DREAM CONTENT AND THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE

Abstract

Four young adult female volunteers were studied 1 night a week for 11 consecutive weeks to determine the effects of the menstrual cycle on dream content. Four awakenings were scheduled each night during periods of REM [rapid eye movement] sleep for the retrieval of dream content. The menstrual cycle was divided into 4 classes: menses (1-5 days since onset of last menses); postmenses (8-15 days); postovulation (16-22 days); and premenses (23-31 days). Ratings by judges of dreams for manifest sexuality tended to be highest during menses (p = .05) and during cycle periods self-reported to be associated with low waking sexual desire (p < .01). It was postulated that waking sexual expression is inversely, and waking sexual drive strength directly, correlated with heterosexual expression in dream content. Self-rated dream unpleasantness and judge-rated overt hostility were also maximal during menses (p = .05). Dream imaginativeness, however, was unrelated to cycle phases, suggesting that the above effects were not mere by products of an overall intensification of dream content.