When was your earliest dream? Association of very early dream recall with frequent current nightmares supports a stress-acceleration explanation of nightmares
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For negative dreams, the same pattern was found: nightmare frequency was higher for recall at age 3 than at age 4 and marginally higher at age 5 than at age 6.
“The same pattern was again found (Figure 4C), i.e., nightmare frequency was higher for recall at age 3 than at age 4 and marginally higher at age 5 than at age 6.”
From The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares (2017) · cites this paper as [131]
For positive dreams, age 1 had a low sample size (12) and only differed marginally from later ages.
“Age 1 had a low sample size (12) and only differed marginally from later ages.”
From The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares (2017) · cites this paper as [131]
The four most commonly selected earliest dreams accounted for 40.2% of all selected dreams; these were being chased, falling, flying or soaring, and encountering an evil force or demon.
“the four most commonly selected earliest dreams accounted for 40.2% (10,940/27,211) of all selected dreams; in decreasing prevalence these were items 1-being chased (14.02% or 3,816), 12-falling (11.44% or 3,113), 11-flying or soaring through the air (9.45% or 2,572), and 56-encountering a kind of evil force or demon (5.29% or 1,439).”
From The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares (2017) · cites this paper as [131]
In the same sample, all ages 1-3 differed from all ages 4-10 in nightmare recall.
“All of ages 1–3 differed from all of ages 4–10.”
From The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares (2017) · cites this paper as [131]
For positive dreams, there was a significant breakpoint between ages 2 and 3.
“Participants recalling earlier positive dreams again reported more current nightmares, but there was now a significant breakpoint between ages 2 and 3.”
From The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares (2017) · cites this paper as [131]
For negative dreams, post hoc tests revealed differences between ages 1 and 3, but not age 2, and all later ages.
“Post hoc tests again revealed differences between ages 1 and 3, but not age 2, and all later ages, specifically.”
From The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares (2017) · cites this paper as [131]
For positive dreams, participants recalling earlier positive dreams reported more current nightmares.
“Participants recalling earlier positive dreams again reported more current nightmares, but there was now a significant breakpoint between ages 2 and 3.”
From The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares (2017) · cites this paper as [131]
For positive dreams, age 2 differed from all later years except ages 5 and 6, for which there were trends.
“Age 2 differed from all later years (p < 0.05) except ages 5 and 6 for which there were trends.”
From The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares (2017) · cites this paper as [131]
In all three analyses (all TDQ items, positive items, negative items), current nightmares are more frequent among participants whose earliest memories fall within the infantile amnesia period, which normally ends at 3.5 years.
“In all three cases, current nightmares are more frequent among participants whose earliest memories fall within the infantile amnesia period, which normally ends at 3.5 years of age (vertical hashed lines).”
From The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares (2017) · cites this paper as [131]
In the same sample, nightmare recall differed significantly between ages 3 and 4 and between ages 5 and 6.
“Contrasts revealed significant differences between ages 3 and 4 and ages 5 and 6.”
From The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares (2017) · cites this paper as [131]
Although there were no significant differences in nightmare frequency between ages 1 and 3, there is a clear graded relationship between the two measures.
“And although there were no significant differences in nightmare frequency between ages 1 and 3, there is a clear graded relationship between the two measures.”
From The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares (2017) · cites this paper as [131]
A limited number of themes accounts for most earliest recalled dreams.
“this brief survey of early dream remembrances reveals that a limited number of themes accounts for most earliest recalled dreams.”
From The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares (2017) · cites this paper as [131]
The themes of falling and flying were the second and third most prevalent earliest dreams.
“The themes of falling and flying singled out by Freud were in fact the second and third most prevalent earliest dreams.”
From The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares (2017) · cites this paper as [131]
In participants who specified an earliest dream occurring at age 10 or younger, earlier recalled dreams were associated with more frequent current nightmares.
“a one-way ANOVA with 10 levels of Dream-Age (1–10 years) as independent variable and current (log) nightmare recall as dependent variable revealed a highly significant main effect (F9,17004 = 6.08, p < 0.0000001) showing that earlier recalled dreams were associated with frequent current nightmares.”
From The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares (2017) · cites this paper as [131]
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Aetiology and treatment of nightmare disorder: State of the art and future perspectives
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“This hypothesis was tested quantitatively using the same responses described above and in two steps (131).”
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Sleep spindles are altered in early- but not late-onset nightmare recallers
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Self-citationFrom single to multiple: the association of childhood trauma with frequent nightmares among youth
Que, J., Lu, Y., Wu, S., Deng, J., Su, Z., Xu, W., Huang, Z., Lin, D., Liu, F., & Liu, J. (2025) · Sleep Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2025.106541 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
- Authors
- Nielsen, T.
- ORCID
- Nielsen, Tore
- Venue
- Dreaming
- Published
- 2017-06
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 122-136
- ISSN
- 1053-0797 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3351
- OpenAlex
- W2612202525
- Semantic Scholar
- 5028bb103f21ff4cc0c634bc40703ab8a6f060d8
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 1.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Dreaming (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP-115125)
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (312277)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- nightmares, dream recall, stress, dream content
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