associations with nightmares or fear of sleep. These findings highlight the crucial role of fear of sleep in the etiology of nightmares and sleep disturbances, while pointing to the importance of pursuing individual, personalised models that explain heterogeneity in the process of triggering nightmares.
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 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 3
- Nightmares, Dream Engineering, and Evolutionary Thresholds of Dysfunction Psychology International July 24, 2026
- Anger, Cynical Distrust, Nightmare Distress and Insomnia Among Nursing Personnel Journal of Clinical Medicine May 1, 2026
- Enhancing identification and diagnosis of nightmare disorder in active duty patients at a sleep disorders center: A quality improvement initiative. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine January 22, 2026
Cites 7
- Aetiology and treatment of nightmare disorder: State of the art and future perspectives Journal of Sleep Research January 29, 2019
- Nightmares affect the experience of sleep quality but not sleep architecture: an ambulatory polysomnographic study Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation February 12, 2015
- Sleep, dreams, nightmares, and sex-related differences: a narrative review. European review for medical and pharmacological sciences April 1, 2021
- What goes around comes around: Nightmares and daily stress are bidirectionally associated in nurses Stress and Health March 21, 2021
- The Nightmare Disorder Index: Development and Initial Validation in a Sample of Nurses. Sleep November 27, 2020
and 2 more in the library