Examining Physiological Hyperarousal in the Relationship Between Insomnia and Nightmare Proneness
William E. Kelly, Ani Enriquez, Faith Yanez
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 209 |
| Population | Adults recruited from a university participant pool and an online community sample |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key findings | Nightmare proneness explained an additional 6.5% of the variance in insomnia after controlling for recruitment source, age, gender, nightmare frequency, neuroticism, and trauma symptoms, and physiological hyperarousal accounted for a further 2.3%. Nightmare proneness showed a significant indirect association with insomnia through physiological hyperarousal while maintaining a direct association, suggesting hyperarousal is one contributing process but does not fully account for the link. |
Abstract
Nightmare proneness has been associated with insomnia beyond nightmare frequency and neuroticism. The present study examined physiological hyperarousal as a potential process contributing to this relationship. Participants were 209 adults recruited from a university participant pool and an online community sample. Participants completed self-report measures of nightmare proneness, insomnia, physiological hyperarousal, nightmare frequency, neuroticism, and trauma symptoms. Hierarchical regression and indirect-effect analyses were conducted. After controlling for recruitment source, age, gender, nightmare frequency, neuroticism, and trauma symptoms, nightmare proneness explained an additional 6.5% of the variance in insomnia. Physiological hyperarousal accounted for an additional 2.3% of variance beyond nightmare proneness. Nightmare proneness showed a significant indirect association with insomnia through physiological hyperarousal but maintained a direct association with insomnia after physiological hyperarousal was considered. Physiological hyperarousal may represent one process contributing to the relationship between nightmare proneness and insomnia but does not fully account for this association. The findings support conceptualizing nightmare proneness and physiological hyperarousal as related but non-redundant factors associated with insomnia.
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 |