Near-Death Experiences and Sleep Disturbance: An Exploratory Study Using Wrist Actigraphy.
The Journal of nervous and mental disease November 1, 2023 Nicole Lindsay, Laura O'Sullivan, Rosemary Gibson et al.
People who have had near-death experiences often report sleep changes, but objective measurements have been lacking. In a 14-day actigraphy study with 57 participants—26 who had an NDE, 12 who had a near-death event without an NDE, and 19 who had never come close to death—no significant differences in objective sleep measures were found between groups. However, comparisons of subjective and objective measures revealed significant differences in sleep onset latency, sleep duration, and sleep efficiency, particularly among the NDE group. These results suggest sleep state misperception, where perceived sleep quality differs from objective measures, which may have clinical relevance for understanding NDEs and sleep perception.