'Quarandreams': People are sharing their bizarre dreams and nightmares on Twitter

A lot has changed in our lives since the lockdown was imposed on 23 March, including, apparently, the dreams we are having.

In recent weeks, people have been sharing their bizarre dreams and nightmares on Twitter, prompting the launch of a new account @Quarandreams that has taken to sharing them all.

The dreams themselves are an eclectic bunch, featuring everything from people imagining themselves finding the cure for Covid-19 to becoming a rockstar with the stage name Mr Quarantine.

One person explained how they dreamt they were in a penthouse looking down at a hologram of the cartoon character Jimmy Neutron.

Another revealed: “Last night I dreamt I had to go to the store and nobody there believed in social distancing and everyone kept getting real close and touching me and the only way out was punch people in the face and fight my way out.”

One user even said they recently dreamt that they had performed brain surgery in a shopping centre.

Deirdre Leigh Barrett, an assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, told the Los Angeles Times that not only were people having more intense dreams during the pandemic, but they were remembering them more clearly.

“Dream recall is very correlated with how many hours of sleep you get, and most of America runs around pretty sleep-deprived,” she said, explaining that many of us will be sleeping for longer now that we aren’t leaving our homes as much.

“It’s my informal impression that healthcare providers are having more extreme nightmares,” she added.

Psychologist Rubin Naiman concurred, telling the publication that he is not surprised people have been having stranger dreams than normal.

“When waking life is more vivid, so is dream life,” he said.

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