For millions of people around the world dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, sleep brings no relief.

The horrors of COVID-19, and the surreal and frightening ways it has upended daily life, are infecting dreams and exposing feelings of fear, loss, isolation and grief that transcend culture, language and national boundaries.

Everyone from a college teacher in Pakistan to a mall cashier in Canada to an Episcopal priest in Florida is confronting the same daytime demon. Each is waking up in a sweat in the dead of night.

Experts say humanity has rarely experienced B次元官网网址渃ollective dreamingB次元官网网址� on such a broad scale in recorded history B次元官网网址� and certainly never while also being able to share those nightmares in real time.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 that alarming feeling of when you wake up and think, B次元官网网址楾hank heavens I woke up,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� said Holly Smith, an elementary school librarian in Detroit. B次元官网网址淥nce it hits your dreams, you think, B次元官网网址楪reat, now I canB次元官网网址檛 even escape there.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

The psychological toll is staggering, particularly for health care workers whose dreams show similarities to those of combat veterans and 9-11 responders, said Deirdre Barrett, a Harvard University professor who is surveying COVID dreamers worldwide. She has collected 6,000 dream samples from about 2,400 people.

ALSO READ:

So many people are sharing accounts of dreams online that thereB次元官网网址檚 a Twitter account dedicated to gathering them in a virtual library under the handle B次元官网网址淚 Dream of COVID.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淎s far as I know, no one has dream samples from the flu pandemic of 1918 B次元官网网址� and that would probably be the most comparable thing,B次元官网网址� said Barrett, who has studied the dreams of 9-11 survivors and British prisoners of war in World War II. B次元官网网址淣ow we just all have our smartphones by our bed, so you can just reach over and speak it or type it down. Recording our dreams has never been easier.B次元官网网址�

The dreams are also exposing what is bothering us the most about the pandemic. The themes seem universal.

Dreams of a safe place suddenly overtaken by the virus speak to contagionB次元官网网址檚 terrifying invisibility, says Cathy Caruth, a professor at Cornell University who has studied trauma for 30 years. Pandemic dreams, she says, are reminiscent of the experience of Hiroshima survivors, who worried about invisible radiation exposure, and also of some nightmares described by Vietnam veterans.

B次元官网网址淭hey seem to be in part about things that are hard to grasp, what it means that anybody can be a threat and you can be a threat to everybody,B次元官网网址� Caruth said.

Episcopal priest Mary Alice Mathison dreamed 500 people showed up for a funeral in her church and wouldnB次元官网网址檛 go home. Other dreams underscore that no one knows how the pandemic will end. In those, the dreamer wakes with a start before learning how it turned out.

Ashley Trevino is still trying to process one terrifying dream. The 24-year-old barista is out of work due to the pandemic and was spooked when officials announced the first COVID-19 death in her central Texas county.

A few days later, she dreamed she and her girlfriend were in line to enter a dark, metal warehouse where theyB次元官网网址檇 be injected with the new coronavirus by government workers wearing Hazmat suits. Fluorescent lights in the parking lot cast an eerie glow as she watched her partner get the shot and gasp for breath. Then she got the shot, too.

B次元官网网址淚 watched her kind of collapse against the wall and while I was trying to fight the effects of it and not pass out myself, I was like B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址業s she dead now?B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

Trevino woke up whimpering. She immediately felt an impulse to share her nightmare with someone B次元官网网址� anyone B次元官网网址� and tweeted it to the world from her bed.

In PakistanB次元官网网址檚 Punjab province, a college literature teacher described dreaming she was one of only 100 people left on the planet who didnB次元官网网址檛 have COVID-19. The infected population had gained political control and was chasing the uninfected B次元官网网址渟o the world would become the same for everyone,B次元官网网址� said Roha Rafiq, 28.

Rafiq is terrified for her elderly father, who insists on going to prayers every day despite a cough and a stay-at-home order. B次元官网网址淚 think,B次元官网网址� she said in a Twitter direct message, B次元官网网址渢his anxiety has given me this dream.B次元官网网址�

According to Barrett, many people dream they are sick with COVID-19 or of being overcome by what seem to be stand-ins for the virus: swarms of bugs, slithering worms, witches, grasshoppers with fangs. Others dream of being in crowded public places without a mask or proper social distancing.

Still others dream of losing control. In one such dream, the dreamer was held down by infected people who coughed on her. In another, the dreamer came across bands of people shooting at random strangers.

Most are lower-level anxiety dreams, not trauma-induced nightmares. But that changes dramatically for frontline health workers, Barrett says.

B次元官网网址淭he health care providers are the ones who look like a trauma population. They are having flat-out nightmares that reenact the things theyB次元官网网址檙e experiencing and B次元官网网址� they all have the theme that B次元官网网址業 am responsible for saving this personB次元官网网址檚 life and IB次元官网网址檓 not succeeding and this person is about to die,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� she said.

B次元官网网址淎nd when they dream about their child or parent getting it, for the care providers thereB次元官网网址檚 always the next step in the dream where they realize B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址業 gave it to them.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

Even the simple, unadorned dreams B次元官网网址� far from the drama of the ICU B次元官网网址� seem poignant right now. Some people dream of getting a hug, attending a party, getting a haircut, going to the library.

Lauren Nickols, 30, an avid reader, stocked up on library books before OhioB次元官网网址檚 stay-at-home order. Now her supply is running low. She recently dreamed her dresser was piled with books. She found the dream reassuring, but a reminder of the mundane things that have been lost.

B次元官网网址淚 guess itB次元官网网址檚 a bit of a sense of shared community, but itB次元官网网址檚 also really sad that weB次元官网网址檙e all missing things. It really shows you all the things you do without realizing it,B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淎nd now that you canB次元官网网址檛, itB次元官网网址檚 a shock to the system.B次元官网网址�

Gillian Flaccus, The Associated Press

Like us on and follow us on .