By Ophelia Au
If you’ve been on social media for some time, you’ve probably scrolled through plenty of “pov” videos, specifically those of people recreating their hyper realistic dreams to the audience. Typically the video consists of a causal interaction between two characters until the end, where one character, noticing some abnormalities, suddenly realizes that the conversation was not real and they were in fact dreaming; cue the eerie background music and a shot of the person waking up after coming to this understanding. Perhaps you’ve also experienced this - a controllable dream so vivid and realistic that you experience a shock when you come to the realization that it was fictitious. If so, chances are, you were lucid dreaming.
So how does lucid dreaming work? Is it actually real? Is there a scientific explanation for it? Can I do it? And is it safe?
The History of Lucid Dreams
Similarly to how the idea of lucid dreaming has just recently been popularised by social media, it also remains relatively new in the world of science. Despite various historical records of lucid dreaming-like instances dating all the way back to the Old Stone Age, the scientific community failed to acknowledge this concept as a legitimate phenomenon until 1978. However, the first verified documentation can be traced back to 350 BC when the well known Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote that “when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which tells us that which presents itself is but a dream”, a statement which researchers now believe could likely be hinting towards the concept of lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming also has roots in early Hinduism and Buddhisim, where it was used as a means to train the sleeper’s ability to be consciously aware in their dreams, titled “yoga nigra” by the Hindus and later named “Dream Yoga” by the Tibetians. These religions believed that Yoga Nigra could be used to heal and cultivate the mental and physical health of yogis.
Meanwhile, in the Western World, there was little regard towards these dreams, especially during the 17th century when the influence of the church caused many people to perceive dreams as superstitious and demonic ideas. While documentations of lucid dreams were minimal during this time, there still remained scholars such as Sir Thomas Browne and Rene Descartes who, fascinated by this idea, continued their research in secret. In his work, Religio Medici, Sir Thomas Browne expresses his personal experience on the subject, writing “…yet in one dream I can compose a whole Comedy, behold the action, apprehend the jests and laugh myself awake at the conceits thereof”.
Much later on, in the 20th century, the first usage of the term “lucid dreaming” finally appeared, coined by the Dutch psychiatrist, Fredrik Van Eaden in his treatise A Study of Dreams: “The seventh type of dreams, which I call lucid dreams, seems to be the most interesting and worthy of the most careful observation and study. Of this type, I experienced and wrote down 352 cases in the period between January 20, 1898, and December 26, 1912.” Following his observations, many other scientists began to take increasing interest in this subject, with Celia Green being the first to scientifically classify it in the late 1960s. Finally, in 1975, researcher Stephen LaBerge was able to prove scientifically the existence of lucid dreaming in a laboratory setting with the help of Alan Worsley, a lucid dreamer. While this momentous occasion made him a pioneer in the studies of lucid dreaming, it failed to make it to the major science journals, causing this concept to still remain relatively underground until his published data on lucid dreaming, detailed in his book Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, was properly recognized by the big leagues of science in 1978.
How does lucid dreaming work?
Alright, so now you know all about the historical timeline on lucid dreaming - that’s great but how does this concept actually work? Can such a seemingly fictitious phenomenon really be explained by science?
First off, how exactly does one identify a lucid dream apart from a regular one? Likened to directing a movie in your mind, lucid dreams are typically much more vivid and hyper realistic. Unlike a regular dream, the sleeper is additionally made aware of the fact that they are in a dream and in some cases, maintains control over certain aspects in their dream.
Defined as “a type of dream in which the dreamer becomes aware that they are dreaming while dreaming”, the concept of lucid dreaming, as bizarre as it may sound, can actually be scientifically explained.
A person’s sleep cycle can be classified into two categories: REM sleep and non-REM sleep. In the case of lucid dreaming, scientists have discovered that it commonly takes place during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep - a period of immensely deep sleep characterised by faster breathing, rapid eye motion, and higher levels of brain activity. You usually enter REM sleep about 90 minutes after falling asleep and the cycle lasts for about 10 minutes. As your body rotates between REM and non-REM sleep, each REM period will grow increasingly longer than the last, finally lasting for an hour at its peak. Despite this study, however, there are still other researchers and scientists who propose different theories. In Germany, a small study was done to monitor the electrical activity in the brain of a lucid dreamer. Based on the results of this study, they believe that lucid dreaming could also occur outside of REM sleep, when your mind is in an “in between” state - not quite asleep but not quite awake either.
When reading on lucid dreaming, it is important to keep in mind that while minimal things such as identifying the time at which lucid dreaming occurs and the general indications for it have been successfully monitored and studied, there is still much ambiguity surrounding lucid dreaming research.
Although the late acknowledgement of lucid dreaming in the scientific community means that there is less information and research on this subject, it does provide an advantage in the technological aspect. Using modern technology that scans and explores the mind, scientists have been able to observe and track much more details in the brain of a lucid dreamer. While the reason for which lucid dreams occur is still unknown, neuroscientists have noticed patterns in people who have lucid dreams and formulated various hypotheses based on their studies. To start, there appears to be physical differences in the brains of those who have lucid dreams and those who do not. The prefrontal cortex - the front most part of the brain in charge of high-level cognitive functions, visuospatial processing, and self-awareness - is observed to be larger in people who have lucid dreams. In addition to this, the brain activity of people who have lucid dreams are also recorded to be significantly higher. Based on this information, scientists have then inferred that lucid dreamers tend to have self-reflective, self-determined characteristics which may be heavily associated with their ability to have lucid dreams in the first place.
Ok so this all sounds pretty cool and I want to try it -
how exactly do I trigger lucid dreams?
BUT WAIT!
Before you try it, you might want to know the benefits and dangers of it
In case the Instagram comment section hasn’t informed you enough, lucid dreaming does indeed come with many side effects - some positive, some negative.
While there is still much debate over whether lucid dreams are overall good or bad for your health in the scientific community, there are a few solid pros and cons that have been established.
Benefits
As you may have guessed with all the mentioning of the prefrontal cortex and brain activity levels, lucid dreaming is seen to help improve the cognitive functions of a person in various aspects including the following:
It allows for exploration of your subconscious mind
Better self-understanding
Since lucid dreaming often gives you a sense of control, it is also perceived as a method of anxiety reduction
Again relating to the sense of control, it can serve as exposure therapy for various mental struggles such as insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Improvement of motor skills can also be gained through practising movements while lucid dreaming as the brain believes that you are really repeating the motion in real life
With lucid dreams acting as an essentially blank canvas of exploration, creative problem solving can also be improved thanks to it
You may also gain a positive mood booster and mental health benefits as a result of the euphoric feeling that often accompanies lucid dreams
Dangers
While all these benefits seem extremely appealing, lucid dreaming does not come without its risks and dangers. Now researching further into this topic, scientists believe that frequent lucid dreaming may bring on multiple negative long-term side effects such as the following:
As there is no guarantee to a successful induction of lucid dreams, failed attempts to trigger them will result in reduced sleep quality and various sleep disturbances
Since lucid dreaming is directed correlated with your brain’s sleep schedule, scientists postulate that lucid dreaming may restructure the sleeper’s sleep-wake cycle, in turn negatively affecting other daily aspects relating to sleep health such as emotional regulation and memory consolidation
Other potential risks that pose severe dangers to lucid dreaming are confusion, delirium, and hallucinations, wherein people who partake in lucid dreaming frequently become unable to differentiate reality from imagination - while this threat is primarily dominate in people who have pre-existing mental disorders, it is not unlikely for these side effects to develop as a result of consistent lucid dreaming
Now for the part everyone’s been waiting for - can I actually trigger a lucid dream and if so, how?
Keep in mind that there is no guarantee in successfully inducing lucid dreams - however, scientists have composed a list of induction methods regarding the subject of triggering lucid dreams. Listed below are a few of the many methods and theories produced by researchers over the course of their studies.
Reality testing
Perhaps the most common method used to induce lucid dreams is reality testing, a process in which you, as per the name, continuously test to see whether you are dreaming throughout the day. For example, one might try repeatedly to walk through walls or inhale through a closed mouth. This method is heavily reliant on the theory that repetition of certain tasks will cause them to trickle into a person’s dreams eventually, in this case, aiding them in achieving lucidity.
Dream diary
Similar to how early researchers of lucid dreams kept logs and personal journals of their experiences, studies show that frequently logging your dreams into a diary may help to increase lucid dream experiences as it makes the dreamer more focused and aware of the subject. However, this theory is not fully reliable as there have been other researches that disprove any relation between a dream diary and lucid dreaming, rather suggesting that this be combined with other methods.
Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)
Unlike the other methods, the MILD technique contains a series of instructions and is slightly more complicated. The goal of this technique is to train oneself to be conscious of their dreams while in their sleep. To properly achieve this objective, the subject is instructed to repeat these following steps:
Wake up 5 hours after falling asleep - the intention of this step is to wake yourself up before you enter the next REM cycle wherein your dreams will be at their most active and vivid states
Repeat to yourself “Next time I’m asleep, I’ll remember I’m dreaming.”
Return to your sleep but focus intently on staying awake until you become lucid in your dream
This method aims to use one’s prospective memory - remembering to do a previously planned intention in the future - to trigger a lucid dream.
Wake back to bed (WBTB)
Similar to the MILD method, Wake back to bed also involves waking yourself up after 5 hours of sleep. However, instead of repeating a statement to yourself before returning to sleep, this method suggests staying awake or keeping yourself busy for around 20 minutes in order to keep your mind alert while ensuring that it is still possible to return to sleep. Finally, the subject is instructed to go back to sleep with a strong intent to be conscious in their dreams in hopes of achieving lucidity.
Drugs and devices
Currently, there are still many researchers looking into the world of medication and finding connections between certain supplements or medicinal plants which may play factors in inducing lucid dreams. However, since there are no confirmed answers, the usage of drugs in an attempt to trigger lucid dreams is highly unstable and discouraged as they come with possible risks and dangers. In terms of devices, there have been several masks or headbands created to aid people in achieving lucidity. One such invention uses the MILD method to record and repeat statements to the sleeper in a somewhat brainwashing fashion to help them achieve lucidity. Once again, however, there have been no guarantees in triggering lucid dreams, even with the help of these devices, as reaching lucidity often relies heavily on the individual and their environment.
So now that you know the general basis of lucid dreaming, what do you think? Is it a superstition, or has science proved its existence?
…or perhaps, are you dreaming right now?
Fun fact!
There is almost no way that you’re dreaming right now because certain things - like reading, writing, and speaking - just don’t work very well in dreams. Want to learn why? That’s saved for another article. Until then, peace out ✌️
Citations
A brief history of lucid dreaming. ibandplus. (2021, February 15). https://www.ibandplus.com/a-brief-history-of-lucid-dreaming/
BetterSleep. (2023, May 26). Is lucid dreaming real? what lucid dream studies say. https://www.bettersleep.com/blog/is-lucid-dreaming-real-what-lucid-dream-studies-say./#:~:text=Lucid%20dreaming%20occurs%20when%20the%20prefrontal%20cortex%20is%20active%20during,%2C%20creativity%2C%20and%20emotional%20regulation.
WebMD. (n.d.). Lucid dreams: Definition, benefits, dangers, how to do it. WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/lucid-dreams-overview#:~:text=Lucid%20dreams%20are%20when%20you,a%20movie%20in%20your%20sleep.
Zugor, W. B. S. (2023, January 24). The complete history of lucid dreaming explained step by step. Lucid Dreaming And Dream Meanings By HowToLucid. https://howtolucid.com/lucid-dreaming-history/
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