Day 55, Thursday, May 7 2020
What’s you’re dream life like these days? Back on Day 19, I made reference to my dreams. I had been noticing that my dreams were noticeably different and vivid, and were markedly different from pre-covid dreams. Shortly after that, I started seeing published articles on the very same topic. People around the world were reporting an increase in vivid dreams, and even reports of lucid dreams in which where one is aware of the act of dreaming. I wasn’t alone, it seems, and that hasn’t changed.
I’ve read some of the articles on covid-19 quarantine dreaming, and learned that its become such a “thing,” that there’s now a blog dedicated to peoples dreams during the coronavirus: https://www.idreamofcovid.com/dreams.
Experts are stating that the dreams are not unlike what was reported after 9/11. In summary, some of the theories for this phenomenon:
- We’re getting more/deeper sleep and increasing our REM sleep, which is when we dream.
- Some of us are sleeping in, and REM sleep is more likely to occur late in the sleep cycle.
- An increase in stress and anxiety leads to more negative dreams.
- Due to stress, we’re waking up more and therefore remembering our dreams.
- Activation of the Limbic system, which deals with emotions, and is both associated with fear and especially active during dreams (our fight or flight brain area).
- The limbic system in the mid-brain deals with emotions in both waking and dreaming and includes the amygdala, which is mostly associated with fear and is especially active during dreams.
- Our dreams our preparing us for the difficult situations we experience during the day.
Scientist Steve’s personal theory is intriguing: serotonin is connected with both vigilance and with dreams. Serotonin reduces fear vigilance. We may be depleting our serotonin as we focus during the daytime on our fears; we need more serotonin to reduce our fear vigilance. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter most notably associated with dream activity. The active dreams and REM sleep may be providing us with more serotonin that we need to combat our fears. (No blame to Scientist Steve if I didn’t get that quite right!)
This morning, I managed to recall last nights dream and get it written down as soon as I got up. While it wasn’t about the virus per se, the allegory was obvious. I was injured in a very minor car accident, with someone from my distant past, and in the blink of an eye I realized that my entire life was changed and would never return to its pre-accident state. How’s that for my subconscious trying to work things out!
Maybe I’ll go to the covid-19 dream blog and see if I can post a dream or two for the sake of historical documentation.
————————-
Dream Blog: : https://www.idreamofcovid.com/dreams
Vox article: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/4/9/21215312/quarantine-vivid-dreams-psychologist-q-and-a
Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/insomnia-and-vivid-dreams-rise-pandemic-anxiety-180974726/
