Sleep and lucid dreaming in adolescent athletes and non-athletes.
Journal of sports sciences – August 01, 2024
Source: PubMed
Summary
Lucid dreaming is notably prevalent among adolescents, with 67.4% reporting experiencing it at least once. A survey of 193 youth (average age 17.4) revealed no significant differences in lucid dreaming frequency between athletes (46%) and non-athletes (54%). Interestingly, 57.1% of those practicing sports during lucid dreams reported enhanced self-efficacy. Despite meeting sleep recommendations, 47.4% of younger adolescents and 20% of older ones still experienced insufficient sleep on weeknights, highlighting ongoing challenges in adolescent sleep health and its implications for performance.
Abstract
During lucid dreaming (LD), dreamers are aware of experiencing a dream and may consciously influence its content. This study used an online questionnaire to investigate the LD frequency and applications in 193 adolescent athletes and non-athletes (17.40 ± 2.09 years; 46% athletes, 54% controls). Given the critical role that sleep plays in adolescent health, development, and performance, associations of LD with various sleep parameters were also explored. LD is prominent in adolescents (67.4% experienced it at least once, 30.0% once a month or more, 12.9% at least once a week), but similar in terms of frequency and uses between athletes and non-athletes. A higher proportion of those who practiced sports/dance during LD reported improved waking self-efficacy (57.1%) over sport performance (42.9%). There was no indication that chronotype preference may influence LD nor that LD may be detrimental to adolescent sleep. Athletes and controls had similar sleep durations, daytime sleepiness, and sleep disturbances frequency, but athletes reported higher sleep quality. Despite, on average, meeting the minimum sleep recommendation guidelines for their age, a relatively large proportion of adolescents did not attain sufficient sleep, particularly on weeknights (47.4% 14-17 years; 20.0% 18-21 years), suggesting that restricted sleep remains prevalent in adolescent populations.