Bizarreness in fever dreams: A questionnaire study

Abstract

Fever is accompanied by distressing symptoms and also affects sleep. In a retrospective study, 62 participants were asked about their experiences with fever dreams. The fever dreams were more bizarre, more emotionally intense, and often negatively toned than diary dream from an age- and gender matched sample. This study is the first that takes a closer look on fever dreams and the results indicate that fever has an effect on the cognitive processing of the sleeping brain. Due to the retrospective nature of the study, it would be very interesting to follow-up this line of research by conducting diary studies during naturally occurring febrile illnesses and sleep laboratory studies in which fever is experimentally induced. This research helps to shed light on the interaction between the physiological level (brain activation) and the psychological level of subjective experiences.