Exploring Lucid Dreaming: What To Know About This Phenomenon

A lack of adequate sleep can lead to many mental and physical health complications, including but not limited to a lack of focus, reduced immune function, and irritability. While most people sleep every night, it can be difficult to understand what goes on in your mind and body during your sleep schedule. 

One area of the sleep cycle that experts are still studying is dreams. If you've ever experienced a dream where you felt you could control what occurred, you might have been experiencing lucid dreaming. Exploring factors of lucid dreaming may help you understand how sleep functions and what it may mean about your mental processes at night.

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A brief overview of the sleep cycle

Sleep is a complex cycle composed of five different stages. Every night, your body moves through these stages approximately five times. Unless something goes awry to derail an individual, these stages of sleep take place in an orderly manner. Each stage serves a different purpose, and they all help you to feel well-rested in the morning.

Stage 1: The transitional phase

The first stage of sleep encompasses the period when you first fall asleep and feel yourself drifting in and out between sleep and wakefulness. For example, you might be in the transitional phase if you start to experience a dream state and suddenly jerk back awake before falling back asleep again. 

Stage 2: Light sleep

After the transitional phase comes the light sleep phase, where the average person spends approximately 50% of the night. During the light sleep phase, muscle and brain activity and heart rate slow down. Body temperature may also decrease, which signals the body to go into a deeper sleep. People may wake up more easily during this phase, which can occur with sleep disorders like insomnia. 

Stages 3-4: Slow-wave sleep

Stages three and four are grouped because they have one dominating characteristic: slow brain waves. Specifically, brain waves slow down to the rate of delta waves. Delta waves stimulate regeneration within the body and produce hormones that play a role in growth and appetite control. The number of delta waves increases, while faster brain waves become even rarer as you transition from stage three to stage four. 

Stage 5: REM sleep 

The final stage of sleep, rapid eye movement (REM), is also the most well-known of the sleep stages. REM sleep is the only stage in which individuals fully dream. Unlike in the other stages, the brain is active during REM sleep. This increase in brain activity, mimicking brain activity levels when awake, allows people to dream. The eye movement signals during this stage are thought to be related to the visual aspects of dreams.

What does it mean if you're struggling to sleep? 

The recommended amount of sleep for adults is seven hours, though this number can vary from person to person. Health problems may arise if you have trouble sleeping or get significantly fewer than seven hours each night. 

Often, insomnia and other sleep problems are related to an anxiety disorder or stress. If you are struggling with your mental health and think it may interfere with your sleep, contact a therapist to discuss how to ease your symptoms and improve your sleep quality.

What is lucid dreaming?

When lucid dreaming is compared to non-lucid dreaming, it's evident that not all dreams allow for self-awareness or dream control. Ordinary dreams occur when the sleeping brain transitions through NREM sleep to eventually enter REM sleep, where most dreaming happens.

The term "lucidity" means clarity. Lucid dreaming is a state in which the person has clarity during their dream. Specifically, the person knows they are dreaming. You might be experiencing lucid dreaming if you can ask yourself questions during the dream or interact as you wish with characters in the dream. 

Many people find the idea of lucid dreaming exciting because they want to control their dreams. While some lucid dreamers can somewhat control their dreams step-by-step, many do not fully control their dreams in a lucid state. They can steer it in specific directions and make decisions about what they want to explore in their dreams, but they might not control every detail.

More research is necessary to fully understand the prefrontal cortex's role in lucid dreaming. This area of the brain is linked to complex behaviors, including planning and self-reflection, and shows different activity levels during lucid dreaming. Studies suggest this might be why dreamers can achieve some level of control over their dream environment, leading to potential applications such as using lucid dreams to treat recurring nightmares.

Benefits of lucid dreaming

Lucid dreaming can be fun and exciting for many people, but it can also provide unique benefits, including the following. 

Increased awareness

For many, the first sign of dream lucidity is awareness of your surroundings and a sense that you are dreaming. Increased awareness might help you recognize when there's an aspect of your dream you'd like to change. Paying particular attention to your surroundings for the sake of lucid dreaming may lead to overall increased awareness and changes in how you view the waking world. 

Lucid dreaming may help you live in the present or practice mindfulness, as using hyper-focus in your dreams may translate to your daily routine. Though you may start focusing on the present moment only to achieve lucid dreaming, it could become second nature and offer you a feeling of being grounded in your body. 

Creativity 

If you reach the point of controlling your dreams, the world inside your mind can feel like a canvas. You might have fun designing the world in your dream, tapping into creativity. 

Even if you do not control your dreams while you lucid dream, you might receive inspiration from taking note of your surroundings. You could see visual images you wouldn't see in waking life or hear poetic songs or ideas from characters in your dreams. When you wake up, you can use these ideas to inspire your art, such as a painting or poem. 

Enhanced motor skills

Lucid dreaming may also help improve motor skills. Scientific research suggests that practicing tasks in a lucid dream can lead to better performance when fully awake, as the brain processes practiced movements similarly whether asleep or awake. For athletes or anyone looking to refine their motor skills, incorporating techniques on how to lucid dream might offer an innovative approach to training and skill development.

Facing your fears 

Lucid dreaming is sometimes used to treat nightmares. When you achieve lucidity and can determine that you are dreaming, you might be able to face fears or scary situations in your dreams. For example, suppose you have a fear of heights and notice you are falling in a dream. In that case, you can use lucid dreaming to change your surroundings, potentially offering you a sense of control over the situation and the fears you experience in waking life. 

You might also use lucid dreaming to face situations in your real life that you're nervous about. For example, if you dream about asking your boss for a raise, approaching someone you have a romantic interest in, or completing an interview, you can mold your dream to have positive outcomes that work in your favor and can practice how you might react in real life. 

Completing a "practice run" of these experiences in your dreams can help ease your anxiety about real-life events because you have already gone through them in your mind. Dreams can feel real, and knowing you can cope with anxiety in your dreams might show you how you have power over your anxiety in real life. 

Reflection and problem-solving

Lucid dreaming may allow you to reflect and reconnect with yourself. When you are dreaming, you can take the focus off the distractions of everyday life. Your guard may be down, revealing who you are underneath fear of unrest. For some, lucid dreaming is a form of meditation. 

Thinking about your problems from a dream perspective can be different from the mindset you face in daily life, presenting the opportunity to view the problem differently. You might notice that you wake up from a lucid dream with improved creative problem-solving.

Fun

Along with the other potential benefits of lucid dreaming, many people find it a fun and unique experience. Lucid dreaming allows you to explore your mind in ways you might not be able to do in waking life. It transforms dreams from a blur of quick moments into situations in which you can actively involve yourself, learn from, and potentially control. 

Are there any dangers of lucid dreaming?

For many people, lucid dreaming is not dangerous. However, lucid dreaming may sometimes feel real, and some people experience lucid nightmares. If you start to see terrifying imagery or ideas when you become aware of your dreams, it could be a sign that lucid dreaming wouldn't benefit you. 

If lucid dreaming accompanies actions like sleepwalking, sleep paralysis, or night terrors, you might be experiencing a sleep disorder. In these cases, reaching out to your primary care provider for a referral to a sleep specialist for evaluation can be beneficial. 

How to induce lucid dreams

Lucid dreaming may add value to your life, but it can be challenging to get started. If you are interested in lucid dreaming, consider the following lucid dreaming induction techniques and tips. 

MILD technique

One method for inducing lucid dreams is the MILD technique (Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams), developed by Stephen LaBerge of the Lucidity Institute. This method involves waking up after a few hours of sleep and then consciously affirming one's intention to remember to recognize they are dreaming before going back to sleep. Research supports its efficacy in increasing lucid dreaming frequency.

Wake Back to Bed technique

The Wake Back to Bed technique is another effective approach to induce lucid dreams. This method involves waking up after a few hours of sleep, staying awake for a short period, and returning to sleep to become aware during the dream state. For those seeking to explore lucid dreaming further, integrating the Wake Back to Bed technique into their routine may be helpful.

Keep a dream journal

Remembering your dreams may be essential to understanding and learning how to control them. A dream journal is one way to remember what happens throughout the night. Keep a journal and pen beside your bed, and try to jot down what you remember from your dream immediately upon waking up. 

Eventually, writing down your dreams in the morning may become second nature and a part of your daily routine. If writing in a journal in the morning sounds too laborious, keep an audio dream journal on your phone. An audio journal allows you to record your dream while lying in bed with the lights off, and it might be easier for those who don't like writing. If you're an artist, you might draw your dreams instead of writing about them. 

Try guided meditations

Meditation and mindfulness have been associated with several benefits, including reduced anxiety and increased focus. Try experimenting with a guided meditation focused on lucid dreaming. These meditations may teach you specific skills for lucid dreaming or guide you into a dreamlike state to become comfortable with the feeling of conscious meditation. 

Set a sleep schedule

Dreams occur during the fifth and final stage of the cycle, the REM phase. To reach this stage, you must first move through the first four sleep phases. If you wake up frequently throughout the night, the quality of your dreams may be compromised.

To ensure you are sleeping well each night, do your best to stick to a regular sleep schedule. Once your body gets used to going to bed at the same hour each night, it may be easier to fall asleep and potentially experience dreams. 

Counseling options 

Lucid dreaming can take work and may not happen for you easily. However, there are techniques you can use to try to increase your chances of these dreams, including meditation and dream journaling. Sometimes, a sleep disorder or mental health concern may keep you from having dreams or cause nightmares that distress you. If this occurs, reaching out to a therapist could be beneficial. 

You can also try online counseling if you have a busy schedule or face barriers to in-person therapy. With an online counseling platform like BetterHelp, you can get extra tools like journaling prompts to record your dreams and discuss them with your therapist. In addition, your therapist may send you guided meditations, worksheets, or resources you can get from home. 

Studies also back up the effectiveness of online therapy, showcasing similar results to in-person counseling in reducing symptoms of PTSD. As PTSD is a common cause of nightmares, online counseling may help you reduce these symptoms over time. 

Takeaway