Why is Gilligan lurking in my COVID dreamland?

By Mary Kay Roth

First, I need to make something crystal clear: I never really liked the TV show, Gilligan’s Island.  Nonetheless, over the past ten months I’ve been meeting up with the S.S. Minnow castaways in my once-peaceful slumberland, always hearing the infamous theme music jangling in the background (“Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip…”) 

My first shipwrecked dream involved the Howes, “The Millionaires,” demonstrating the proper way to set a fancy table – as I dropped and broke nearly all the coconut dinner dishes. Another dream starred The Skipper, spinning me around as we danced a waltz on the beach. In my latest midnight adventure, I bounded into the ocean to save a drowning Gilligan, but the waves were made of green Jell-O and I couldn’t manage to paddle through the muck.  

Eventually, of course, I wake up bewildered and puzzled over why dreamland has – once again – shipped me off to Gilligan’s Isle. Do I feel hopelessly marooned?  Am I feeling desolate and lonely, lusting after The Professor?  Perhaps the pandemic has left me just plain nuts. 

I definitely know I’m not alone in my late-night meanderings. COVID-19 has apparently invaded our dreamscape as well as our landscape, impacting how much we dream, how many of our dreams we remember and the nature of our dreams themselves.

One of my friends shared this recurring plot line for her lockdown dreams: “My mask keeps morphing into odd things like animals, pet's paws or flowers – or it just dissolves off my face. Strangely, it never feels threatening, just odd.”

Another friend’s story:  “In my creepiest dream, I am on a flight headed to Saturn, or Jupiter, somewhere in the galaxy, but the spaceship is filled with zombies.  I don’t remember feeling afraid.  I just figure everyone else on Earth has died.”

In fact, well over 400,000 people in the United States have now died of COVID-19, almost 2,000 in Nebraska.  So, perhaps, it’s no wonder our brains are scrambled and the sandman is leading us to the strangest of places.  

A few more dream tales from friends:

• “Since I live alone, I’ve gotten into the habit of watching TV while I eat dinner.  What I’ve realized is that I have been dreaming about the people in the television shows… using them as family substitutes. That seems crazy, but they are the people most in my life right now.”
• “My worst nightmares are related to loved ones and dear friends who are dying alone in the hospital … or are whisked away in the ambulance … and not knowing whether I will ever see them again.”
• “I have a repeating dream about ants crawling all over me … and I wake up, trying to swipe them off my body. I read somewhere that since the coronavirus is often referred to as a ‘bug,’ lots of people are dreaming about bugs. I don’t know, makes sense, sort of.” 

Makes as much sense as anything else right now. Apparently, when stay-at-home directives were first put in place last year, society quite unexpectedly experienced a dream surge: a global increase in the reporting of vivid, bizarre dreams.

One explanation from researchers is that many of us are now homebound, resulting in changed schedules and often lengthier snoozes. Since dreaming generally occurs during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep – most often timed during the second half of the night – the longer a person remains asleep, the more likely they will have longer and more vibrant dreams.

Another explanation is simpler: Because life in the time of corona is largely one endless panic attack, it logically follows that our dreams are a reflection of that chaos. Indeed, many people I asked had experienced nocturnal narratives directly related to COVID. 

• “I dreamed I was waiting in line for a vaccine, waiting and waiting.  And when it was finally my turn, they ran out of doses – and told me to come back another time. I was devastated.” 
• “I’ve had a couple of dreams where my surroundings are under a UV light that shows any COVID lingering in the air and on surfaces. Depending on what's going on in my life (or mind), it’s either a nightmare that shows COVID is everywhere – or a dream that provides relief because I am able to see and avoid any COVID.” 
• “I keep dreaming that I forget my mask and feel as naked as I would without clothes.” 

Personally, my only dream during the pandemic – that was specifically about COVID – was just as strange as my other ones. In a very weird storyline, I was having dinner with a guy who kept snarfing down snacks – mountains of snacks. When I finally asked what was wrong, he revealed he was pregnant and explained he was involved in research to see how the vaccine might impact pregnancy.

Yikes, I’m in dire need of slumber salvation soon – and counting on a rescue from that very vaccination. My daughter is a Lincoln nurse who had her second dose earlier this week. And when my turn comes, I’ll roll up my sleeve (my daughter says offer the dominant arm) and do my civic and public health duty. I’m keeping the faith it will also vaccinate against nightmares.

Meanwhile, I am heartened by one more dream I had – a modest dream – a dream that a wise, compassionate man was elected President and immediately began developing a solid, scientific and reasonable plan to address this nightmarish pandemic.

Sounds far-fetched, I know.  Still, I can tell you this: Since Wednesday, Inauguration Day, I’ve slept like a baby – not a single castaway in sight.   

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