Sul New Scientist, Rowan Hooper riporta alcuni recenti studi che hanno investigato il legame tra i sogni e la pandemia di COVID-19. In particolare, la paura del contagio può aver influito sulla natura dei nostri sogni:
According to a survey conducted by King’s College London, 62 per cent of people in the UK are getting just as much sleep, if not more, than before stricter social distancing measures began on 23 March. […] It is reasonable to assume that for some of those staying at home, the time saved from getting ready for work and commuting is being used to get more sleep. […] “Lack of work schedules may be allowing individuals to wake up without an alarm clock,” says Blagrove. “Natural wake-ups are known to result in longer dreams.” At the same time, anxiety can disrupt our sleep, leading to more awakenings. When you awaken out of REM sleep, you’re much more likely to remember the dream you were having.
Verosimilmente, continua Hooper, anche il contenuto dei sogni ha risentito della pandemia, come fosse un’elaborazione emotiva di quanto stava accadendo: Mark Blagrove, psicologo presso la Swansea University intervistato da Hooper, sostiene che la funzione dei sogni sia proprio quella di elaborare le emozioni e i ricordi, agendo come una terapia notturna.
Il lavoro di Blagrove suggerisce anche che condividere i propri sogni con altre persone può diminuire il senso di angoscia e portare a una maggiore empatia. Hooper segnala che diverse esperienze, nate durante la pandemia, vanno in questa direzione: ad esempio, un forum online creato dallo stesso Blagrove, dove gli operatori sanitari potessero condividere i propri sogni durante la pandemia.
Sulla stessa linea di Blagrove, Patrick McNamara, Professore associato di neurologia alla Boston University School of Medicine, evidenzia che utilizziamo il sonno e i sogni REM per gestire le emozioni intense, soprattutto quelle negative:
During our dream states, stress sends the brain on a trip. The neurobiological signals and reactions that produce dreams are similar to those triggered by psychedelic drugs, according to McNamara. Psychedelics activate nerve receptors called serotonin 5-HT2A, which then turn off a part of the brain called the dorsal prefrontal cortex. The result is known as “emotional disinhibition,” a state in which emotions flood the consciousness, especially during the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep, when we typically dream. Though these processes happen nightly, most people don’t typically remember their dreams. Living through the coronavirus pandemic might be changing that due to heightened isolation and stress, influencing the content of dreams and allowing some dreamers to remember more of them. For one, anxiety and lack of activity decrease sleep quality. Frequent awakenings, also called parasomnias, are associated with increased dream recall. Latent emotions and memories from the previous day can also influence the content of dreams and one’s emotional response within the dream itself.
In un suo articolo sul National Geographic, Rebecca Renner cita altri studi riguardanti il legame tra pandemia e sogni. In particolare, Renner riporta che gli studi italiani evidenziano che le persone stanno sperimentando incubi e parasonnie in linea con i sintomi del disturbo post-traumatico da stress:
“Not surprisingly, some years ago when we studied survivors of the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake, we found that sleep disorders and also nightmares strictly depended on the proximity to the epicenter,” says Luigi De Gennaro, a professor of physiological psychology at the University of Rome who is working on the Italian coronavirus study. “In other words, the seismic map mostly overlapped that of sleep disturbances. Results from De Gennaro’s ongoing research and other work such as the Lyon study suggest that people closer to the pandemic threat—health-care workers, those living in epicenters, and those with affected family members—are more likely to experience outbreak-influenced dreams.
