"We are very far from fully understanding lucid dreaming, and enough research hasn't been done," Singh said. And while you can measure REM sleep easily in a lab, you don't know the content of those dreams."Įssentially, all of the evidence is self-reported individuals, so it's virtually impossible to study lucid dreaming without scientific flaws. "You don't really know who is or is not lucid dreaming," he said. Think of a musician who wakes up and writes song - that sort of thing."īut Singh, of the Indiana Sleep Center, said that research on lucid dreaming is extremely prone to bias, and that researchers aren't really able to create a controlled environment for study. So if you have writer's block, you can play this out again and again in your dream until you find a solution.
#Lucid dreaming professional
"If left unchecked, the obsession or desire to spend more time in bed or in the pursuit of an alternative reality through lucid dreaming can have a negative impact on professional life, love life and social involvement." One final consideration: "Achieving episodes of lucid dreaming to experience an alternative reality can become addictive, similar to using drugs, sex or games to escape reality," said Inside Bedroom's Ross. "Like anything, if you spend too much time doing something, it can have adverse side effects." If people with mental illness such as psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia spend a lot of time engaging in lucid dreaming, they may begin to feel like they're "losing understanding of what is a dream and what is not," Rabin said. Dave Rabin, a neuroscientist and psychiatrist at Apollo Neuro, a sleep and neurology company. Lucid dreaming can also have therapeutic benefits like reducing recurring nightmares, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.Īlso, certain populations are more at risk for harm than others, says Dr. Frida Rångtel, a sleep educator and science adviser at app maker Sleep Cycle, says it's possible that many of the techniques used to practice lucid dreaming can disturb sleep, which can potentially impact cognition and memory if the interruption is prolonged.īut according to the International Journal of Dream Research, lucid dreaming can lead to increased creativity. Lucid dreaming typically isn't considered dangerous, because it doesn't put the dreamer or others at any imminent risk.
Wayne Ross, senior sleep researcher at sleep information website InsideBedroom, recommends the following techniques: Not all sleep experts recommend lucid dreaming, but if you do want to test the waters, you can try a few beginner-friendly techniques to get started.
#Lucid dreaming how to
Read more: My COVID-19 Dreams Aren't Just Weird, They're Keeping Me Up All Night How to start lucid dreaming Some people lucid dream to try to solve problems they're struggling with or to induce creativity for professional endeavors. When lucid dreaming, people may alter the setting, characters or other elements of their dream, or even perform superhuman feats not possible in real life - like flying and time traveling. "The prefrontal cortex is supposed to be resting during REM sleep, but it somehow gets activated." "There is a theory that your prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for logical decisions, seems to be active more than usual in people with lucid dreaming," Abhinav said.