Does belief in aliens, ghosts, demons – and other paranormal experiences – influence sleep? A new study published in the Journal of Sleep Research suggests yes.
“People sometimes report ostensibly paranormal experiences during the night. For some these events are frightening and can cause anxiety and fear which can in turn disrupt sleep. Our research team thought it would be helpful to understand more about the association between sleep and ostensibly paranormal beliefs as this could potentially help people better understand some of these experiences,” said Betul Rauf (@BetulRauf_), a final year doctoral candidate at the Psychology Department in Goldsmiths, University of London.
A total of 8,853 individuals completed the study survey, which was publicized by BBC Science Focus Magazine. Participants responded to questions assessing six paranormal beliefs, including belief in a soul that will live on after death, near death experiences being evidence of life after death, communication with the dead, that aliens have visited earth or interacted with humans, and the existence of ghosts and demons. They rated the extent of their beliefs in these supernatural experiences on a scale of 1 (definitely not) to 5 (definitely yes). A metric of subjective sleep experience was derived by combining measures of insomnia symptoms, sleep efficiency, latency and duration.
The researchers also assessed for exploding head syndrome – “a sleep disorder characterized by loud noises or a perception of explosion in one’s head during wake-sleep or sleep-wake transitions” and isolated sleep paralysis – “a temporary inability to move typically occurring at sleep onset or upon awakening.” Prior literature has linked these sleep experiences to paranormal beliefs.
Rauf and colleagues found that subjective sleep quality had a negative association with various paranormal beliefs. In other words, the worse one’s subjective sleep quality the greater their endorsement of paranormal beliefs. Participants who reported episodes of exploding head syndrome and isolated sleep paralysis held stronger beliefs about aliens having visited earth. Further, those who reported isolated sleep paralysis more commonly endorsed that near-death experiences are indicative of a life after death.
“We do not provide any information about the direction of effects between sleep and paranormal variables. However, one possibility is that certain aspects of our sleep may help to explain some instances of ‘things go bump in the night’. More research is needed before these links are clear,” Rauf told PsyPost.
“We need more research (e.g., longitudinal studies) to understand what comes first. Differently put, do aspects of sleep impact the development of paranormal beliefs, or do paranormal beliefs impact aspects of sleep? In addition, certain psychological factors, among other variables, should be considered in relation to these associations as they could also influence these associations.”
“I would like to add that we are not making any causal inferences,” the researcher said. “We are simply reporting on the associations that we have found. There are many reasons why there could be association between sleep variables and paranormal beliefs and these need to be investigated fully in future work. What is clear is that there is great public interest in this topic – and people want to know more.”
The study, “The associations between paranormal beliefs and sleep variables”, was authored by Betul Rauf, Rotem Perach, Juan J. Madrid-Valero, Dan Denis, Brian A. Sharpless, Giulia Lara Poerio, Christopher C. French, and Alice M. Gregory.