Sleep Problems and the Phenomenological Factors of Dreaming

Abstract

This study aims to provide a preliminary overview of how specific sleep problems might have differential impacts on the phenomenological properties of dreaming. The sample contained 186 upper secondary school students, whose subjective intensity of dream experiences, thematic dream content, and sleep disturbances were assessed using the Dream Intensity Scale, Dream Motif Scale, and Sleep Habits Questionnaire, respectively. The overall evidence suggests that most sleep problems, except sleep bruxism, sleepwalking, and snoring, can amplify various aspects of dreaming, with the effects of sleep paralysis being the most robust and extensive. Although both sleep onset insomnia and hypersomnia may increase the overall intensity of dreaming, the elevated dream intensity in sleep onset insomnia is primarily reflected by stronger dream distortion and paramnesia whereas that in hypersomnia is more contributed by vivid perceptual sensations during dreaming.

Obsessions at Night: Dream Experiences, Emotional Attributes, and Personality Traits as Indicators of Sleep Problems

“…The findings of the current study largely resonate with those of Yu and Thompson's (2016) study. In both studies, restless legs, disrupted circadian rhythm, and sleeptalking were the most prevalent sleep problems, whereas respiratory pauses, cataplexy, and sleepwalking were the rarest.…”

“…The OCI-R total score positively predicted the SHQ total score, sleep paralysis, and restless legs. Yu and Thompson (2016) demonstrated that each sleep problem has a distinct pattern of associations with the phenomenological properties of dreaming. Nevertheless, waking-life emotionality, to which both sleep problems and dream experiences are sensitive, might decisively mediate the relationship.…”

“…These include, but are not limited to, the lower dream recall frequency in insomniac patients in comparison with non-insomniac patients (Pagel & Shocknesse, 2007), lower nightmare frequency in patients with sleep-disordered breathing as compared to healthy controls (Schredl & Schmitt, 2009), nonsignificant differences in the frequencies of unpleasant dreams between low-risk and high-risk groups for sleep apnea (Khazaie, Masoudi, Khoshbakht, & Ghadami, 2014), and non-significant difference in dream content between RBD patients and healthy controls (D'Agostino et al, 2012). The incompatible findings in relation to the association between sleep problems and dream experiences can be to a certain extent attributed to the diversity and sensitivity of measures adopted by sleep researchers (see Yu & Thompson, 2016).…”

“…Also given the paucity of studies comparing the effects of different sleep problems on dream experiences, Yu and Thompson (2016) administered a checklist of sleep problems (Sleep Habits Questionnaire; Gau, 2000) and validated measures for assessing the thematic content (Dream Motif Scale; Yu, 2012a) and subjective intensities (Dream Intensity Scale; Yu, 2012b) of dreams to secondary school students. They demonstrated that most sleep problems -including those rarely studied by researchers, such as hypersomnia and disrupted circadian rhythm -can intensify various aspects of dreaming, with the effects of sleep paralysis being the most robust and extensive.…”

“…Although the relationship between negative emotions and sleep problems and the relationship between negative emotions and dream experiences are somewhat well documented in the literature, there are surprisingly few, if any, studies demonstrating the extent to which negative emotions modulate the relationship between sleep problems and dream experiences. Yu and Thompson's (2016) study provided a preliminary overview of how specific sleep problems are differentially associated with the phenomenological properties of dreaming. Pursuing this subject matter further, the study presented here was geared toward testing whether dream characteristics are still indicative of sleep problems even with some key factorsincluding negative emotions, personality traits, repressive defensiveness, obsessive-compulsive distress, and magical thinking -being controlled.…”