
The pandemic is giving people vivid, unusual dreams - Kaibeezy
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/coronavirus-pandemic-is-giving-people-vivid-unusual-dreams-here-is-why/
======
ilamont
> Living through the coronavirus pandemic might be changing that due to
> heightened isolation and stress, influencing the content of dreams and
> allowing some dreamers to remember more of them.

A related issue: insomnia. About once per week in the past month I get up
around 3 or 4 (often after a vivid dream) and can't get back to sleep as my
mind starts racing, not specifically about COVID but about other things going
on that have been impacted by COVID, such as kids and work. After about an
hour I give up, get my laptop, and start to do some work.

The dreams that I am able to remember are more vivid, and go beyond the
reoccurring dreams that I've had for years. One recent dream: I am in a
British manor house, being guided by the owner or host to look at some
displays of art or very old, ornate machines. At one point he started singing
in an almost operatic voice, but I can't remember the song. While I haven't
ever been to such a place, I was reading about such a house in Wikipedia the
day before (Apethorpe, the favored retreat of Charles I) but I did not know
what the contents of that house were, or where my dream brain came up with
displays of art or ornate machinery.

~~~
heavenlyblue
IMO it’s a typical sign of onsetting chronic stress.

At first it makes you feel more fresh, you start sleeping less and thinking
more. Then half a year later you realise you haven’t slept well for a really
long time.

Truly negative sides become more noticeable much later when it’s too late.

Over the years I have tried: meditation, trying to keep my mind off, going for
a walk in the middle of the night, eating, not eating in the evening, working,
drinking, weed.

The only thing that actually worked is just staying in bed with my eyes
closed. No, you don’t sleep - but you still rest mentally by letting your
concentration wander off.

~~~
xscott
> Truly negative sides become more noticeable much later when it’s too late.

I slept poorly for years, so I suspect I can guess some of these, but I'm
curious which side effects you meant. It's hard for me to know what negative
changes are a result from normal aging and which wouldn't be there if I had
managed my sleeping better.

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dang
Two nights ago, I dreamt that someone posted "Ask HN: How can I move a house
from South Africa?" He wanted to know the most cost-effective way to transport
an entire house from South Africa to either Germany or the US. It had to be
that specific house.

I confess I almost used a sock puppet account to submit this question the next
morning.

~~~
Engineering-MD
I mean people have deconstructed castles in England, labelling them brick by
brick and reassembled them in the USA. Sounds like an interesting problem to
address!

~~~
jfk13
Don't forget the time a bank building was sent by parcel post:
[https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/bank-of-
ver...](https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/bank-of-vernal.pdf)

(OK, so it wasn't actually a case of moving an existing building, just the
bricks to build one.)

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bausano_michael
This Newyorker article talks about similar phenomenon in another kind of
stressful environment, an authoritarian regime:

[https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/how-dreams-
chang...](https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/how-dreams-change-under-
authoritarianism)

------
adrianmonk
Any chance it's also partly due to medications people are taking more of?
First-generation antihistamines are known to give people weird dreams.

I've experienced this many times. And these are common ingredients in multi-
symptom OTC cold/allergy/flu medications, especially anything that says
"night" in the name.

A lot of people may have mild and/or undiagnosed cases of COVID-19. They feel
sick, they reach for some medicine.

Coughs are a COVID-19 symptom, so maybe they take cough syrup. If they take
Robitussin Nighttime Cough DM, that has doxylamine succinate in it. And
Robitussin Severe Multi-Symptom Cough Cold + Flu Nighttime has diphenhydramine
hydrochloride in it.

Or maybe they don't have a cough, but their go-to medicine for any time they
feel like crap is Nyquil. It also has doxylamine succinate in it.

And/or maybe they don't have COVID-19, but they have heightened alertness
about being sick and they're just more likely to take medication when anything
(mild allergies, etc.) seems off.

~~~
pixelbash
Anecdotal, in NZ, myself and people I know are having strange dreams and not
taking medication.

~~~
pixelbash
Come to think of it, my partner has been having strange dreams too and she
never takes so much as paracetamol or coffee.

Personally I think it's a combination of isolation and stress.

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a3n
All that, and maybe people are getting enough sleep.

~~~
jessaustin
I assumed from the headline that such was the case.

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hbarka
Not unusual, really. We just never knew what it was like to dream. Now we have
full sleep. And some sleep with full stomachs from all the snacking and
eating. Dream on. Defragmentation time.

~~~
staplers
Unless you have kids

~~~
jcims
Mine are up till 5-6a and sleep till 4p. They and, to a lesser extent, their
mom have always been like this so I just let it happen. But it doesn't help my
sleep.

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Agentlien
I'm part of a lucid dreaming community on reddit and I've noticed a huge
increase in posts from people who just had their first lucid dream. There is
also an influx of posts about dream recall being stronger and dreams being
more vivid.

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Kaibeezy
Lack of stimulus —> brain goes rummaging around in the attic

~~~
contingencies
Maybe also adequate sleep + no alarm clock = longer peak dream states and
better recall

~~~
Kaibeezy
Concur. Not needing to bolt out of bed is key for me. If I can stop myself
from reaching for the phone to check the overnight email, I’m rewarded with
some satisfyingly trippy characters and images. There was memorable body paint
and related contortions involved last night. Who comes up with this stuff...
oh.

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jcims
Over the past 2-3 weeks I've had several occasions where I'm lying down with
my eyes closed and have a sort of swirling visual field coalesce into a vivid
scene with people and things in it. At first I just let it run its course but
later I found I could steer it thematically quite well and it's been quite a
fun experience. I'm 46 and it's never happened to me before.

~~~
isaacgreyed
Look into hypnagogic imagery and Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming (WILD). It's a
big thing in lucid dreaming circles to use that sort of thing to enter into a
dream conscious and then control (steer?) it.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia)

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smoyer
I just spent last night having a set of bizarre dreams ... I wish I could
remember them because I'm sure I'd find them funny this morning. Two summers
ago I had a very strong strain of Salmonella poisoning and the dreams during
the first two weeks of recovery included very trippy dreams. Last night's
dreams were nothing compared to those.

~~~
pmoriarty
_" I wish I could remember them..."_

Tips for remembering dreams:

1 - Have a pad of paper and writing implement right next to your bed. I've
actually switched to using a voice recorder, because it's way more convenient
and I can talk much faster than I can write, so I really recommend it.

2 - Right before you go to sleep, consciously make the intention to remember
your dreams and write them down when you wake up.

3 - Also, right before you go to sleep try to remember your day in reverse,
starting from the last thing you did before bed on through your day to the
first thing you did. The idea is to prime yourself for remembering what
happened right before you awoke.

4 - When you wake up immediately write down (or record) what you remember.
Even if the only thing you remember is a vague feeling, write it down. Getting
in to the habit of recording your dreams will result in you remembering more
of them over time.

5 - Restrict your body movement to the minimal possible after you wake up,
until you've written down your dreams. I've noticed that even turning over
from one side to another can make me forget a dream.

6 - If you have a long, detailed dream to write down, don't start writing it
down in detail from start to finish. When I've done that I often forget the
dream half-way through writing it down. Instead, start by writing down the
highlights or key words or images from the dream, then go back and fill in the
details.

7 - Get interested in dreams and read about them.

8 - Review the dreams you recorded and try to make sense of them. Try to
figure out how they reflect your waking life, the people you know, and the
concerns you have. Make connections between your dreams, and try to pick up on
recurring patterns in them.

The more attention you give to your dreams and dreams in general the more
likely you are to remember them. If your interest and attention fades and you
don't care about them or are too busy for them and don't write them down,
you'll remember less.

Having something interesting, notable, strange, exciting, or stressful happen
to you also frequently results in vivid dreams, so it makes sense that an
unusual, stressful, and terrifying event like the pandemic makes for vivid
dreams.

~~~
smoyer
I've had a voice-activated recorder in my nightstand for 30 years ... so many
times the solution to a problem I've been working on gets solved by my sub-
conscience. My wife got tired of me turning on the light to write in my
journal so having something voice activated works well. It does require some
editing as it will record other conversations/activities. (though normally I
transcribe the important parts and let the tape record back over itself).

~~~
SlowRobotAhead
My wife would tolerate me talking to myself about my dreams a lot less than a
small light, pen, and pad. When it’s not your dream it’s pretty uninteresting.

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christiansakai
I always have unusual dreams. But again I'm not that social, maybe that's the
same reason?

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emersonrsantos
More time sleeping will give you more time to dream.

~~~
discreteevent
And if I oversleep they are especially vivid.

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mrandish
> "The pandemic is giving people vivid, unusual dreams"

Is anyone surprised to hear that "unusual or stressful events may cause
unusual dreams?"

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kjsingh
The way I think it, the mind is aware that we have more our time.. so it
starts processing archived thoughts from long time ago

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grayed-down
And the continual drum beat of fear and loathing from the media is definitely
not helping.

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m0zg
Zinc supplements such as ZMA have this effect as well. I usually see no dreams
at all (or at least don't remember them at all), but when taking ZMA I see
dreams often.

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droithomme
All of my dreams lately are nightmares where I find myself at WalMart during
prime shopping hours surrounded by crowds, and without a mask.

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cma
Chorloquine dreams will make them look tame

