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Effects of Melatonin on Dream Bizarreness
Among Male and Female College Students
Tracey Kahan, Ph.D., Jeanine Hays, B.S., Ben Hirashima, B.S., and
Kimberly Johnston, B.S.
Anecdotal reports suggest dreams become more vivid and bizarre while taking melato-nin.
However, the connection between melatonin and dream characteristics has not be-en
empirically established. The present study investigated the effects of 6 mg of melato-nin
(versus a placebo) on dream bizarreness in twenty two college students (8 male, 14
female), ages 18-25. The experiment ran for two weeks in which participants received eit-her
melatonin or a placebo for six nights. Each morning, participants provided a narrati-ve
of their dreams and also used a 7-point scale to respond to 17 questions measuring
aspects of dream bizarreness. Bizarreness ratings following melatonin nights were com-pared
with those following placebo nights. It was hypothesized that ratings of dream bi-zarreness
would be reliably higher following melatonin treatments and that women would
show greater increases than men. The hypotheses were partially supported by significant
results on several specific aspects of dream bizarreness, including "transformations of
objects" and "overall transformations." Patterns differed for males and females, indicating
that melatonin may, indeed, impact dreaming characteristics and participants sex must
be considered when investigating such effects. (Sleep and Hypnosis 2000;2:74-83)
| Keywords: melatonin, dreaming, dream characteristics, dream bizarreness, human
sex differences |
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