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Lucid Nightmares: A Survey of Their Frequency, Features, and Factors in Lucid Dreamers

Tadas Stumbrys

Dreaming September 1, 2018 DOI: 10.1037/drm0000090 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational survey Peer reviewed
Sample size 634
Population Online survey respondents, including 574 with previous lucid dream experience
Topics Dreaming Lucid dreaming
Key findings Fewer than half of lucid dreamers reported ever experiencing a lucid nightmare, and only 1% experienced them weekly or more often. Lucid nightmares appear as distressing as ordinary nightmares, commonly involving lack of dream control, intense fear, violent autonomous dream characters, and inability to wake. They were more likely among women, nightmare sufferers, frequent lucid dreamers, and those whose lucid dreams occur spontaneously.

Abstract

This article reports the first systematic study on lucid nightmares—terrifying lucid dreams with a lack of dream control. An online survey was completed by 634 participants, of whom 574 had had previous lucid dream experience. According to the reports of lucid dreamers, less than half of them had experienced a lucid nightmare, and only 1% of them could be considered as suffering from lucid nightmares—experiencing them once a week or more frequently. Lucid nightmares appear to be as distressing as ordinary nightmares. Lack of dream control and intense fear are among their most common features, followed by violent autonomous dream characters and the inability to wake up. Lucid nightmares are more likely to occur for women and nightmare sufferers, yet also for more frequent lucid dreamers and for those who experience lucid dreams spontaneously rather than them being induced deliberately. Key methodological points, for example, whether the awakening criterion in the definition of lucid nightmares should be included, are addressed, and suggestions for future research are provided.

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

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