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Lucid Dreaming: Not Just Awareness, but Agency.
Severin Ableidinger1, Luigi DeGennaro2, Sergio Mota-Rolim3
1Institute of Consciousness and Dream Research, Vienna, Austria.
Journal of Sleep Research
|August 20, 2025
Summary
Lucid dreaming awareness and agency showed different links to sleep and mental health issues, including long COVID. These findings suggest distinct states of lucid dreaming, with implications for understanding sleep and psychological well-being.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Sleep Science
- Psychology
Background:
- Lucid dreaming (LD) involves awareness during sleep, with ongoing debate on the significance of agency (influencing dreams) versus pure awareness.
- Understanding factors associated with different types of lucid dreaming is crucial for sleep and mental health research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the associations between lucid dreams with and without agency (LD-Ag and LD+Ag) and sleep/mental health issues, including COVID-19 and long COVID.
- To explore whether LD-Ag and LD+Ag represent distinct sleep states.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional survey data collected from 10,715 subjects across 16 countries (May-December 2021).
- Logistic regression analysis performed on 8133 participants to predict LD-Ag and LD+Ag.
- Variables included demographics, sleep problems, mental health conditions (anxiety, PTSD), dream characteristics, and COVID-19 status.
Main Results:
- 30% of participants frequently experienced lucid dreams; 17% reported influencing their dreams.
- LD+Ag was negatively associated with female gender and anxiety symptoms.
- LD+Ag and LD-Ag showed distinct associations with sleep variables, mental health, and COVID-19 status; notably, both COVID-19 and long COVID were associated with LD.
Conclusions:
- LD-Ag and LD+Ag exhibit different correlational patterns, suggesting they may represent distinct sleep states.
- This study provides the first evidence linking both acute COVID-19 and long COVID to lucid dreaming experiences.
- Findings highlight the complex interplay between sleep, mental health, and viral infections.
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