Death Studies Is a fear of death keeping you awake at night? Death anxiety predicts insomnia through nightmare severity

Rachel E Menzies; Jessie Brown; Mitchell Turner; David Cunnington; Malisa Burge; Ian C Dunican; Hailey Meaklim

doi:10.1080/07481187.2026.2693544

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Death Studies Is a fear of death keeping you awake at night? Death anxiety predicts insomnia through nightmare severity

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Death Studies Is a fear of death keeping you awake at night? Death anxiety predicts insomnia through nightmare severity

Rachel E Menzies, Jessie Brown, Mitchell Turner, David Cunnington, Malisa Burge, Ian C Dunican and Hailey Meaklim

Death Studies, Vol.Advanced access

02-Jul-2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2026.2693544

PMID: 42391127

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Abstract

The fear of death (death anxiety) is a risk factor for various mental health conditions. Death anxiety has been theorized to elicit physiological arousal and worry and is empirically associated with attachment insecurity, each of which has been linked to disrupted sleep. However, limited research has explored the relationship between death anxiety, nightmares and insomnia. We examined the relationship between death anxiety and insomnia, as well as attachment style as a potential moderator, and nightmare severity as a possible mediator. Five hundred and fifteen adults completed an online survey; 70% were female, and 89% resided in Australia. Regression analyses revealed that death anxiety was positively related to insomnia, with no significant moderation by attachment style. Analyses using Hayes’ PROCESS macro revealed that nightmare severity mediated this relationship. These findings suggest that death anxiety may play a greater role in insomnia than previously considered and may be an important intervention target.

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Title: Death Studies Is a fear of death keeping you awake at night? Death anxiety predicts insomnia through nightmare severity
Authors: Rachel E Menzies - The University of Sydney
Jessie Brown - The University of Sydney
Mitchell Turner - Edith Cowan University
David Cunnington - Sunshine Coast Respiratory & Sleep (Australia)
Malisa Burge - Monash University
Ian C Dunican (Corresponding Author) - Melius Consulting (Australia)
Hailey Meaklim - Flinders University
Publication details: Death Studies, Vol.Advanced access
Publisher: Routledge
DOI: 10.1080/07481187.2026.2693544
ISSN: 1091-7683
PMID: 42391127
Copyright note: © 2026 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Data Availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available upon request.
Grants: Targeting death anxiety with an online intervention to improve outcomes in anxiety-related disorders, 2017628, National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - NHMRC
Organisation Unit: Thompson Institute
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991239197302621
Output Type: Journal article

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