A recent study published in the journal Emotion has shed light on how worries about COVID-19 are linked to the emotional content of daydreaming and nighttime dreaming.
The international research team, led by the University of Turku in Finland, examined the relationship between COVID-19-related concerns, anxiety, and the emotional quality of these inner experiences.
Research Method and Findings
The study involved over a hundred participants, who were asked about their worries, anxiety, and concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
They reported their daydreams every evening and their nighttime dreams every morning upon waking up.
From the analysis of more than 3,000 reports of daydreams and nighttime dreams, researchers found a strong correlation between worry about COVID-19 during a particular day and the emotional quality of daydreams the same day.
Specifically, on days when participants were more worried about COVID-19, they also experienced more negative emotions and fewer positive emotions during daydreaming.
However, the study revealed that daily worry about COVID-19 was not related to the emotional quality of nighttime dreams or an increase in nightmares.
Instead, those who generally tended to worry more about COVID-19 also tended to have more negative dreams.
Day-to-Day Fluctuations vs Individual Differences
Dr. Pilleriin Sikka, lead researcher of the study and a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University, commented on the findings, saying, “These results suggest that daily fluctuations in worry may play a more significant role in shaping individuals’ inner experiences during the day than during the night.”
She added, “our dreams seem to rely more on particular individual differences rather than what exactly happens during the day.
This is important because these differences may explain why some individuals may have better or worse mental health and well-being.”
The results underscore the need for more longitudinal measures that capture day-to-day variations in COVID-19 worry and inner experiences, rather than relying solely on general questionnaires.
If you care about COVID, please read studies about Vitamin D deficiency linked to severe COVID-19, and how diets could help manage post-COVID syndrome.
For more information about COVID, please see recent studies about new evidence on rare blood clots after COVID-19 vaccination, and results showing zinc could help reduce COVID-19 infection risk.
The study was published in Emotion.
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