How often do the traces of the day’s experience appear in our dreams? To what extent are feelings from waking life present in these dreams? Nightmares, for instance, are more likely to occur after traumatic events such as hurricanes, earthquakes or terrorist attacks. At the same time, a person does not necessarily see the specific event in the dream; rather, there is simply an increase in the level of emotional arousal.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity to study the impact of crises on dreams. This topic has been raised repeatedly by scientists from different countries. Recently, an article on the subject was presented by authors from Germany, among them the famous researcher of lucid dreams (LD), Ursula Voss.
Interestingly, in addition to the usual group of healthy volunteers, the authors interviewed patients with various psychiatric diagnoses—from depression to bipolar disorder. Researchers have suggested that such people are more susceptible to stress, and its effect on their sleep must be more pronounced.
Among other things, the authors wanted to find out how the pandemic affected lucid dreaming. Other scientists have noted an increase in the number of LDs during the pandemic. Theoretically, a waking crisis and a feeling of helplessness can lead to the desire for control in a dream, especially among those who are psychologically vulnerable. However, the survey conducted by the German researchers did not confirm this hypothesis: in general, less than 1% of the collected dreams were lucid. As the authors suggest, this is due to the violation of a healthy sleep cycle, which is necessary for lucidity.
Back in 2013, Ursula Voss, together with a group of other scientists, identified three main LD factors: understanding that the surrounding space is a dream; control (the ability to change the dream scenario); and dissociation (experiencing the dream in the third person). In the current study, the indicators for all three items were generally at the pre-pandemic level or even lower. However, people with psychological problems were more likely to report dissociation. This suggests that they may be prone to LD, but require proper training in induction techniques.
How does stress affect your lucid dreaming practice?
The article was published in December 2022 in the International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology.
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