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A lucid dream is a type of
dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...
in which the dreamer becomes aware that they are dreaming while dreaming. During a lucid dream, the dreamer may gain some amount of control over the dream characters, narrative, or environment; however, this is not actually necessary for a dream to be described as lucid. Lucid dreaming has been studied and reported for many years. Prominent figures from ancient to modern times have been fascinated by lucid dreams and have sought ways to better understand their causes and purpose. Many different theories have emerged as a result of scientific research on the subject and have even been shown in pop culture. Further developments in psychological research have pointed to ways in which this form of dreaming may be utilized as a form of sleep therapy.


Etymology

The term ''lucid dream'' was coined by
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
author and
psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
Frederik van Eeden Frederik Willem van Eeden (3 April 1860, Haarlem – 16 June 1932, Bussum) was a late 19th-century and early 20th-century Dutch writer and psychiatrist. He was a leading member of the Tachtigers and the Significs Group, and had top billing a ...
in his 1913 article ''A Study of Dreams'', though descriptions of dreamers being aware that they are dreaming predate the article. Van Eeden studied his own dreams between January 20, 1898 and December 26, 1912, recording the ones he deemed most important in a
dream diary A dream diary (or dream journal) is a diary in which dream experiences are recorded. A dream diary might include a record of nightly dreams, personal reflections and waking dream experiences. It is often used in the study of dreams and psychology. ...
. 352 of these dreams are categorized as lucid. Van Eeden created names for seven different types of dreams he experienced based on the data he collected: * initial dreams * pathological dreams * ordinary dreams * vivid dreams * demoniacal dreams * general dream-sensations * lucid dreams He said the seventh type, lucid dreaming, is "the most interesting and worthy of the most careful observation and study."


Definition

Paul Tholey Paul Tholey (14 March 1937 – 7 December 1998) was a German Gestalt psychologist, and a professor of psychology and sports science at the University of Frankfurt and the Technical University of Braunschweig. Tholey started the study of on ...
laid the
epistemological Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...
basis for the research of lucid dreams, proposing seven different conditions of clarity that a dream must fulfill in order to be defined as a lucid dream: # Awareness of the dream state (orientation) # Awareness of the capacity to make decisions # Awareness of memory functions # Awareness of self # Awareness of the dream environment # Awareness of the meaning of the dream # Awareness of concentration and focus (the subjective clarity of that state) Later, in 1992, a study by
Deirdre Barrett Deirdre Barrett is an American author and psychologist known for her research on dreams, hypnosis and imagery, and has written on evolutionary psychology. Barrett is a teacher at Harvard Medical School, and a past president of the Internationa ...
examined whether lucid dreams contained four "
corollaries In mathematics and logic, a corollary ( , ) is a theorem of less importance which can be readily deduced from a previous, more notable statement. A corollary could, for instance, be a proposition which is incidentally proved while proving another ...
" of lucidity: * The dreamer is aware that they are dreaming * They are aware actions will not carry over after waking * Physical laws need not apply in the dream * The dreamer has a clear memory of the waking world Barrett found less than a quarter of lucidity accounts exhibited all four. Subsequently,
Stephen LaBerge Stephen LaBerge (born 1947) is an American psychophysiologist specializing in the Oneirology, scientific study of lucid dreaming. In 1967 he received his bachelor's degree in mathematics. He began researching lucid dreaming for his Ph.D. in psych ...
studied the prevalence of being able to control the dream scenario among lucid dreams, and found that while dream control and dream awareness are correlated, neither requires the other. LaBerge found dreams that exhibit one clearly without the capacity for the other; also, in some dreams where the dreamer is lucid and aware they could exercise control, they choose simply to observe.


History


Ancient

The practice of
lucid dreaming A lucid dream is a type of dream in which the dreamer becomes aware that they are dreaming while dreaming. During a lucid dream, the dreamer may gain some amount of control over the dream characters, narrative, or environment; however, this is n ...
, as in cultivating the dreamer's ability to be aware that they are dreaming, is central to both the ancient Indian
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
practice of
Yoga nidra Yoga nidra ( sa, योग निद्रा, ) or yogic sleep in modern usage is a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping, typically induced by a guided meditation. A state called yoga nidra is mentioned in the Upanishads and the ...
and the Tibetan Buddhist practice of
dream Yoga Dream yoga or ''milam'' (; sa, स्वप्नदर्शन, ''svapnadarśana'')—the Yoga of the Dream State—is a suite of advanced tantric sadhana of the entwined Mantrayana lineages of Dzogchen ( Nyingmapa, Ngagpa, Mahasiddha, Kagyu ...
. The cultivation of such awareness was a common practice among early
Buddhists Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
. Early references to the phenomenon are also found in ancient Greek writing. For example, the philosopher
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
wrote: "often when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream". Meanwhile, the physician
Galen of Pergamon Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one of ...
used lucid dreams as a form of therapy. In addition, a letter written by
Saint Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afric ...
in 415 AD tells the story of a dreamer, Doctor Gennadius, and refers to lucid dreaming.


17th century

Philosopher and physician Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682) was fascinated by dreams and described his own ability to lucid dream in his ''
Religio Medici ''Religio Medici'' (''The Religion of a Doctor'') by Sir Thomas Browne is a spiritual testament and early psychological self-portrait. Published in 1643 after an unauthorized version was distributed the previous year, it became a European best-s ...
'', stating: "...yet in one dream I can compose a whole Comedy, behold the action, apprehend the jests and laugh my self awake at the conceits thereof".
Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...
in his diary entry for 15 August 1665 records a dream, stating: "I had my Lady Castlemayne in my arms and was admitted to use all the dalliance I desired with her, and then dreamt that this could not be awake, but that it was only a dream".


19th century

In 1867, the French sinologist
Marie-Jean-Léon, Marquis d'Hervey de Saint Denys Marie-Jean-Léon Lecoq, Baron d'Hervey de Juchereau, Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys (; 6 May 1822 – 2 November 1892) son of Pierre Marin Alexandre Le Coq or Lecoq, Baron d'Hervey (1780-1858), and Marie Louise Josephine Mélanie Juchereau ...
anonymously published ''Les Rêves et Les Moyens de Les Diriger; Observations Pratiques'' ('Dreams and the ways to direct them; practical observations'), in which he describes his own experiences of lucid dreaming, and proposes that it is possible for anyone to learn to dream consciously.


20th century

In 1913, Dutch psychiatrist and writer Frederik (Willem) van Eeden (1860–1932) coined the term 'lucid dream' in an article entitled "A Study of Dreams". Some have suggested that the term is a misnomer because Van Eeden was referring to a phenomenon more specific than a lucid dream. Van Eeden intended the term lucid to denote "having insight", as in the phrase ''a lucid interval'' applied to someone in temporary remission from a
psychosis Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior ...
, rather than as a reference to the perceptual quality of the experience, which may or may not be clear and vivid.


Neural mechanism

In 1968,
Celia Green Celia Elizabeth Green (born 26 November 1935) is a British writer on philosophical skepticism and psychology. Biography Green's parents were both primary school teachers, who together authored a series of geography textbooks which became know ...
analyzed the main characteristics of such dreams, reviewing previously published literature on the subject and incorporating new data from participants of her own. She concluded that lucid dreams were a category of experience quite distinct from ordinary dreams and said they were associated with
rapid eye movement sleep Rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep or REMS) is a unique phase of sleep in mammals and birds, characterized by random rapid movement of the eyes, accompanied by low muscle tone throughout the body, and the propensity of the sleeper to dream viv ...
(REM sleep). Green was also the first to link lucid dreams to the phenomenon of
false awakening A false awakening is a vivid and convincing dream about awakening from sleep, while the dreamer in reality continues to sleep. After a false awakening, subjects often dream they are performing daily morning routine such as showering, cooking, cl ...
s. In 1975, Dr Keith Hearne had the idea to exploit the nature of Rapid Eye Movements (REM) to allow a dreamer to send a message directly from dreams to the waking world. Working with an experienced lucid dreamer (Alan Worsley), he eventually succeeded in recording (via the use of an
electrooculogram Electrooculography (EOG) is a technique for measuring the corneo-retinal standing potential that exists between the front and the back of the human eye. The resulting signal is called the electrooculogram. Primary applications are in ophthalmo ...
or EOG) a pre-defined set of eye movements signalled from within Worsley's lucid dream. This occurred at around 8 am on the morning of April 12, 1975. Hearne's EOG experiment was formally recognized through publication in the journal for The Society for Psychical Research. Lucid dreaming was subsequently researched by asking dreamers to perform pre-determined physical responses while experiencing a dream, including eye movement signals. In 1980,
Stephen LaBerge Stephen LaBerge (born 1947) is an American psychophysiologist specializing in the Oneirology, scientific study of lucid dreaming. In 1967 he received his bachelor's degree in mathematics. He began researching lucid dreaming for his Ph.D. in psych ...
at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
developed such techniques as part of his doctoral dissertation. In 1985, LaBerge performed a pilot study that showed that
time perception The study of time perception or chronoception is a field within psychology, cognitive linguistics and neuroscience that refers to the subjective experience, or sense, of time, which is measured by someone's own perception of the duration of the ind ...
while counting during a lucid dream is about the same as during waking life. Lucid dreamers counted out ten seconds while dreaming, signaling the start and the end of the count with a pre-arranged eye signal measured with
electrooculogram Electrooculography (EOG) is a technique for measuring the corneo-retinal standing potential that exists between the front and the back of the human eye. The resulting signal is called the electrooculogram. Primary applications are in ophthalmo ...
recording. LaBerge's results were confirmed by German researchers D. Erlacher and M. Schredl in 2004. In a further study by Stephen LaBerge, four subjects were compared either singing while dreaming or counting while dreaming. LaBerge found that the right hemisphere was more active during singing and the left hemisphere was more active during counting.
Neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, Biological neural network, n ...
J. Allan Hobson has hypothesized what might be occurring in the brain while lucid. The first step to lucid dreaming is recognizing one is dreaming. This recognition might occur in the
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC or DL-PFC) is an area in the prefrontal cortex of the primate brain. It is one of the most recently derived parts of the human brain. It undergoes a prolonged period of maturation which lasts until adultho ...
, which is one of the few areas deactivated during REM sleep and where
working memory Working memory is a cognitive system with a limited capacity that can hold information temporarily. It is important for reasoning and the guidance of decision-making and behavior. Working memory is often used synonymously with short-term memory, ...
occurs. Once this area is activated and the recognition of dreaming occurs, the dreamer must be cautious to let the dream continue but be conscious enough to remember that it is a dream. While maintaining this balance, the
amygdala The amygdala (; plural: amygdalae or amygdalas; also '; Latin from Greek, , ', 'almond', 'tonsil') is one of two almond-shaped clusters of nuclei located deep and medially within the temporal lobes of the brain's cerebrum in complex verteb ...
and
parahippocampal cortex The parahippocampal gyrus (or hippocampal gyrus') is a grey matter cortical region of the brain that surrounds the hippocampus and is part of the limbic system. The region plays an important role in memory encoding and retrieval. It has been inv ...
might be less intensely activated. To continue the intensity of the dream hallucinations, it is expected the
pons The pons (from Latin , "bridge") is part of the brainstem that in humans and other bipeds lies inferior to the midbrain, superior to the medulla oblongata and anterior to the cerebellum. The pons is also called the pons Varolii ("bridge of Va ...
and the parieto-occipital junction stay active. Using
electroencephalography Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The biosignals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neocortex ...
(EEG) and other polysomnographical measurements, LaBerge and others have shown that lucid dreams begin in the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage of sleep. LaBerge also proposes that there are higher amounts of beta-1 frequency band (13–19 Hz) brain wave activity experienced by lucid dreamers, hence there is an increased amount of activity in the
parietal lobe The parietal lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The parietal lobe is positioned above the temporal lobe and behind the frontal lobe and central sulcus. The parietal lobe integrates sensory informa ...
s making lucid dreaming a conscious process. Paul Tholey, a German Gestalt psychologist and a professor of psychology and
sports science Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sport and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally inc ...
, originally studied dreams in order to resolve the question of whether one dreams in colour or black and white. In his phenomenological research, he outlined an epistemological frame using critical realism. Tholey instructed his subjects to continuously suspect waking life to be a dream, in order that such a habit would manifest itself during dreams. He called this technique for inducing lucid dreams the ''Reflexionstechnik'' (reflection technique). Subjects learned to have such lucid dreams; they observed their dream content and reported it soon after awakening. Tholey could examine the cognitive abilities of dream figures. Nine trained lucid dreamers were directed to set other dream figures arithmetic and verbal tasks during lucid dreaming. Dream figures who agreed to perform the tasks proved more successful in verbal than in arithmetic tasks. Tholey discussed his scientific results with Stephen LaBerge, who has a similar approach. A study was conducted by Stephen LaBerge and other scientists to see if it were possible to attain the ability to lucid dream through a drug. In 2018,
galantamine Galantamine is used for the treatment of cognitive decline in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease and various other memory impairments. It is an alkaloid that has been isolated from the bulbs and flowers of ''Galanthus nivalis'' (Common snowdro ...
was given to 121 patients in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, the only one of its kind. Some participants found as much as a 42 percent increase in their ability to lucid dream, compared to self-reports from the past six months, and ten people experienced a lucid dream for the first time. It is theorized that galantamine allows
acetylcholine Acetylcholine (ACh) is an organic chemical that functions in the brain and body of many types of animals (including humans) as a neurotransmitter. Its name is derived from its chemical structure: it is an ester of acetic acid and choline. Part ...
to build up, leading to greater recollection and awareness during dreaming.


Two-way communication

Teams of cognitive scientists established real-time two-way communication with people undergoing a lucid dream. During dreaming they were able to consciously communicate with experimenters via eye movements or facial muscle signals, were able to comprehend complex questions and use working memory. Such interactive lucid dreaming could be a new approach for the scientific exploration of the dream state and could have applications for learning and creativity. Available unde
CC BY 4.0
.


Alternative theories

Other researchers suggest that lucid dreaming is not a state of sleep, but of brief wakefulness, or "micro-awakening". Experiments by
Stephen LaBerge Stephen LaBerge (born 1947) is an American psychophysiologist specializing in the Oneirology, scientific study of lucid dreaming. In 1967 he received his bachelor's degree in mathematics. He began researching lucid dreaming for his Ph.D. in psych ...
used "perception of the outside world" as a criterion for
wakefulness Wakefulness is a daily recurring Human brain, brain state and state of consciousness in which an individual is conscious and engages in coherent cognition, cognitive and behavioral responses to the external world. Being awake is the opposite of ...
while studying lucid dreamers, and their sleep state was corroborated with physiological measurements. LaBerge's subjects experienced their lucid dream while in a state of REM, which critics felt may mean that the subjects are fully awake. J Allen Hobson responded that lucid dreaming must be a state of both waking and dreaming. Philosopher
Norman Malcolm Norman Malcolm (; 11 June 1911 – 4 August 1990) was an American philosopher. Biography Malcolm was born in Selden, Kansas. He studied philosophy with O. K. Bouwsma at the University of Nebraska, then enrolled as a graduate student at Har ...
has argued against the possibility of checking the accuracy of dream reports, pointing out that "the only criterion of the truth of a statement that someone has had a certain dream is, essentially, his saying so."


Prevalence and frequency

In 2016, a meta-analytic study by David Saunders and colleagues on 34 lucid dreaming studies, taken from a period of 50 years, demonstrated that 55% of a pooled sample of 24,282 people claimed to have experienced lucid dreams at least once or more in their lifetime. Furthermore, for those that stated they did experience lucid dreams, approximately 23% reported to experience them on a regular basis, as often as once a month or more. In a 2004 study on lucid dream frequency and personality, a moderate correlation between nightmare frequency and frequency of lucid dreaming was demonstrated. Some lucid dreamers also reported that nightmares are a trigger for dream lucidity. Previous studies have reported that lucid dreaming is more common among adolescents than adults. A 2015 study by Julian Mutz and Amir-Homayoun Javadi showed that people who had practiced meditation for a long time tended to have more lucid dreams. The authors claimed that "Lucid dreaming is a hybrid state of consciousness with features of both waking and dreaming" in a review they published in Neuroscience of Consciousness in 2017. Mutz and Javadi found that during lucid dreaming, there is an increase in activity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the bilateral frontopolar prefrontal cortex, the
precuneus In neuroanatomy, the precuneus is the portion of the superior parietal lobule on the medial surface of each brain hemisphere. It is located in front of the cuneus (the upper portion of the occipital lobe). The precuneus is bounded in front by th ...
, the inferior parietal lobules, and the
supramarginal gyrus The supramarginal gyrus is a portion of the parietal lobe. This area of the brain is also known as Brodmann area 40 based on the brain map created by Korbinian Brodmann to define the structures in the cerebral cortex. It is probably involved wit ...
. All are brain functions related to higher cognitive functions including working memory, planning, and self-consciousness. The researchers also found that during a lucid dream, "levels of self-determination" were similar to those that people experienced during states of wakefulness. They also found that lucid dreamers can only control limited aspects of their dream at once. Mutz and Javadi also have stated that by studying lucid dreaming further, scientists could learn more about various types of consciousness, which happen to be less easy to separate and research at other times.


Suggested applications


Treating nightmares

It has been suggested that those who suffer from
nightmare A nightmare, also known as a bad dream, Retrieved 11 July 2016. is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong emotional response from the mind, typically fear but also despair, anxiety or great sadness. The dream may contain situations of d ...
s could benefit from the ability to be aware they are indeed dreaming. A pilot study performed in 2006 showed that lucid dreaming therapy treatment was successful in reducing nightmare frequency. This treatment consisted of exposure to the idea, mastery of the technique, and lucidity exercises. It was not clear what aspects of the treatment were responsible for the success of overcoming nightmares, though the treatment as a whole was said to be successful. Australian psychologist Milan Colic has explored the application of principles from
narrative therapy Narrative therapy (or Narrative Practice) is a form of psychotherapy that seeks to help patients identify their values and the skills associated with them. It provides the patient with knowledge of their ability to live these values so they can ...
to clients' lucid dreams, to reduce the impact not only of nightmares during sleep but also depression, self-mutilation, and other problems in waking life. Colic found that therapeutic conversations could reduce the distressing content of dreams, while understandings about life—and even characters—from lucid dreams could be applied to their lives with marked therapeutic benefits. Psychotherapists have applied lucid dreaming as a part of therapy. Studies have shown that, by inducing a lucid dream, recurrent nightmares can be alleviated. It is unclear whether this alleviation is due to lucidity or the ability to alter the dream itself. A 2006 study performed by Victor Spoormaker and Van den Bout evaluated the validity of lucid dreaming treatment (LDT) in chronic nightmare sufferers. LDT is composed of exposure, mastery and lucidity exercises. Results of lucid dreaming treatment revealed that the nightmare frequency of the treatment groups had decreased. In another study, Spoormaker, Van den Bout, and Meijer (2003) investigated lucid dreaming treatment for nightmares by testing eight subjects who received a one-hour individual session, which consisted of lucid dreaming exercises. The results of the study revealed that the nightmare frequency had decreased and the sleep quality had slightly increased. Holzinger, Klösch, and Saletu managed a psychotherapy study under the working name of ‘Cognition during dreaming—a therapeutic intervention in nightmares’, which included 40 subjects, men and women, 18–50 years old, whose life quality was significantly altered by nightmares. The test subjects were administered Gestalt group therapy and 24 of them were also taught to enter the state of lucid dreaming by Holzinger. This was purposefully taught in order to change the course of their nightmares. The subjects then reported the diminishment of their nightmare prevalence from 2–3 times a week to 2–3 times per month.


Creativity

In her book ''
The Committee of Sleep ''The Committee of Sleep: How Artists, Scientists, and Athletes Use Dreams for Creative Problem-Solving—and How You Can Too'' is a book by Deirdre Barrett Deirdre Barrett is an American author and psychologist known for her research on dream ...
'',
Deirdre Barrett Deirdre Barrett is an American author and psychologist known for her research on dreams, hypnosis and imagery, and has written on evolutionary psychology. Barrett is a teacher at Harvard Medical School, and a past president of the Internationa ...
describes how some experienced lucid dreamers have learned to remember specific practical goals such as artists looking for inspiration seeking a show of their own work once they become lucid or computer programmers looking for a screen with their desired code. However, most of these dreamers had many experiences of failing to recall waking objectives before gaining this level of control.Barrett, Deirdre. ''The Committee of Sleep: How Artists, Scientists, and Athletes Use their Dreams for Creative Problem Solving ... and How You Can, Too''. Hardback Random House, 2001, Paperback Oneroi Press, 2010. ''Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming'' by
Stephen LaBerge Stephen LaBerge (born 1947) is an American psychophysiologist specializing in the Oneirology, scientific study of lucid dreaming. In 1967 he received his bachelor's degree in mathematics. He began researching lucid dreaming for his Ph.D. in psych ...
and
Howard Rheingold Howard Rheingold (born 1947) is an American critic, writer, and teacher, known for his specialties on the cultural, social and political implications of modern communication media such as the Internet, mobile telephony and virtual communities (a t ...
(1990) discusses creativity within dreams and lucid dreams, including testimonials from a number of people who claim they have used the practice of lucid dreaming to help them solve a number of creative issues, from an aspiring parent thinking of potential baby names to a surgeon practicing surgical techniques. The authors discuss how creativity in dreams could stem from "conscious access to the contents of our unconscious minds"; access to "tacit knowledge"—the things we know but can't explain, or things we know but are unaware that we know. ''The Dreams Behind the Music'' book by Craig Webb (2016) details lucid dreams of a number of musical artists, including how they are able not just to hear, but also compose, mix, arrange, practice, and perform music while conscious within their dreams.


Risks

Though lucid dreaming can be beneficial to a number of aspects of life, some risks have been suggested. Those who have never had a lucid dream may not understand what is happening when they experience it for the first time. This could cause those individuals to feel a variety of different emotions as they are going through a completely new psychological experience. Feelings of stress, worry, or confusion could arise. On the other hand, the feeling of empowerment could also come up as they realize that they are now in control of their dreams. Individuals who experience lucid dreams regularly could begin to feel isolated from others due to the fact that they have different experiences when it comes to dreaming. Someone struggling with certain mental illnesses could find it hard to be able to tell the difference between reality and the actual dream (
psychosis Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior ...
). A very small percentage of people may experience
sleep paralysis Sleep paralysis is a state, during waking up or falling asleep, in which one is conscious but is completely paralyzed. During an episode, one may hallucinate (hear, feel, or see things that are not there), which often results in fear. Episodes ...
, which is something that can sometimes be confused with lucid dreaming. Although from the outside, both of these seem to be quite similar, there are a few distinct differences that can help differentiate them. A person usually experiences sleep paralysis when they partially wake up in
REM atonia Rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep or REMS) is a unique phase of sleep in mammals and birds, characterized by random rapid movement of the eyes, accompanied by low muscle tone throughout the body, and the propensity of the sleeper to dream viv ...
, a state in which said person is partially paralyzed and cannot move their limbs. When in sleep paralysis, people may also experience hallucinations. Although said hallucinations cannot cause physical damage, they may still be frightening. There are three common types of hallucinations: an intruder in the same room, a crushing feeling on one's chest or back, and a feeling of flying or levitating. About 7.6% of the general population have experienced sleep paralysis at least once. Exiting sleep paralysis to a waking state can be achieved by intently focusing on a part of the body, such as a finger, and wiggling it, continuing the action of moving to then the hand, the arm, and so on, until the person is fully awake. Long-term risks with lucid dreaming have not been extensively studied, although many people have been lucid dreaming for many years without any adverse effects.


See also

*
Active imagination An active imagination is a conscious method of experimentation. It employs creative imagination as an organ for "perceiving outside your mental boxes." For the first hundred years of active imagination, it was applied primarily by individuals for ...
*
Astral projection Astral projection (also known as astral travel) is a term used in esotericism to describe an intentional out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of a subtle body called an " astral body" through which consciousness can functio ...
*
Oneirology Oneirology (; from Greek ''ὄνειρον'', ''oneiron'', "dream"; and -''λογία'', -''logia'', "the study of") is the scientific study of dreams. Current research seeks correlations between dreaming and current knowledge about the func ...
* Pre-lucid dream *
Recurring dream A recurring dream is a dream which is experienced repeatedly over a long period. They can be pleasant or nightmarish and unique to the person and their experiences. Common themes in recurring dreams Through psychological analyses and studies, s ...
*
Sleep paralysis Sleep paralysis is a state, during waking up or falling asleep, in which one is conscious but is completely paralyzed. During an episode, one may hallucinate (hear, feel, or see things that are not there), which often results in fear. Episodes ...
*
Yoga nidra Yoga nidra ( sa, योग निद्रा, ) or yogic sleep in modern usage is a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping, typically induced by a guided meditation. A state called yoga nidra is mentioned in the Upanishads and the ...
*
Dream character A dream character, sometimes abbreviated as DC, is an interactable human-like entity in the person's dream, especially while the person is Rapid eye movement sleep, REM-sleeping. The topic has been profoundly addressed in the lucid dreaming communi ...


References


Further reading

* Blanken, C.M. den and Meijer, E.J.G. "An Historical View of Dreams and the Ways to Direct Them; Practical Observations by Marie-Jean-Léon-Lecoq, le Marquis d'Hervey-Saint-Denys". ''Lucidity Letter'', 7 (2) 67–78; 1988. Revised Edition in: ''Lucidity'', 10 (1&2) 311–22; 1991. * * * * * * * * * * Tholey, Paul (1983). "Relation between dream content and eye movements tested by lucid dreams". ''Perceptual and Motor Skills'', 56, pp. 875–78. * Tholey, Paul (1988). "A model for lucidity training as a means of self-healing and psychological growth". In: J. Gackenbach & S. LaBerge (eds.), Conscious mind, sleeping brain. ''Perspectives on lucid dreaming'', pp. 263–87. London: Plenum Press. *
''Lucid dreaming can be induced by electric scalp stimulation, study finds''

"A look at four psychology fads"
– a comparison of est,
primal therapy Primal therapy is a trauma-based psychotherapy created by Arthur Janov, who argues that neurosis is caused by the repressed pain of childhood trauma. Janov argues that repressed pain can be sequentially brought to conscious awareness for resolutio ...
,
Transcendental Meditation Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes a ...
and lucid dreaming at the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucid Dream Dream Phenomena Sleep physiology