Tag: #lucid dream

Lucid Dreams

What are lucid dreams?

Lucid dreams occur when you are aware that you are dreaming while sleeping.You’re aware that the events that are flashing across your mind aren’t genuine. However, the dream is vivid and real. You could even be able to guide the action in your sleep, as if you were directing a movie. According to studies, roughly half of all adults have had at least one lucid dream. However, they are unlikely to occur frequently, usually only a few times per year.

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When do lucid dreams happen?

Lucid dreams are most common during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is characterised by rapid eye movement, faster breathing, and increased brain activity. About 90 minutes after falling asleep, you normally enter REM sleep. It lasts approximately ten minutes. Each REM cycle lasts longer than the one before it, eventually reaching an hour.

Lucid Dreams Research

Neuroscientists are baffled as to how and why lucid dreams occur. They do, however, have some suggestions. For one instance, research have discovered physical differences in the brains of those who have lucid dreams versus those who don’t. People who have lucid dreams have a larger prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for high-level processes such as decision-making and memory recall. That shows that people who are most prone to have lucid dreams are self-reflective individuals who ruminate on their own thoughts. In a tiny study conducted in Germany, individuals’ brain electrical activity was monitored as they slept. According to the findings, lucid dreaming may be a kind of “in-between state” in which you aren’t entirely awake but also not fully sleeping. Some sleep researchers believe that lucid dreams can occur outside of REM sleep, which was previously regarded to be the only moment when people dreamed.

Benefits of Lucid Dreams

Lucid dreams may assist your waking life by providing advantages such as:

– Less Anxiety: There is less anxiety. The sense of control you experience during a lucid dream may linger and make you feel powerful. You can mould the tale and the finale after you realise you’re in a dream. This could be used as a form of treatment for people who suffer from nightmares, teaching them how to manage their dreams.

– Better motor skills: Some research suggests that by “practising” in a lucid dream, you might be able to improve simple things like tapping your fingers faster. Whether you visualise the actions while awake or run through them in a lucid dream, the same area of your brain becomes engaged.

– Improved Problem-solving skills: Researchers discovered evidence that lucid dreams can assist people address difficulties involving creativity (such as a disagreement with another person) rather than reasoning (such as a math problem).

– Increased creativity: Some participants in lucid dream studies were able to generate new ideas or insights, sometimes with the assistance of characters in their dreams.

Dangers of Lucid Dreams

Lucid dreaming can lead to a variety of issues, including:

– Sleep deprivation: Vivid dreams might wake you up and make it difficult to fall back asleep. And if you’re too concentrated on lucid dreaming, you can have trouble sleeping.

– Confusion, delirium, and hallucinations: Lucid dreams can cause confusion, delirium, and hallucinations in people with certain mental health problems.

Control your dreams.

Many people experience lucid dreams spontaneously, simply because their mind is alert during that phase of sleep. Some train themselves to dream lucid, intending to harness the potential of lucid dreams and utilizing them to their advantage. Lucid dreams are known to help with anxiety, nightmares, dispelling phobias, boosting creativity, and improving motor skills.

During lucid dreams, the sleeper is aware a dream is taking place but will not leave the dream state. Some further define these phenomena as dreams in which the sleeper can exercise control over different aspects of their environment, though studies have found this is not always the case, and that certain people are more predisposed to “lucid dream control” than others.

Surveys show that roughly 55% of adults have experienced at least one lucid dream during their lifetime, and 23% of people experience lucid dreams at least once per month. Some research has pointed to potential benefits of lucid dreaming, such as treatment for nightmares. However, other studies argue lucid dreams may have a negative impact on mental health because they can disturb sleep and cause dreamers to blur the lines between reality and fantasy.

Anxiety:
Since lucid dreams hover between reality and dreams, people can use lucid dreaming to play out real-life situations. For instance, if you are anxious about an upcoming job interview, you can run it through your mind numerous times before going to bed. Your brain gets accustomed to the scenario and chances are high of the scene playing out in your dreams, where you will have control over your actions. Playing and replaying the scene in your dream, while being aware of what is happening helps in easing anxiety. The fear of the unknown fades away, as you experience the situation.

Creativity boost :
Some practice lucid dreaming consciously to enhance their creativity. They test their imagination while being conscious of their dreams. It is a sort of game to see how far your dreams take you, while you are consciously aware of it. It lays the premise for out-of-the-box thinking since anything can happen in your dreams.

Maintain a journal :
This is the first step to syncing up with your dreams. Get into the habit of writing down every minute detail of your dream immediately as you wake, and make it a habit. It helps you to understand your dreams better —understanding your dreams and thoughts are steps that will lead you to lucid dreams.

Link the dots :
Once you get into the habit of maintaining a detailed dream journal, review it often. Doing so will help you identify a pattern in your dreams. You will recognize if there is a trend of themes, people, or subjects that crop up in your dreams. This will give you an insight into your inner psyche and help you understand what plays in your subconscious mind. Moreover reviewing details of your dreams will also help you pick up signs, teaching your brain how to identify a dream while being conscious of the dreaming state.

A technique to help lucid dreaming:
In this technique, you set an alarm five or six hours after you fall asleep. When the alarm clock rings you wake up during the REM stage of your sleep, when your brain is most active, leading to longer dreams. If you wake up during this stage and then go back to sleep, chances are high that you will re-enter your dream phase and be more conscious of it.