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For most of the year, many countries have been forced into a lockdown to practice social distancing since the outbreak of COVID-19 onto the world. As people learn to live differently, a study found that the pandemic has already affected people’s dreams.
Researchers in Finland conducted a study that found that the anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has now affected more than half of our dreams. The researchers analyzed sleep and stress data from 4,000 people during the sixth week of the lockdown in the country. From the 4,000 people, 800 shared about their dreams, recalling nightmare-like scenarios that were centered on the coronavirus.
The researchers also found that 55 percent of nightmares were related to the pandemic, like the inability to observe social distancing, the spread of the virus, as well as issues regarding personal protective equipment. Apocalyptic scenarios related to the pandemic were also detected.
“We were thrilled to observe repeating dream content associations across individuals that reflected the apocalyptic ambiance of COVID-19 lockdown,” said Dr. Anu-Katrina Pesonen of the University of Helsinki’s Sleep & Mind Research Group. “The results allowed us to speculate that dreaming in extreme circumstances reveal shared visual imagery and memory traces, and in this way, dreams can indicate some form of shared mindscape across individuals.”
More than half the responders revealed that they were sleeping more than before the lockdowns began. 10 percent of the responders were found to have had more difficulty falling asleep, and more than one-fourth were found to have more and more nightmares. The findings of this study could help scientists understand and develop a way to treat the effects the pandemic has on a person’s mental health.
Meanwhile, as the seasons get colder, there is some speculation as to whether COVID-19 is a seasonal disease. However, a study has revealed that the weather has no effect on the disease. Researchers from the University of Texas found that the weather and humidity have no impact on how contagious the disease would be and instead revealed that factors such as mobility have more of an effect than temperatures. Their findings are also in line with a study by the World Health Organization, that also revealed COVID-19 is not affected by the climate.
