The term “phase states” combines states such as lucid dreams, out-of-body and near-death experiences, sleep paralysis, and false awakenings. The connection of these phenomena have interested a psychotherapist from the Jung Institute (Switzerland), Art Funkhouser, who has conducted a pilot study published in the International Journal of Dream Research.
The scientist suggests that near-death experiences have a strong impact on people, including affecting their dreams. However, since NDEs are still quite rare (although similar stories were found in 95% of the world’s cultures), it was not easy to find respondents for the study; the data collection alone took two years.
The results show that near-death experiences lead to a significant increase in the number of positive, vivid, and spiritual dreams. Dream recall and interest in the participants’ own and other people’s dreams also increased. Finally, almost 50% of the participants reported that the NDE helped them better understand their dreams or dreaming in general.
Other studies cited by Funkhouser also show a dramatic improvement in the ability to remember dreams after NDE: from 43% to 73%. In addition, the length of time between the onset of sleep and the beginning of the first REM phase increases, but the time spent in this phase does not change.
That being said, Funkhouser refers to his study as a pilot. It is insignificant in terms of the number of participants (only 46 people), and non-verifiable, since the questionnaires were filled out anonymously on the Internet, without the opportunity to communicate in person and make sure at least that the near-death experience really happened. Nevertheless, as the author writes, it seems that no one has yet seriously studied the influence of NDE on the content of dreams. And, of course, this subject requires more in-depth future analysis.
The article was published in the International Journal of Dream Research in May 2021.
