How our dreams have changed in Lockdown 3
Nothing, so the old adage goes, is as boring as other people’s dreams; but here goes. A few nights ago I suffered a vaccination nightmare whereby a stranger had offered me a Covid inoculation but in pill form rather than a jab. I guzzled down the handful of pills only to suddenly realise that I had probably made a fateful error. I spent the rest of the dream attempting to get my stomach pumped before waking in the early hours in a fit of dread.
Many of us have grown accustomed to Covid-related night terrors over the past nine months. But a brief anecdotal survey among friends and colleagues suggests the nature of those dreams are changing.
Whereby at the beginning of the pandemic people described experiencing nightmares on the scale of a Hollywood blockbuster – tsunamis supposedly symbolic of the next Covid wave or War of the Worlds type scenes cowering in basements and fleeing unseen enemies. Now many report they are experiencing vaccine dreams instead.
One friend describes how she imagined she was given two vaccines at once instead of one and spent the rest of the dream panicking about the viral load. Another tells of a dream where they had discovered a means of getting vaccinated ahead of schedule but then had to keep it quiet from everyone they knew. According to others, dripping needles filled with the likes of Pfizer and AstraZeneca are now drifting through their subconscious. One friend’s teenage daughter recently recalled a dream of being locked in an asylum due to the plague and pursued by a man wielding a cane.
Dr Neil Stanley, a sleep expert who has worked in the field for 39 years, says it is little surprise that the vaccine is beginning to worm its way into our dreams. Often the number of vaccinated people in Britain will be the last thing we see before we switch off the TV news for the night while the roll-out dominates most of our waking day. Indeed an analysis of the latest Google trends shows searches for ‘vivid dreams’ are up 148 per cent since the latest lockdown came into force.
According to Stanley, it takes roughly three to seven days for real-life experiences to filter into our subconscious and begin to be incorporated in dreams. The more we are exposed to one event, the more likely therefore we will dream about it.
“Because we’re exposed to the Covid figures every night, it is hardly surprising Covid-related dreams are going to be prominent,” he says. “The vaccine is a relatively new story but it is everywhere so that will be incorporated.”
It is not necessarily the case that the dreams we are experiencing are more vivid than they were pre-pandemic, he says. But because Covid is such an all-consuming story which is weighing on all of our minds, the dreams we have are more memorable because they are more relatable.
Covid so far has had a hugely disruptive effect on the nation’s sleep patterns. According to a new study revealed in The Telegraph last week, of 3,000 respondents (aged between 18 and 85) 42 per cent admitted their sleep had worsened since the begining of the pandemic and 53 per cent said they were now dissatisfied with their sleep.
Generally, people dream between four and five times a night but experts say you only remember what it is about if you wake up mid-dream. According to Stanley, because of the increased levels of anxiety we are all experiencing during Covid, we are more likely to wake up during the night and therefore remember our dreams.
Those currently observing Dry January may also find abstinence from alcohol plays its part. A known sedative, alcohol impairs rapid eye movement sleep, which is when you dream. If you are not drinking then you experience better quality sleep and also more lucid dreams.
As long as the pandemic remains with us, then experts warn we will be unlikely to dream about anything else for the foreseeable future. Well, until we are all in receipt of a vaccine. Until that glorious day, we can but dream...
Read more: 10 sleep hacks that will improve the duration and quality of your slumber
Read more: Trouble sleeping? Here’s why a cold bedroom could be the solution
