How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected our dreams?

The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly impacted our sleep and dream activity. In a recent study published in the Journal of Sleep Research, people had a higher number of awakenings, a harder time falling asleep, higher dream recall, and more lucid dreams during lockdown than after lockdown.

People also reported more dreams related to "being in crowded places" during post-lockdown than lockdown.

For the study, 90 adults in Italy recorded their dream experiences and completed a sleep-dream diary each morning.

"Our results... confirmed that both sleep and dream measures showed critical differences between lockdown and post-lockdown periods," the authors wrote.