ArticleJournal of sleep research2022
Nightmare content during the COVID-19 pandemic: Influence of COVID-related stress and sleep disruption in the United States.
Article in Journal of sleep research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- An observatory on changes in dreaming during a pandemic: a living systematic review (part 1).Journal of sleep research · 2023Pooled it
- Individual and Situational Predictors of Threatening Dream Content During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of sleep research · 2026Article
- Understanding Sleep Disturbance Due to Stressors: An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Commentary: Psychological well-being, mental distress, metabolic syndrome, and associated factors among people living in a refugee camp in Greece: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Associations between Nightmare Frequency, Nightmare Distress, and Psychopathological Problems among Chinese College Students: a Population-based Survey.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2025Article
- Functional Connectivity Alterations Associated with COVID-19-Related Sleep Problems: A Longitudinal Resting-State fMRI Study.Nature and science of sleep · 2025Article
- Article
- Intensity and Network Structure of Insomnia Symptoms and the Role of Mental Health During the First Two Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic.Nature and science of sleep · 2023Article
- Psychosocial correlates of mental health of university students in Hong Kong under COVID-19.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- COVID-19 nightmare response and stress: A new Mexico sample based survey.Sleep medicine · 2022Article
- Dreaming during the COVID-19 pandemic: A narrative review.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2022Review
- The Oneiric Activity during and after the COVID-19 Total Lockdown in Italy: A Longitudinal Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Sleep, Diet, Physical Activity, and Stress during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Nightmare content during the COVID-19 pandemic: Influence of COVID-related stress and sleep disruption in the United States.Journal of sleep research · 2022Article
- Dreams and nightmares during the pandemic.Somnologie : Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin = Somnology : sleep research and sleep medicine · 2022Review
- Sleep alterations following COVID-19 are associated with both neuroinflammation and psychological disorders, although at different times.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Nightmares are often associated with psychiatric disorders and acute stress. This study explores how the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced the content of nightmares. A sample of N = 419 US adults completed online surveys about sleep and COVID-19 experiences. Participants were asked about the degree to which they agreed with statements linking greater general stress, worse overall sleep and more middle-of-the-night insomnia with the COVID-19 pandemic. They were also asked if, during the pandemic, they experienced nightmares related to various themes. Logistic regression analyses examined each nightmare content as outcome and increased stress, worse sleep and more middle-of-the-night insomnia as predictors, adjusted for age, sex and race/ethnicity. Those who reported greater general COVID-related stress were more likely to have nightmares about confinement, failure, helplessness, anxiety, war, separation, totalitarianism, sickness, death, COVID and an apocalypse. Those who reported worsened sleep were more likely to have nightmares about confinement, oppression, failure, helplessness, disaster, anxiety, evil forces, war, domestic abuse, separation, totalitarianism, sickness, death, COVID and an apocalypse. Those who reported worsened middle-of-the-night insomnia were more likely to have nightmares about confinement, oppression, failure, helplessness, disaster, anxiety, war, domestic abuse, separation, totalitarianism, sickness, death, COVID and an apocalypse. These results suggest that increased pandemic-related stress may induce negatively-toned dreams of specific themes. Future investigation might determine whether (and when) this symptom indicates an emotion regulation mechanism at play, or the failure of such a mechanism.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.