Arousal in Nocturnal Consciousness: How Dream- and Sleep-Experiences May Inform Us of Poor Sleep Quality, Stress, and Psychopathology

Abstract

The term “sleep experiences,” coined by Watson (2001), denotes an array of unusual nocturnal consciousness phenomena; for example, nightmares, vivid or recurrent dreams, hypnagogic hallucinations, dreams of falling or flying, confusional arousals, and lucid dreams. Excluding the latter, these experiences reflect a single factor of atypical oneiric cognitions (“general sleep experiences”). The current study is an opinionated mini-review on the associations of this factor—measured with the Iowa sleep experiences survey (ISES, Watson, 2001)—with psychopathological symptoms and stress. Findings support a strong relation between psychological distress and general sleep experiences. It is suggested that that they should be viewed as a sleep disturbance; they seem to represent involuntary intrusions of wakefulness into sleep, resulting in aroused sleep. These intrusions may stem from excessively thin boundaries between consciousness states (e.g., “transliminality”), or, conversely, they may follow an attempt at disconnecting mental elements (e.g., dissociation), which paradoxically results in a “rebound effect.” The extent to which unusual dreaming is experienced as intrusive, rather than controlled, may explain why general sleep experiences are related to psychopathology, whereas lucid dreams are related to psychological resilience. In conclusion, the exploration of the interplay between psychopathology and sleep should be expanded from focusing almost exclusively on quantitative aspects (e.g., sleep efficiency, latency) to including qualitative conscious experiences which may reflect poor sleep quality. Taking into account nocturnal consciousness—including unusual dreaming and permeable sleep-wake boundaries—may unveil rich information on night-time emotional states and broaden our definition of poor sleep quality.

Lucid Dreaming: Intensity, But Not Frequency, Is Inversely Related to Psychopathology

“… Watson (2001) construed LD, along with other unusual dream phenomena, as representing nocturnal manifestations of an “unusual cognitions” continuum (e.g., bizarreness, oddity), which during daytime is characterized by schizotypy and dissociative experiences. Notably, LD represents a “mixed state” between waking and sleeping consciousness ( Mahowald and Schenck, 2001 ; Voss et al, 2009 ); other unusual dream phenomena representing mixed sleep-wake states (e.g., nightmares, recurring dreams, vivid dreams, kinesthetic dreams, and hypnagogic hallucinations) have been consistently positively associated with several psychopathological symptoms (such as depression and anxiety), stress, and negative affect, and have been viewed as representing an intrusion of waking arousal into the sleeping consciousness ( Soffer-Dudek and Shahar, 2011 ; Soffer-Dudek, 2017a ). In fact, they seem to be an early marker of covert psychological distress ( Soffer-Dudek and Sadeh, 2013 ; Soffer-Dudek, 2016 ), and may be viewed as an indicator of poor sleep quality ( Soffer-Dudek, 2017a ).…”

Dreams of Teeth Falling Out: An Empirical Investigation of Physiological and Psychological Correlates

“…In addition, in recent years it has been reported that an array of unusual dreams, including dreams of flying or falling, vivid dreams, recurring dreams, and dreams of dying, are components of a construct labeled “sleep experiences” ( Watson, 2001 ). This construct is closely related to psychological symptoms and stress ( Soffer-Dudek, 2017 ). TD have also been directly related to psychopathology ( Coolidge and Bracken, 1984 ).…”

Are Lucid Dreams Good for Us? Are We Asking the Right Question? A Call for Caution in Lucid Dream Research

“…Sufficient good sleep quality and sleep hygiene are crucial for mental and physical health (e.g., Benca et al, 1992;Kahn-Greene et al, 2007;Cappuccio et al, 2010). In addition to insufficient or poor sleep, unusual dreaming may also be considered as a form of sleep disruption, when arousal or vigilance permeate nocturnal consciousness (Soffer-Dudek, 2017). LD theoretically also represent arousal within sleep, but they do not show the robust relationships with distress shown by other unusual sleep experiences (Soffer-Dudek, 2017).…”

“…In addition to insufficient or poor sleep, unusual dreaming may also be considered as a form of sleep disruption, when arousal or vigilance permeate nocturnal consciousness (Soffer-Dudek, 2017). LD theoretically also represent arousal within sleep, but they do not show the robust relationships with distress shown by other unusual sleep experiences (Soffer-Dudek, 2017). However, that conclusion was based mostly on studies that assessed LD by averaging dream awareness with dream control into a single measure.…”

“…The disruption of the sleep-wake cycle is inherently linked with indistinct boundaries between waking and sleeping conscious experience; sleepiness may permeate the waking state and arousal may pervade dreaming (Soffer-Dudek, 2017). This may be particularly true for LD induction as techniques such as reality testing (Levitan and LaBerge, 1989) or the reflection technique (Tholey, 1988) require, to some extent, disruption of sleep hygiene by deliberate confusion of the sleep and waking states (e.g., scheduled awakenings in the middle of the night or asking oneself "am I dreaming?"…”