Have you ever managed to gain control over your dream narrative? Movies such as Inception have popularized lucid dreaming. This movie features impressive dream artisans who are able to control the shape and content of their dreams, as well as the dreams of others.
Such feats of dream manipulation may not seem possible to the same extent in our real lives, but they are not altogether absent. In fact, a number of people are able to experience something called lucid dreaming, and some of them are even able to control certain elements of their nightly dreams.
Whether or not he is right is a matter for philosophers to debate, but the boundary between dreams and reality is something that lucid dreaming appears to explore. In this Spotlight, we look at what qualifies as lucid dreaming, whether these experiences can have any practical applications, and how a person might be able to become a lucid dreamer. Typically, when we dream, we do not know that the dream is not real.
However, some people are able to enter a dream and be fully aware of the fact that they are actually dreaming. The very first record of lucid dreaming appears to feature in the treatise On Dreams by the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.
In it, he describes an instance of self-awareness during a dream state. It is unclear how many people actually experience lucid dreaming, though certain studies have tried to gather information regarding its prevalence — and it seems that this phenomenon may be quite common.
For instance, researchers in Brazil surveyed 3, participants with a median age of Like most dreams, lucid dreaming will typically occur during rapid eye movement REM sleep. For some people it occurs spontaneously, but others train themselves to start dreaming lucidly or to become better at it.
Some people may simply wake up immediately upon realizing that they had been dreaming. Other people, however, may be able to influence their own actions within the dream, or parts of the dream itself.
The lucid dreamer who spoke to MNT told us that she was able to manipulate the dream narrative in order to create a pleasant experience for herself. Lucid dreaming is certainly an attractive and fascinating prospect; being able to explore our own inner worlds with full awareness that we are in a dream is intriguing and has an almost magical flavor to it.
REM sleep constitutes the fourth and final stage of a normal sleep cycle; the first three stages consist of non-rapid eye movement NREM sleep.
The general consensus among researchers today is that lucid dreams originate from non-lucid dreams during the REM sleep stage. In this sense, lucidity is an aspect of dreams that can be triggered using different means. Spontaneous lucid dreams are rare and difficult to foresee. To study these phenomena, researchers typically induce lucid dreams using different methods.
Some of the most common techniques include the following:. Additionally, some studies have involved inducing lucid dreams using certain types of drugs and supplements. For some studies, subjects are asked to make specific eye movements while sleeping to signal they are having a lucid dream. EOGs are particularly helpful for detecting these movements. The popularity of self-induced lucid dreams has grown in recent years. The most common reasons for inducing lucid dreams include wish fulfillment, overcoming fears, and healing.
Some studies have also shown a link between inducing lucid dreams and overcoming the fear and distress associated with nightmares.
Lucid dream therapy has shown to be largely ineffective for some groups, such as people with post-traumatic stress disorder. Some researchers have introduced another problem with lucid dreams: they are potentially disruptive to sleep. Since lucid dreams are associated with higher levels of brain activity, it has been suggested these dreams can decrease sleep quality and have a negative effect on sleep hygiene.
Additionally, people with narcolepsy — a sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and irresistible sleep attacks — are more likely to experience frequent lucid dreams. The study of lucid dreams is fairly new and largely incomplete. More research is needed to better understand these types of dreams and pinpoint why some people are predisposed to more frequent and intense lucid dreams.
Triggering lucid dreams can be fairly easy with the right methods. Those who are inexperienced with these phenomena may be able to induce a lucid dream for themselves through the following means:. Other techniques may be used to induce lucid dreams. These include transcranial direct current stimulation tDCS , which painlessly applies electrical currents to different areas of the brain, and certain types of medications.
There is little scientific research to demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods. These techniques are also only conducted in controlled clinical laboratory settings and should never be attempted by an individual unless under the supervision of a doctor or another credentialed medical or psychological professional.
Danielle writes in-depth articles about sleep solutions and holds a psychology degree from the University of British Columbia. Rehman, M. A nighttime cough is the cold symptom most likely to interfere with sleep.
Learn how to sleep with a cough…. Learn more about the causes and underlying mechanisms of REM rebound, a phenomenon in which a person temporarily experiences more…. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly.
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You may have to experiment with different reality checks to determine which works best for you. To increase your chances of lucid dreaming, use these techniques with reality testing and dream journaling.
While occasional nightmares are normal, recurring nightmares can be taxing. They can interfere with consistent quality sleep.
It also lets you control the dream, which allows you to turn a nightmare into a more neutral or pleasant scenario. By decreasing nightmares, lucid dreaming may ease nightmare-related anxiety. Visualizing physical movements can increase the actual ability to do them. This may be done during a lucid dream, where the dreamer can mentally practice motor skills. This is the part of the brain that controls movement.
In this regard, lucid dreaming could help physical rehabilitation for people with physical disabilities. It may also benefit people without physical disabilities by improving sports performance and other motor skills. Typically, people who are more creative are more likely to lucid dream. This might be due to their heightened ability to recall dreams and visualize events. But according to anecdotal reports, it also works the other way around.
People claim lucid dreaming increases their creativity and imagination. Dream interpretation can help you understand the relevance of your dreams. In fact, people say dream interpretation is easier during a lucid dream.
Your awareness increases your ability to observe the dream as it happens. To interpret your lucid dreams, keep a dream journal. Harb G. Posttraumatic nightmares and imagery rehearsal: the possible role of lucid dreaming. Applications of lucid dreams: An online study. International Journal of Dream Research. Metacognitive mechanisms underlying lucid dreaming. J Neurosci. Lucid dreaming: a state of consciousness with features of both waking and non-lucid dreaming.
Aviram L, Soffer-dudek N. Lucid dreaming: intensity, but not frequency, is inversely related to psychopathology. Erlacher D, Stumbrys T. Wake up, work on dreams, back to bed and lucid dream: a sleep laboratory study. Reality testing and the mnemonic induction of lucid dreams: Findings from the national Australian lucid dream induction study.
Aviram L, Soffer-Dudek N. Blagrove M, Hartnell SJ. Lucid dreaming: associations with internal locus of control, need for cognition and creativity. Personality and Individual Differences. Schredl, M. Lucid dreaming frequency and personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 37 7 , — Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for VerywellMind. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data.
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