Nightmares are defined as disturbing mental experiences that generally occur during REM sleep and often result in awakening. The continuity hypothesis of dreaming would predict that media consumption arousing anxious feelings might increase nightmare frequency. Whereas there is some research on the effect of watching TV and playing computer games on dreams, research examining the relationship between reading and nightmares is scarce. The present study carried out in 3,535 children and adolescents showed that the preference for reading scary stories is positively related to nightmare frequency, whereas preferring fiction (novels and stories) is negatively related to nightmare frequency. To determine whether this is a causal effect, future studies should use experimental designs and test whether reading—even though it is not the most commonly used media form—can affect children in a negative way or whether reading specific books offering strategies for coping with nightmares can have beneficial effects on children.

中文翻译：

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书籍偏好和噩梦：英国图书馆研究。

噩梦被定义为通常在快速眼动睡眠期间发生的令人不安的心理体验，并且经常导致醒来。梦的连续性假设将预测引起焦虑情绪的媒体消费可能会增加噩梦的频率。虽然有一些关于看电视和玩电脑游戏对梦的影响的研究，但关于阅读和噩梦之间关系的研究却很少。目前对 3,535 名儿童和青少年进行的研究表明，对阅读恐怖故事的偏好与噩梦频率呈正相关，而对小说（小说和故事）的偏好与噩梦频率呈负相关。要确定这是否是因果关系，