article
Dream characteristics in a Brazilian sample: an online survey focusing on lucid dreaming
Date
2013-12-10Registration in:
MOTA-ROLIM, Sergio A., et al. Dream characteristics in a Brazilian sample: an online survey focusing on lucid dreaming. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, v.7, dec. 2013.
1662-5161
Author
Mota-Rolim, Sérgio A.
Targino, Zé H.
Souza, Bryan C.
Blanco, Wilfredo
Araujo, John F.
Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes
Institutions
Abstract
During sleep, humans experience the offline images and sensations that we call dreams,
which are typically emotional and lacking in rational judgment of their bizarreness.
However, during lucid dreaming (LD), subjects know that they are dreaming, and may
control oneiric content. Dreaming and LD features have been studied in North Americans,
Europeans and Asians, but not among Brazilians, the largest population in Latin America.
Here we investigated dreams and LD characteristics in a Brazilian sample (n=3,427;
median age=25 years) through an online survey. The subjects reported recalling dreams
at least once a week (76%), and that dreams typically depicted actions (93%), known
people (92%), sounds/voices (78%), and colored images (76%). The oneiric content was
associated with plans for the upcoming days (37%), memories of the previous day (13%),
or unrelated to the dreamer (30%). Nightmares usually depicted anxiety/fear (65%), being
stalked (48%), or other unpleasant sensations(47%). These data corroborate Freudian
notion of day residue in dreams, and suggest that dreams and nightmares are simulations
of life situations that are related to our psychobiological integrity. Regarding LD, we
observed that 77% of the subjects experienced LD at least once in life (44% up to
10 episodes ever), and for 48% LD subjectively lasted less than 1 min. LD frequency
correlated weakly with dream recall frequency (r =0.20,p< 0.01), and LD control was
rare (29%). LD occurrence was facilitated when subjects did not need to wake up early
(38%), a situation that increases rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) duration, or when
subjects were under stress (30%), which increases REMS transitions into waking. These
results indicate that LD is relatively ubiquitous but rare, unstable, difficult to control, and
facilitated by increases in REMS duration and transitions to wake state. Together with LD
incidence in USA, Europe and Asia, our data from Latin America strengthen the notion
that LD is a general phenomenon of the human species.
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