COVID Dreams
Have you noticed a difference in your dreams during the pandemic? If so, you are not alone. A May 2020 study of more than 3,000 U. S. adults found that those who were the most impacted by the pandemic noticed a strong impact on their dream life (Schredl and Bulkeley, 2020). This might include higher dream recall levels, more negatively toned dreams, and dreams related to the pandemic. This finding is consistent with previous research, which found that our dreams often reflect what’s happening in our waking hours (Barrett, 2020).
The researchers in this study suggested that a higher dream recall during the pandemic might be related to the following:
Sleep patterns have changed dramatically during the pandemic. For example, young adults are sleeping longer (Cellini et al., 2020), which increases the incidence of dream recall.
We tend to remember negatively toned dreams more often than neutral or more positive dreams.
Increases in insomnia during the pandemic may also contribute to dream recall (Pappa et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2020). One of the symptoms of insomnia is frequent nighttime awakenings, which is correlated with higher dream recall.
If you find your sleep patterns have changed during the pandemic, you may want to consider these strategies:
Implement stress reduction practices during the day. Consider implementing mindfulness practices such as breathing exercises throughout the day.
Improve your bedtime routine. Reflect on how you can improve your sleep quality by developing a process that allows you time to unwind from the day and prepare your mind and body for a restful night.
Talk about your dreams. Describing and discussing your dream with others helps you make sense of complex emotions, memories, and concerns often reflected in our dreams (Cartwright, 2011).
Sleep quality is important to our health and it is understandable that this critical function may be impacted by the stress and anxiety we experience during the day. Instead of allowing your sleep quality to continue to deteriorate and cause long-term damage, I encourage you to take a proactive approach to address this issue. To help you get started, here are two exercises you may want to try.
References
Barrett, D. (2020). Dreams about COVID-19 versus normative dreams: Trends by gender. Dreaming, 30(3), 216.
Cartwright, R. (2011). Dreaming as a mood-regulation system. In M. H. Kryger, T. Roth, & W. C. Dement (Eds.), Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine (pp. 620–627). St. Louis, MO: Saunders. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-4160-6645-3.00054-2
Pappa, S., Ntella, V., Giannakas, T., Giannakoulis, V. G., Papoutsi, E., & Katsaounou, P. (2020). Prevalence of depression, anxiety, and insomnia among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 88, 901–907. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.05.026
Schredl, M., & Bulkeley, K. (2020). Dreaming and the COVID-19 pandemic: A survey in a US sample. Dreaming, 30(3), 189.
Zhang, C., Yang, L., Liu, S., Ma, S., Wang, Y., Cai, Z., . . . Zhang, B. (2020). Survey of insomnia and related social psychological factors among medical staff involved in the 2019 novel coronavirus disease outbreak. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 306. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00306