What is a Lucid Dream

Studies argue that lucid dreams can have a negative impact on mental health, because they can disrupt sleep and make dreamers blur the line between reality and fantasy. Caution should be exercised with other supplements and herbs which claim to improve dream clarity as they are not backed by scientific evidence and as medications carry the risk of allergic reactions and side effects.

    

One study investigated whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), which is applied to the frontal cortex, increases lucid dreaming. The study found that people who experience lucid dreams display brain activity that appears to be a mix of REM sleep and wakefulness. Other studies have found that certain areas of the prefrontal cortex show increased activity in lucid dreaming compared to normal REM sleep.

    

Our results are consistent with recent fMRI case studies on lucid dreaming. The study found that a similar network of brain areas increased fMRI signals during lucid dreaming compared to REM baseline sleep, including bilateral APFC, bilateral ITG and MTG, and bilateral medial and lateral parietal cortisone (including AG).9 These brain areas have also been shown to reduce regional cerebral blood flow (RCBF) 13,14,39 during REM sleep.

    

lucid dreaming 

People with more intense lucid dreams tend to show more psychopathological symptoms, a study found. Furthermore, people with narcolepsy, a sleep disorder characterized by excessive sleepiness during the day and irresistible sleep attacks are more likely to experience lucid dreams.

    

Studies have shown in contrast to normal dreams which occur at different stages of the sleep cycle that lucid dreaming occurs during sleep with rapid eye movements (REM). During REM sleep, people who experience lucid dreams maintain the same brain activity without the muscle paralysis that is a hallmark of REM sleep.

    

Some people with sleep paralysis confuse lucid dreaming with REM sleep. Although REM sleep is defined as a phenomenon in which the dreaming sleeper exercises control over various aspects of his environment, studies have shown that this is not always the case and that some people are more prone to clear dreams and control than others.

    

The results of a study indicate that lucid dreaming tends to be more common in women and decreases with age. A meta-analytic study conducted by David Saunders and colleagues from Lucid dream studies conducted over a period of 50 years showed that 55% of a pooled sample of 24,282 people reported having experienced lucid dreams at least once or several times in their lives.

    

In this way, lucid dreamers can train their minds to work in their sleep on their goals, such as improving their self-confidence and athletic skills. In people who interrupt their sleep patterns to trigger clear dreaming it can lead to sleep deprivation which affects alertness, memory and stress and lead to problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

    

For example, a person with social anxiety could use a dream to play with various social situations that allow them to practice dealing with others without seeing anything frightening happen. After practicing in the dream, they may feel brave enough to try the same techniques in the real world.

    

Lucid dreamers are able to open their minds and get creative as they explore the dreams they are experiencing. By taking over the agency, lucid dreamers can make active decisions about the dreams and experiences within them, making creative connections and testing how things work. Some people in a clear state begin to decide what happens in their dreams, as if they were the director of their own film.

    

Spontaneous and less frequent lucid dreamers must activate pre-sleep intentions, use prospective memories to remember and recognize in dreams, and their lucid dreams tend to occur without engaging in specific methods to induce them.

    

To become clear (or REM sleep dreams), one needs to make accurate metacognitive judgments about the state of consciousness and find the right explanation for anomalies in the dreams in which one dreams. The study of a small but growing number of scientists, led by Baird and others in sleep laboratories around the world who remember what happened to them in their dreams, has correlated cognitive processes that occur in the mind and brain with the physiological activity measured and observed.

 

lucid dream meaning

  

There is still much to do, but these insights lure us into a world of imaginary fun and adventure. This research could not only help people to enjoy fantasic dreams in which they can help control what is happening, but could also explain the connection between clear dreams and consciousness and help people overcome their fears and process trauma in their sleep. Until more is known about the safety of these techniques, no one will experiment with galantamine alone.

    

There are well-known people who claim to be able to control or manipulate their dreams. Some people can enter a dream without being aware of the fact that they are dreaming. Then they wake up without realizing that they have dreamed.

    

Some lucid dreamers we interviewed confirmed this idea and explained that they enjoyed writing down their dreams for a long time after waking up. Lucid dreamers who spoke of MNT told us that they were able to manipulate the dream narrative to make themselves a pleasant experience. Celia Green concluded that lucid dreams are a category of experiences that differ from ordinary dreams and that they are associated with rapid sleep with eye movements (REM sleep).

    

Research carried out in the 1960s and 1970s led to the discovery that lucid dreams are associated with REM sleep and to the creation of the electrooculogram (EOG), which can be used to detect a pre-determined number of eye movements to signal consciousness. In dreams, people who undergo clear dreams are able to communicate with the experimenter through eye movements and facial muscle signals, and to understand complex questions using working memory.