Sleep, dreams, nightmares, and sex-related differences: a narrative review.
R Cappadona, A De Giorgi, E Di Simone, B Zucchi, M A Rodriguez-Borrego, P J Lopez-Soto, F Fabbian, R Manfredini
European review for medical and pharmacological sciences April 1, 2021 DOI: 10.26355/eurrev_202104_25559 via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractSleep disorders affect women more frequently than men, with a notable prevalence of nightmares linked to psychiatric issues like depression and anxiety. In a review of sex-related differences in sleep patterns, 70% of women reported experiencing nightmares, compared to 50% of men. Dream content also varies: men typically dream of physical aggression, while women focus on family themes. Interestingly, women are more likely to share dreams and experience lucid dreaming. This highlights the need for gender-specific approaches in sleep research and medicine.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Narrative review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 7 |
| Key finding | Sleep disorders, nightmares, and certain dream characteristics differ by sex, with women generally reporting more sleep disturbances and nightmares, and dream content and perspective varying between men and women. |
Abstract
The aim of this study was to review the available findings on sex-related differences for sleep disorders, dreams and nightmares. We explored the PubMed, EMBASE and Google Scholar electronic databases, with regards to the searching terms 'sleep', 'dreams', and 'nightmares' associated with 'sex' and/or 'gender'. Moreover, other supplementary terms for the searching strategy were 'chronobiology', and 'circadian rhythm'. Due to the relative paucity of studies including separate analysis by sex, and especially to their wide heterogeneity, we decided to proceed with a narrative review, highlighting the sex-related findings of each topic into apposite boxes. On one hand, sleep disorders seem to be more frequent in women. On the other hand, sex-related differences exist for either dreams or nightmares. As for the former, differences make reference to dream content (men: physical aggression, women family themes), self-reported perspective (men dream in third person, women in first person), dream sharing (more frequent in women), lucid dreaming (women more realistic, men more controlled), and daydreaming (young men more frequently have sexual themes). Nightmares are more frequent in women too, and they are often associated with sleep disorders and even with psychiatric disorders, such as depression and/or anxiety. In women, a strong association has been shown between nightmares and evening circadian preference. For many years, and for many reasons, laboratory experiments have been conducted mainly, if not exclusively, on male animals. Thus, a novel effort towards a new governance of scientific and research activities with a gender-specific perspective has been claimed for all areas of medicine, and more research on sex-differences is strongly needed also on this topic.