Lucid dreaming — a state in which you're aware that you are dreaming — is a rather fascinating topic. Dreams are often affected by our feelings, fears, and thoughts. They can be extremely weird or even scary. When you lucid dream, however, you get to pick your environment and control it. Some even say lucid dreaming helps with anxiety and overcoming fears, and allows you to find out more about your inner-self and sub-conscious.
Is there any scientific proof for lucid dreaming, though? If so, does lucid dreaming actually benefit you or does it do more harm than good?
What Are Dreams?
Dreams take place when, after we fall asleep, we experience many different scenarios, stories, and images. Though most people don’t usually remember their dreams, we can have about three to six dreams every night. These dreams could last as short as five minutes or as long as 20 minutes or beyond. Dreams are most likely to unfold during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, because your brain is most active then. Dreams that occur during REM sleep are also most vivid.
People can dream about anything, whether it be eating delicious food or your house being on fire. Dreams can be weird. They can make you feel scared, happy, or confused. The things happening in your life, and the things you are worried or excited about, can affect your dreams, too. For instance, when the covid pandemic started, a lot of people reported having dreams about forgetting their face masks.
Do Dreams Serve Any Purpose?
The importance of dreams has been studied many times, though we still don't really know why we dream. One study that looked into the benefits of dreams discovered those who were stopped from dreaming felt more anxious, gained weight, had an increased risk of depression and hallucinations, and difficulty with concentration.
Dreams could help us process our emotions better, make us less worried, and even help with future dangerous situations. Though researchers still don't know much about our dreams, it's clear that dreams serve some kind of purpose.
What Is Lucid Dreaming?
You usually don't know that you are dreaming until you wake up. Lucid dreaming, however, is a state of mind in which you're aware that you are dreaming, and sometimes you can even control your dream and its environment. A little over 50 percent of people experience lucid dreaming at least once in their life, though most don't lucid dream frequently. You could randomly experience a lucid dream, while others seek this experience out.
According to research, your frontal lobe is active while you lucid dream, and you aren't fully asleep. This allows you to remain partially conscious, and tap into the narrative unfolding within your dreams.
Is There Any Evidence That Lucid Dreaming Is Actually Possible?
Unfortunately, because lucid dreaming is so hard to research we still don't know much about it. One study that tried to find out what the brain does while someone is lucid dreaming. Because most participants who had lucid dreams at home didn't lucid dream when in the lab, there wasn't much data.
However, the study did find out that when you lucid dream, you don't fully experience REM sleep but are also partially awake during the same time. This means that despite what some people might say, you don't actually lucid dream during pure REM sleep (when most dreams happen) but in a state of simultaneous REM sleep and conscious brain activity.
Parasomnias — an umbrella term that can refer to any disorder that causes people to do strange things in their sleep, such as sleep walking, eating, and driving — could potentially have a similar cause, in which people may not be fully awake or asleep but rather find themselves in a third state of mind.
Though there's still so much more to be discovered about lucid dreaming and dreaming in general, we do know that lucid dreaming actually is possible.
How Can You Try Lucid Dreaming for Yourself?
Most people lucid dream at least once in their lifetime, but is there a way to make yourself lucid dream? People use many different methods to lucid dream, some of which could even work for you. If you're looking to lucid dream try out one, or multiple of these popular methods:
- Practice reality checks every few hours throughout the day. Examples include looking at mirrors to see if your reflection is normal, check your hands to see if they're the same, read a clock to see if time is passing normally, or even literally ask yourself if you're dreaming. By picking one of these techniques and doing it every hour, you may start asking yourself the same questions while dreaming.
- Keep a very detailed dream journal to try to induce lucid dreaming. Mark down anything you can remember about your dream as soon as you wake up and frequently look through your dream journal, as this will help you understand your dreams and when you are dreaming.
- Wake back to bed (WBTB) is a technique that helps you enter REM sleep while you're awake. Set an alarm to wake you up five hours after you go to bed, and get up and do a stimulating task like reading for 30 minutes after it goes off. Go back to sleep.
- Mnemonic induction of lucid dreams (MILD) is another technique similar to WBTB. Instead of staying awake for 30 minutes after the alarm, though, instead simply say that you will know you are dreaming when you fall asleep. This method is said to be more effective. It is also less invasive.
Trying these methods doesn't guarantee you'll lucid dream right away, and they might not work well on you, or work at all for that matter. Sometimes even just thinking that you'll lucid dream today helps you lucid dream.
Potential Benefits of Lucid Dreaming
Lucid dreaming could help you with nightmares and the anxiety and stress that comes with them, as you'll be able to control them. A lot of people use lucid dreaming to reduce anxiety, especially those who experience frequent nightmares.
Some claim that lucid dreaming boosts their creativity, too. They may find it appealing because when you can control your dreams, you can create your own little worlds. When lucid dreaming, you can put yourself in scenarios you may never find yourself in when awake.
Potential Risks of Lucid Dreaming
Lucid dreaming may sound exciting and intriguing, but before you try it yourself you may want to know about the potential risks of lucid dreaming. When you lucid dream you aren't fully asleep, and that is sure to intervene with your quality of sleep. You may not get enough sleep when lucid dreaming and this could cause affect your health negatively. Just look into the effects of sleep deprivation to discover more.
Despite the fact that a lot of people use lucid dreaming to help with anxiety, it can actually increase your risk of anxiety and depression in some cases.
Lucid dreaming may also cause you to feel disconnected from the world and you may even find it hard to know what's actually happening.
We still have much more to learn about the concept of lucid dreaming and how exactly it works. Before trying out lucid dreaming yourself be cautious of how it may affect your sleep and mood. If you're interested in lucid dreaming you may just want to look it up to find out more about it instead of trying it yourself.