Lucid dreams: what they are and what are the techniques to get them while you sleep
Lucid dreamers are immersed in a hybrid state of consciousness, which presents elements of waking and dream at the same time; they can therefore influence the course of events during rest and, according to some scientific studies, even bring benefits to their general well-being. There are not many data available, but even if few are encouraging. Find out in our video what are other 6 tips to follow to wake up in a good mood!
Lucid dreams: what is it about
Usually it is noticed when one is able to have lucid dreams, this is because dreams of this type occur when the person is aware of the fact that he is not awake, but that he is in a dream. One of the main characteristics of lucid dreams is that during their execution it is possible to take control of what happens within certain limits.
A dreamer capable of carrying out nocturnal thoughts of this kind therefore influences the course.
It may seem strange, but it is a very special oneiric experience, because it enables us to deliberately move within our thoughts while we are asleep; obviously this experience can be as pleasant as it is frightening: it depends on who populates our story. By exploring our dreams with a little practice, however, it is also possible to change situations to your liking.
Lucid dreams are the subject of various discussions in the scientific world: on the one hand the benefits for mental health and general well-being are praised, on the other they are criticized because they affect the quality of sleep. Unfortunately, the data supporting a thesis or another are still too few.
What remains certain is that piloting a nocturnal tale is in fact extremely difficult, especially when this control is required to be carried out on command.
How lucid dreaming works: a premise about sleep
We have all tried to interpret dreams, even writers and philosophers who, as lovers of everything concerning the human soul, could not avoid finding the world of sweet rest so fascinating. Science still cannot explain many things about that. that happens inside our mind while we sleep; perhaps it remains one of the most mysterious dream activities in the world.
The branch relating to lucid dreams could not be more attractive and fascinating: studied from time immemorial (the first writings on the subject date back to 350 BC by Aristotle) it is still a subject of study today.
To try to understand a little better how this type of nocturnal stories work, let's see how far research on sleep has gone.
The main studies on the subject derive from electroencephalography, an examination that involves the application of electrodes on the scalp and which allows to record brain activity. This recording is manifested by the so-called brain waves and is known by the name electroencephalogram (EEG ).
Thanks to the use of this technique, the specialists on the subject have been able to detect that there are two distinct stages during sleep and each one is characterized by certain physiological changes: the non-REM and the REM phase.
Slow wave sleep or the non-REM phase
The first of the two phases of sleep is identified with the abbreviation NREM: it constitutes most of our time spent sleeping (we refer to adults), on average 75-80% of the total time. in 4 stages that are characterized by an increase in the depth of sleep.
What happens to our brain during slow wave sleep? The latter emits low frequency electric waves (hence the name) different from a waking situation, when the waves are fast and regular. In the first phase of sleep, something else also happens in our organism: muscle tone decreases and decreases. involuntary motor activity may be recorded from time to time Unconscious activities may simply be a change of position in bed during a night's rest.
In addition, blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature go down.
But is it in this non-REM phase that dreams are formed? It is possible that it can happen, but the thoughts in this time frame are more logical and hold fewer emotions than those of the second phase of rest, the famous REM phase. The nocturnal tales that occur in the first phase of sleep are therefore not very clear and the images more vague.
REM sleep: when lucid dreams occur
REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement and identifies the resting phase following NREM. It follows it at each sleep cycle, which does not mean once a night: the sleep phases alternate several times in a single night, for a total of about 5 or 6 complete cycles of 90-100 minutes each.
In the REM phase, the electcephalographic waves are of high frequency and rapid eye movements are detected under the closed eyelids. Unlike slow-wave sleep, the muscles lose tone here, but those of the face, eyes and legs become active very often, in stages.
REM sleep covers about 20% of the total rest time and two things can happen when you are in this phase: a general increase in brain activity, but not in the limbic system, where the exact opposite happens. It is in this unconscious stage that what we call dream activity occurs: dreams are more intense, vivid and also very elaborate. The thoughts we do during the REM phase are the weirdest ones!
"Normal" dreams can come to life in both slow-wave and REM sleep. To date, we also know that most lucid dreams occur during the REM sleep phase, or rather, that they start from non-lucid dreams in the REM phase.
What Happens in the Brain During Lucid Dreams
Dreaming is part of our elaboration of the day, of facts and emotions that have struck us, and it is a way that each of us has to define new memories and knowledge. We all dream, but not all of us are lucid sleepers. Why?
Lucid dreaming is associated with "intense activity of the prefrontal cortex, which does not happen during unclear dreams. In a normal dream a person may be aware of objects and what happens in the nocturnal tale, but he is not aware of dreaming. and she cannot distinguish the fact that she is asleep from being awake. These characteristics of non-lucid dreams appear to be attributed to lower levels of cortical activity.
In lucid dreams, the awareness of dreaming exists and sometimes it is possible to influence the events that occur in a certain dream activity. The activity in the cortex is high, like the moments of waking, that is, when the body and mind are awake.
This is why lucid dreaming is often defined as a state halfway between sleep and wakefulness.
It is not easy to estimate how frequent lucid dreaming is, but theoretically it could have happened to everyone: researchers estimate that at least once in a lifetime it has been experienced by about half of the world population. If we talk about people who instead have lucid dreams from time to time, the figure drops to a percentage of around 20%; in this issue most people have high skills in controlling their thoughts.
To induce yourself to have a lucid dream is not easy, even if, attracted by this particular experience, many try.
More effective techniques for achieving a lucid dream
In recent years, the phenomenon of lucid dreams has depopulated on sharing channels, such as YouTube, where it is possible to view many videos and tutorials that explain the most useful tricks to try to perform a nocturnal tale of this type. They don't seem to be the most effective tools if you want to try lucid dreaming in the comfort of your own room, however. Here we recommend some techniques that science has recognized as valid, and if applied correctly they increase the chances of having a lucid dream.
Method of checking on reality
The first of the techniques to experiment is among the easiest around.Suitable for beginners, it is ideal for maximizing the possibility of having a lucid dream. It is based on the method of checking reality (in English RCT, Reality Control Test or realiti check) and consists in paying particular attention, when awake, to things that tend to change in a nocturnal tale. For example, you could write down the time or count your fingers.
This would serve to realize that you are dreaming because doing a similar operation frequently can induce our unconscious to repeat it while dreaming, but in an obviously more distorted dimension.
Think about it: if you are dreaming and you look at the clock after a few seconds, the time has changed. The same happens if you stare at a panorama or a room several times.
This technique, in order to work well, should be aimed at insignificant objects or numbers, as long as they are objects that do not concern the unconscious. Therefore the timetables, the arrivals and departures boards, the matrixes of numbers and so on are perfect.
The dream diary
It would seem useful to write down the dreams we have every day and consistently in a diary (Dream Diary). Thus it is possible to notice places that have marked us inside.
Cycle Adjustment Technique
Or even CAT, cycle adjustment technique, is another "technique to induce a lucid dream. It comes from an in-depth research by Daniel Love, a British scholar. It consists in calibrating one's sleep cycle in order to increase the chances of being awake during his sleep. last part. By practicing this technique it is necessary to get up 90 minutes earlier than usual, until the sleep cycle adjusts to the new conditions. At this point, the old and new conditions of waking alternate. the normal wake-up time falls, the alert state will be increased and there will be more chances of making the dream lucid.
Mnemonic induction of lucid dreaming
MILD, Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreaming, is one of the most used techniques and takes advantage of perspective memory, that is the ability to mentally write down things to do in the future. It works like this: you go to sleep with the precise intention of recognizing "unusual" situations or situations impossible to take place in reality within the dream.
To be truly effective, MILD must be applied in conjunction with one of the other techniques listed in this article; for example the next one.
Induction for awakening and falling asleep
Technique applied in symbiosis with the MILD. In English it is under the acronym WBTB, Wake Back To Bed. The combined approach with the previous technique is recommended because an increase of 46% in lucid dreams has been noted, making it one of the most effective methodologies in use. The technique consists in "going to sleep and waking up about 5/6 hours later, staying awake for an hour" focusing on lucid dreaming, perhaps returning to the mind of books read on the subject or simply thinking about it, and finally going back to bed, looking for to carry out the MILD.
This precise procedure would increase the chances of having a lucid dream: the phases of REM sleep (trivially those in which one dreams) lengthen as the night is prolonged. Consequently, the longer this phase is, the more the chances of obtaining lucidity within it rise.
Lucid dreams started while awake
If you opt for this methodology, the dream must begin without falling asleep. Folly? Actually no, because it is a possible technique. Called Wake Initiated Lucid Dreams, WILD, it involves total body relaxation but managing to keep the mind alert and aware of the physical component. The lucid dream is reached by passing through various stages: it is possible to feel the shocks that go through our body, or even fall into a kind of sleep paralysis (attention that for some individuals can be terrifying, although harmless), to witness the materialization of particular hypnagogic images in front of one's eyes that must remain strictly closed, and only at a later stage find oneself in a dreamlike environment.
Taking advantage of the specificities of this technique, it is not so strange to find yourself in the dream in an environment very similar to the one in which you had dozed off: some argue that they are the same out-of-body experiences.
Induction by external stimuli
Finally, we report the "effectiveness of some external stimuli in achieving a" controllable "dream. For example, it has been shown that if listened to a tape in REM sleep with phrases similar to" this is a dream "the subject is more likely to realize a dream. lucid dreaming. In addition to the acoustic stimuli, there are devices specifically designed for this purpose: they are masks to wear when you go to bed and specifically in the most active part of sleep they are able to send some stimuli to the interested subject. The stimuli are of a luminous character (led); if the individual is able to perceive them then he will be able to obtain lucidity in his dream.
In these tests the subject must make recognitions relating to the lights already from the waking moment, so as to be able to interpret them correctly during the night's rest.
These that we have listed are the most used techniques in the field of dream dreams and it is possible to test both at home independently and with the help of some professionals. If you are not afraid to take the reins of your nocturnal stories why not try it? in doubt about trying or not, run to the end of the article to understand what are the benefits and what are the risks of lucid dreams on our health.
The University of Adelaide Research on Lucid Dreaming
A paragraph in itself deserves the research of the Australian University of Adelaide, which seems to have identified a fairly valid method to become aware of being in a dream, while one is doing it.
Researchers from this university asked 170 volunteers to experiment with one of three different techniques to facilitate the living of this experience.
First system: introduce small reality control tests at the moment of wakefulness, hoping to trigger a "habit to resume during sleep. The volunteers were asked, for example, to get used to inhaling with pursed lips, several times when awake. day. So as to memorize the facial expressions and try to replicate it during sleep: if during the night they had perceived the same position of the facial muscles, they could have thought for a few moments that they were awake.
Second system, extremely similar to MILD: subjects had to wake up for a short period of time after sleeping for at least 5/6 hours and then go back to sleep.
Third system: identical to the previous one, but with the "addition of some repeated phrases like"The next time I'm dreaming I'll remember I'm dreaming"This is to hope to seek a feeling of awareness in the volunteers themselves.
In the second week of study, the testers were divided into three groups: two of them used only part of the techniques, while one group experimented all of them in combination. This last group gave the best results: 17 percent of its volunteers said they had experienced a lucid dream, decreeing that to obtain satisfactory results in this field it takes training and above all a careful combination of systems.
What are lucid dreams for: health benefits and risks
Some scientific research has indicated several benefits in self-induced lucid dreams, such as in the case of managing nightmares. Refining these techniques can even be used to use lucid dreaming to treat PTSD. However, it is worth mentioning that there are other studies supporting the thesis that such nocturnal thoughts can have a negative impact on mental health, since they can fragment sleep and therefore lead the subject to blur the line between reality and fantasy.
It is certainly something fascinating because it is the last frontier of immersive experiences: in these states where consciousness is altered, you can perform actions that would be impossible in real life, such as talking to a loved one who has now disappeared.
Here are the pros and cons of self-inducing lucid dreams.
Benefits
- they make desires achievable and allow one to overcome one's fears; useful for learning to relax in stressful situations and practice doing things that normally cause anxiety in the real world;
- potential increase in creativity and psychological resilience in the face of stress. This type of dream experience seems to improve the ability to learn and also to recall specific memories;
- they tend to end in a positive way, favoring a good morning awakening.
Disadvantages
- long-term mental health implications for the possible blurring of boundaries between dream and reality;
- propensity to psychosis and dissociative symptoms;
- they impair quality sleep because they are associated with higher levels of brain activity. Frequent lucid dreams may rewrite the sleeper's sleep-wake cycle, which in turn can affect emotional regulation and other sleep-related aspects. Not surprisingly, narcoleptic people are more likely to experience frequent lucid dreams.
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- Wikipedia for lucid dreaming techniques
