Describe ‘How corona virus is affecting your dreams – and what to do about it.
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CHANGES in sleep patterns caused by the pandemic could mean that many of us are dreaming more or remembering more of the dreams we have, and the threat of the coronavirus may have affected the nature of the dreams themselves.
According to a survey conducted by a team at King's College London, 62 per cent of people in the UK are getting as much sleep, if not more, than before stricter social distancing measures began on 23 March.
Similar patterns are likely in other countries, and it is reasonable to assume that for some of those staying at home, the time saved from getting ready for work and commuting is being used to get more sleep. This means dream time and dream recall is probably increasing during the crisis, says Mark Blagrove at Swansea University, UK.
When you sleep for longer, you have more rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. This is the sleep stage from which most dreams are recalled. Modern life, however, typically involves shortened sleep.
That may now be changing for some. “Lack of work schedules may be allowing individuals to wake up without an alarm clock,” says Blagrove.
At the same time, anxiety can disrupt our sleep, leading to more awakenings. When you wake from REM sleep, you are much more likely to remember the dream you were having. The content and tone of our dreams is also probably being affected. “Our dreams are more likely to incorporate memories from recent waking life that are emotional,” says Blagrove.
62% of people in the UK are getting as much sleep, or more, than before
“Dreams are thought to be the brain's way of working out our emotional problems, and the more anxious we become, the more vivid the dream images become,” says Russell Foster at the University of Oxford.
“Don't worry about your dreams,” he says. “Take comfort in the fact that your brain is doing what it should be doing.”