Let's Fly!
Blythe: Woah this is incredible, And I flew around in big loop-de-loops, I'm up high looking down at the trees. Feeling the wind in my hair. And just - totally going for it
Doodododo
Blythe: I felt like I'd unlocked something like super magical. And I really did have this sensation. I was like, this feels to me like what it would feel like to be flying in the sky.
dodododood
Hi I'm Wendy Zukerman, and you're listening to Science Vs. Today on the show - we're pitting facts against FLYING. As we swoop into the world of Lucid Dreaming.
There are people that have a super power — where they know that they're dreaming… and sometimes, can control what happens next [1]. And in their dreams people all over the world – are saying
Archer: OK, great! Let's fly! And that's what I did just flying up and down the stair case – oooo ooooo
BH: I found myself flying through a beautiful landscape, I guess similar to New Zealand
And the insanely almost magical thing about lucid dreaming – is that people who do this will tell you that it feels real. It's not like closing your eyes - and imagining you're flying, or doing whatever. You're really there.
BT: It feels so real. You're like, How is this possible? It feels so real.
DAH You can hear, you can smell, You can even taste. You know, I've had lucid dreams where I've just gone to a banquet and just tried all the different foods on the table. I could also have super powers and epic missions into outer space it was just this playground in your own mind
A playground to be whoever you want to be… and for some folks – it's not just a bit of fun… they’re also trying to use lucid dreaming to improve their mental health[2]…overcome fears… and to understand themselves better[3]… That's how my friend Archer used lucid dreaming ...he's the guy going ooo oo flying down the staircase ... Archer is trans man, he wasn't born with a penis. And for years now, he wished he had one.
Archer: So in a lucid dream, I decided to summons a penis. And then the penis appeared. I made one in a dream.
WZ: How did it feel?
Archer: A bit underwhelming. So it I tried it out in a dream, I used it in a sexy way, and it was like.. This is fine. But it wasn't amazing. You know? Not this great thing that I needed to complete my body. And then I would be a happy, healthy guy out in the world.
WZ: How big was. How big was this for you?
Archer: How big was it? UM -
WZ: How big was the moment? Arch!
Arch: That was one part of a healing process for me. And now I'm in a place where actually,
Now I don't really want a penis anymore. That's just for me. Obviously, it's really important for some people.
WZ: Have you since practiced lucid dreaming for any other kind of sexy dreams?
Archer: Yeah. I mean — I'm only human.
WZ: Yeah. This is a magical power you have.
Archer: hahaha
So, today on the show — We are gonna teach you how to lucid dream, that's right – scientists have studied the best way to get this super power… and we will reveal their peer-reviewed secrets. We'll also explore how scientists are trying to harness the strange powers of lucid dreaming to help people through trauma and depression[4], and crack these huge scientific mysteries… like what is consciousness… and what exactly goes on in all of our heads when we're asleep.
When it comes to lucid dreaming there's a lot of
Let's fly!
And then there's Science.
Ahhhh
Science Vs Lucid Dreaming - coming up!
BREAK
Does Reality Testing Work?
Welcome back! Today we are flying into the dream world. Or at least trying to. And if we want to channel lucid dreaming to improve our lives – the first step is to learn how to do this. Because for many of us ... it doesn't come easy ...
I mean, studies find that around half of us will have had at least one lucid dream in our lifetime[5][6]. But not all lucid dreams are created equal. For me – the best I've gotten is I'll realize I'm dreaming for a moment, and then I either wake up - or go back to regular sleep. And my lackluster lucid experience is pretty common, one study reckoned that only around a third of people who lucid dream can manipulate what they're doing in their dreams[7][8]... So, how can we up our game?? And learn how to become gods in the dreamworld?
For this, we need Dr Denholm Adventure-Heart[9], a psychologist in Brisbane, in Australia. Denholm lives with sciatica, which can cause this nasty pain throughout his body. And several years ago - things got really bad.
DAH When it was at its worst, it was so limiting that it was you know, it was it was very difficult and painful to even take the bins out at night.
There were some days when he could barely get out of bed. Well … unless he was lucid dreaming. Every now and then Denholm would find himself in a lucid dream, and there - he could escape his illness
DAH I could do anything. I could. Not only could I get up and run and, you know, explore and go to new worlds and whatever my imagination could conjure. It actually really helped my quality of life because it gave me something to be excited about.
The problem was that Denholm couldn't play in this playground very often. He'd go to sleep and night after night, no running, no new worlds. And he'd wake up still stuck in bed. In pain.
So Denholm decides - he’s going to train himself to get better at lucid dreaming… and he gets really into this thing called Reality Testing, or Reality checks. And these are huge in the lucid dreaming world[10] [11] - I mean just ask Christopher Nolan - it was in Inception.
So, to understand how this could work, it's helpful to know that often people will spontaneously have a lucid dream because they'll be stuck in the middle of a dream and something really weird will happen, that makes them think - WHAT?! This has to be a dream, and voila - they’re lucid.[12] And Reality Testing[13] - is all about trying to hack that process.
So here's what Denholm would do. While he awake he'd close his mouth tightly, and then try to inhale through his mouth.
WZ Wait I want to try to it – you've got your mouth closed
DAH Yeah and try to inhale, with your lips closed – and it doesn't work right??
If you think you're doing it, you're actually breathing through your nose. So the fact that you can't do it, tells you – this is not a dream. You really are awake, listening to this podcast. But Denholm had read that in dreams – you can breathe a closed mouth. and that was true for him.
DAH It almost always will feel different… You can feel this sense of closed lips, but at the same time, you can feel the air just entering your lungs and breathing in through your mouth at the same time.
WZ: Really??
DAH Yeah. It's really bizarre.
Another super popular reality test is trying to poke your finger straight through your palm…. obviously, while you’re awake it doesn't work… But in the dreamworld, people say your finger does go through your palm. And so the idea here is that you will do these reality checks tons of times throughout the day… And because most dreams are reflections of the stuff that we’re doing throughout our day[14] – you hope that then in a dream you'll also do a reality test. And when you feel that air moving through your closed mouth – or you see your finger slip through your palm — then you’ll realize THIS IS A DREAM. And you'll be lucid.
DAH: And so it's almost like kind of prime yourself to accidentally discover that you're dreaming. You realize, ah! I'm in a dream. That's the moment of lucidity.
So. Denholm is sick at home, and he’s doing these reality tests – a lot.
DAH: Ah jeez. I went pretty overboard with it. I probably was doing it hundreds of times a day.
WZ OH wow
But it was strange, because he wasn't having that many lucid dreams.
WZ And so was it frustrating?
DAH: Super frustrating. I want - I know how amazing these experiences are and I know that I can access them, but they're just not coming as often as I would like. So it was incredibly frustrating.
So Denholm starts thinking – what is going on here?? Is it just me? And, being a scientist, he decides to study it. He sets up an experiment recruiting more than 350 people from all around the world.[15] Making this the largest study I could find on inducing lucid dreams.
To get a baseline, for seven days, everyone would record how many dreams they were having; and how many of those were lucid[16]. Then, Denholm puts them into different groups. Some are told to practice reality testing, they do it for seven days... And guess what?
DAH Reality testing didn't seem to really make that much of a difference[17]
WZ: That's very interesting because even then I have spoken to quite a lot of lucid dreaming academics and asked them all - how should I do this? And they've all said, you should try reality testing, like it's so embedded in the Zeitgeist around lucid dreaming. And yet your study found it actually didn't work??
DAH: OH It was very surprising because like you said, this is like the common wisdom is do reality testing. And the more the better. And it's not even like doing it 100 times is better than doing it ten. And it just it didn't actually seem to matter that much. And so it kind of goes against the grain of what most people will tell you.
Other smaller studies, have found this too – on average we can't see a statistical link between reality testing – and having a lucid dream[18][19][20]. One reason for this could be because reality tests can "fail", in that - even in your dream you still can't put your finger through your palm – which makes perfect sense. We know that dreams are super subjective, unlike what you might read on a lucid dreaming reddit post – there's no physics or biology of the dreamworld that means your hands are made of putty…
Does the MILD Technique work?
But in Denholm's study – he was testing other techniques as well. And he did find something that worked. It's called Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD). And in Denholm's study – on average, about 1 in 6 times that people tried this method - they had a lucid dream.[21] 1 in 6!
WZ: Wow! That's a pretty good rate right?
DAH It's a very good rate
Here's what you've got to do – you set your alarm clock
DAH: Yeah so it goes off at about five hours after you've gone to sleep.
WZ That's. That's rubbish? Five hours!
DAH: Yeah. Look, it's a bit of a necessary evil unfortunately
You're waking up at around 4 or 5 a.m. – because you're trying to catch yourself in REM sleep where we have most of our lucid dreams[22][23][24][25]. Ok so once you wake up…
DAH: Imagine yourself being back in a dream, ideally the one you were just in, imagine yourself walking around, noticing something like a pink elephant or something strange.
So – you’re trying to remember the dream you were just in. You’re visualizing yourself being back there – and try to notice something unusual that might make you realize that you're dreaming. And as you're awake, repeat this mantra: Next time I'm dreaming, I want to remember that I'm dreaming.
DAH: You keep doing it until you're really feeling into that intention that next time I'm dreaming, I want to remember that I'm dreaming, like that, that strength of intention’s got to be strong. Once that's set, then you just go back to sleep as normal.
In Denholm's study - people were roughly three times more likely to have a lucid dream after doing this - compared to that week where they weren't doing anything special[26]. And other studies have also found this technique works too[27][28] As a little tip – if you can go back to sleep quickly – within five minutes – after doing all the mantra stuff – you up your chance of a lucid dream even more[29][30]
Plus, the people in Denholm's study who never really tried lucid dreaming before had a similar success rate to those who were more experienced![31]
DAH So it shows that even beginners can learn this quite quickly.
WZ: Do you think that everyone can have a lucid dream? Like if they really put their mind to it? Do you think we're all capable of this?
DAH: I don't I don't know for sure. But if I had to hazard a guess, I would say there probably are some people that could spend a lot of time on this and still not be able to lucid dream. But I would say for most people it's a learnable skill.
Wendy and the team try to Lucid Dream
A learnable skill you say??
Blythe Terrell: Next time I'm dreaming, I will remember I'm dreaming.
Rose Rimler: Next time I'm dreaming, I will remember I'm dreaming.
BT/RR/WZ: Next time I'm dreaming, I will remember I'm dreaming
In Denholm's research people - who were far from lucid dreaming ninjas - could learn this, in just one week!! So my editor Blythe Terrell, senior producer Rose Rimler and I - wanted to fly. Actually for Rose - she had a very particular dream that she wanted to conjure up.
RR: Y’know, sometimes, um, to relax I imagine that I’ve become very very small, and I'm the height of a blade of grass and sit on the mushroom like a toad stool, and use a dandelion as an umbrella, and that kind of thing – so it'd be kinda fun to do that in my dream, and it'd be more vivid and more real than just my awake imagination.
WZ: Awww that's so cute Rose!
RR: heheh
So, I explained how we were going to do this. That we'd wake up 5 hours after going to sleep, try to remember the dream that we were just in – and think about all the weird stuff that makes it obviously a dream. And say the mantra.
WZ: It should take 5 to 10 minutes.
Blythe: 5 to 10 – at four in the morning or whatever??
WZ: Yeah.
Blythe: Man, you guys have your work cut out for you. I'm glad I can already do this.
RR: So you are just here to brag – confirmed
Blythe: Yeah.
Astute ears listening to this podcast – might notice that Blythe was one of the voices you heard at the start of the show – she was flying in a lucid dream. Doing those big loop de loops - but she can't do this very often, so she wants to see if she can supercharge her superpower. And Rose and I are going to find out if we can control things in our dreams … for the very first time.
RR: I'm excited… I'm pumped.
Blythe: How are you feeling, Wendy?
WZ: I'm not optimistic at all - for me, for me! But I'm really trying to have a positive attitude!
Blythe: Hahahha
WZ: Orrigh!! Meet back in a week! Give ourselves a week
RR and Blythe: Ok
<<Scoring>>
RR Ok this is Day 1 of the Lucid Dreaming experiment
WZ Ok I just woke up I don't remember what my dream is, was, ok umm but so i'll try to remember a different dream, i can't remember any dreams
BT um I actually woke up during a dream where I was covered in ticks, making these huge abscesses on my legs, it was really gross
WZ OK next time I dream, I will remember I'm dreaming
Blythe: Did try, did the mantra, but no outcome
RR Spoiler alert it didn't work, I did not lucid dream
WZ Day whatever it didn't work, it didn't work
RR Another flop today
BT Yeah, I don't know, it sucks … it's not for me -
So it's not going great – I'm not giving up – I'm too curious… I want to know what it feels like to walk around… inside my own mind…
Can Drugs or Masks Help You Lucid Dream?
And soon, I start looking online for things to help me -- there's this drug people talk about ... called Galantamine.. it sounds like something out of Lord of the Rings... but we think it keeps you in REM for longer than normal[32], and research has actually found that it can up your chance of having a lucid dream. But, it's only really been studied by getting people to take the drug when they wake up at stupid o'clock anyway while they’re doing the technique that we are ALREADY doing[33][34][35] – plus the drug has some side effects[36]. So - forget it.
There are also masks you can get for sometimes thousands of dollars[37] claiming that their lights or sounds can help you "unlock the world of lucidity, where everything is possible!" - end quote. And the idea behind some of these masks is actually really interesting because there’s research that shows that if you, for example, play someone a particular sound, like three beeps, while they're awake and doing a set of instructions about becoming lucid when they're dreaming — and then you play that same sound when they're asleep, it could cue you to become lucid in that moment[38][39][40] – but when it comes to these masks that you can buy online?? Very few have actually been tested or shown to work.[41]
After the break — we go deep inside the brain – to find out how people can control things in their dreams…
BREAK
Inside the Mind of a Lucid Dreamer
Welcome back. Today on the show – Lucid Dreaming. And now - let's find out what is happening in our brains as we go on these grand adventures and have a lucid dream.
So if you want to know what's going on in someone's brain as they’re lucid – you first have to know the moment that that person – who is fast asleep – has become lucid…But they're asleep right? They can't tell you. Well, decades ago, researchers[42] worked out a kinda bonkers way to do this… and I talked about it with Dr Başak Türker, a cognitive neuroscientist at Paris-Cité University… So, she told me that lucid dreamers will come into a lab
BT: Tell them to sleep and if they are having a dream that they're aware of, a lucid dream, they can send us a signal
And the bat signal researchers chose is that the lucid dreamers would move their eyes all the way to the left and then all the way to the right. And they do that a couple of times.[43][44].. And all the while they'd have sensors on their face and head to detect the eye muscle movements - and to make sure that they were sleeping.
BT And with this idea, which is for me, is incredible. They actually managed to show that they were actually sending the eye signals to tell – I'm having a lucid dream.
With this bat signal, scientists can now probe what’s going on in someone's brain while they're lucid.[45][46][47] Which brings us to the story of Başak and a lucid dreamer who we'll call AC. AC has narcolepsy – which is a sleep disorder where you fall asleep randomly throughout the day. And for reasons we don't fully understand, it's linked with lucid dreaming[48].
BT So this illness comes with a super power, you also become a great lucid dreamer. So he was having a lot of lucid dreams. And he would tell us about his adventures in the night.
AC I basically spend like 1 or 2 hours of my day lucid dreaming.
This is AC
AC So for me, it's like having a second life. So and I don't usually talk about it because nobody wants to hear about it.
WZ Haha because no one wants to hear about your dreams?
AC haha!
AC had been involved in some lucid dreaming experiments … where he had to do the bat signal to indicate he was lucid[49]. But he wanted to boldly take lucid dreaming science where no one had gone before… And Başak and her colleague - were intrigued.
BT So we thought, okay, that's great. So we can maybe do a little experiment on you.
AC It was in the afternoon, there was a room free and there was like, okay, let's try something.
The plan was simple: Başak, and her colleague would ask him Yes/No questions while he was fast asleep, but lucid … and he would try to answer them. Smiling three times for yes, and frowning three times for no. And this is something that for years, science had thought was kind of impossible. I mean sometimes you might ask a partner in the middle of the night – hey, did you take the trash out?? And they kind of respond.. ?
BT So they answer and they mumble, usually they're like maaaah… And then sometimes it makes sense and sometimes it doesn't. We call them micro arousals. So your brain kind of wakes up for a second
So if you look at their brain activity - you can see that they're not asleep at that moment. You might have woken them up. We also know that in some of the earlier stages of sleep youn are aware of the awake world[50]… but once you are conked out … dead to the world… in deep sleep[51] or REM … you're not supposed to answer questions[52].
So – Başak and her colleague put sensors all around AC's head and face – to measure whether he's asleep, and what his mouth muscles are doing.
Başak tells AC - nighty night, or whatever scientists say to each other.
And AC lay on the lab bed and goes down…
BT But I think we were still a bit naive about like, we're like, yeah, let's try it. But we didn't really like we were like, it might work, but it might not work.
AC is in deep sleep… they could see it clearly on the sensors … but in his dream he was in this epic battle
AC: I was fighting goblins. With a, with a sword… yeah
He becomes lucid and signals to Başak – using the bat signal.
BT: And then we ask him, for example, some questions.
And here's where it gets weird… AC remembers hearing those questions from within the dream…
AC: It's like, a voice from above, you know, when you're in the station and there's an announcement, but you don't know where it comes from? Just like that.
Başak asks …
BT: Do you like chocolate?
AC: Do you like chocolate?[53] And so I smile three times: Yeah, I like chocolate.
And when Başak sees the smile, she's not sure it's real..
BT: Is he really sleeping? And we were checking the brain activity — he is. It’s like. But he's responding, right? She's like, Yeah, yeah, he's responding.
She asks more questions…
BT: Do you watch football? Do you speak Spanish?
AC: And actually, I, I was lucid enough to think about, okay, I can say a couple of words, but does that mean that I'm speaking Spanish? No, that doesn't make sense. I’m going to say no. So.
WZ: And you're fighting goblins at the same time?
AC: Yeah. That's quite epic.
And while AC is having a fine time…. Başak and her colleague were starting to freak out…
BT: We were like, Do you see what I'm seeing? And she was like, Yes. So it was crazy because we were communicating with someone who was dreaming. And we were alone in this room and super excited and, you know, like half yelling with excitement and half shocked. I think it was one of the scientifically the best moments of my life, I would say, when I saw that, you know, I felt like we discovered a new element, you know? It felt so like we were so I think I smiled for a week, nonstop. I was so happy.
And as Başak is smiling about this discovery in France, other researchers in the US, Germany and the Netherlands are having similar experiences. In one lab – researchers even asked a lucid dreamer: what's 8 minus 6?? And while he was asleep and lucid he responded, using the bat signal, to indicate: 2[54].
Strange Windows of Consciousness
After Başak saw all this – she studied it in more lucid dreamers, who by the way- all had narcolepsy. And she switched up the experiment a little bit, so this time – while they were asleep – they'd hear all these fake words, like ditza – and then real words, like pizza[55] – and they had to smile three times for a real word, and frown three times for a fake word. Now, sometimes, they didn't respond at all – but a bunch of times - they did, and they answered correctly. But, then Başak noticed something weird. At times, they would answer the question, accurately, smile or frown – while they weren't having a lucid dream.
BT So we got a bit curious, confused, and excited at the same time
So then — she recruits 22 folks who couldn't lucid dream… and also didn't have narcolepsy, and she repeats the experiment
BT: It's crazy but they were also able to do the task So, they were indeed asleep according to their brain activity, but they were able to respond
WZ: Wait! So if I went to sleep now - and you asked me what's a word Pizza or Ditza – chances are I would respond??
BT: There are chances, it's not all the time but it looks like there are some transient windows of opening[56], let's say, in which participants respond and then they stop responding[57].
But the thing is – the lucid dreamers were answering the questions a lot more often
BT Yes - if you are lucid dreaming you tend to respond way more[58]…
The Lucid Dreaming Brain
So this tells us that even when people aren't lucid dreaming - there are these small windows where parts of our brains can listen to the outside world around us, and can even figure out whether a word is real or made up. Which upends what many of us had thought about what was going on while we were sleeping. But there was something particularly special about what was going on in the brain of someone who was having a lucid dream … and that meant that those windows where they can respond to the awake world are open more often. And in Başak's study – she saw an important clue to why this might be …[59][60]
BT: When you're lucid, in our study what we see is that your brain activity is more complex, more rich, and more rapid compared to when they were not lucid[61]
WZ: But not so rich that they woke up.
BT: Exactly. It's like rich, but not so rich.
Other research is helping us to explain how we can even have a lucid dream in the first place. We think this brain area called the prefrontal cortex is important.[62][63] So normally when you're dreaming, and not lucid, the activity in this part of the brain winds down[64][65][66]… which Başak says might explain why weird things can happen in your dream - and that's fine.
BT In a dream, you might have your mom that transforms to a cat and you wouldn't be shocked. You'll be like, oh yeah, my mom's a cat now. It's okay. It's because probably your frontal cortex is a bit deactivated, so you cannot, you don't get shocked by this
But, we think, based on limited evidence, that while people are lucidly dreaming… this critical area of your brain is more awake[67][68][69]
BT Which allows you to detect abnormalities in your dream and be like, oh, this is a dream. Because this doesn't make sense[70].[71] This wouldn't happen in everyday life.
And because lucid dreaming is this "hybrid state of consciousness"... between being asleep and awake,[72] researchers like Başak now want to use lucid dreaming to help us understand what consciousness is, at all … which remains, according to one review, "one of the largest lacunas in scientific knowledge."[73] And to save you the time, I googled it, and lacuna means "unfilled space"..
And just quickly: some lucid dreams can actually be felt throughout your whole body. Like, if you ask lucid dreamers to hold their breath in a dream – you can see that air stops flowing through their nose… and their blood oxygen levels drop - just slightly[74] In another study— someone had an orgasm in their lucid dream, and researchers could measure more blood flowing to her vagina.[75]
So how close are we, at Science Vs, to having what she's having? A week has gone by — and by now, have we unlocked this hybrid state of consciousness??
WZ: Everyone say yay if you’ve had a lucid dream — 1 2 3
…
WZ mmmm
Blythe: hmmmm
RR No
WZ: No luck? Blythe you actually have this super power - has this supercharged your superpower?
Blythe: Zero percent supercharged, I feel like it's actively draining my will to live
WZ: Oh no what's going on?
Blythe: If I wake up in the middle of the night, it's very very hard to go back to sleep, I feel like my brain once it's awake it's like – ooooh! I'm awake! would you like to think about 10,000 problems, or lik 4 weird things you said yesterday, maybe 5?! we could keep going. Inside my head I’m just like whwhwowo
WZ: No -
Blythe: I do not think this is probably worth it for me. Wendy, how's it going for you?
WZ: Something strange happened, so let me tell you, I woke up and had been in the middle of this dream, where me and … there’s this creepy oval
I'll just jump in and spare you the pain of listening to too many of my dreams. So basically what happened is I woke up from this dream where a bunch of bonkers stuff was happening – I was getting attacked by bats… and, just as Denholm's study suggested – I tried to think of all the wacky things that made it clearly a dream. But in that moment in the middle of the night, I couldn't think of any reason why it was obviously a dream. And then I went back to sleep. The next night - another dream. This time, I'm in a tunnel on the beach – about to drown – and I've got my laptop. I wake up.. and… well as I told Blythe and Rose…
WZ And the same thing happens! What about this was clearly a dream? I’m like, well there could be a tunnel, I could have brought my laptop to the beach - and the second time it happened I realised – maybe I was sleeping the whole time
Blythe: Ah!
RR: What do you mean?
Blythe: Like you think you were trying to lucid dream as part of your dream?
WZ: Yes
Blythe: What??
WZ: I think maybe both times I didn't actually wake up
Blythe: You just dreamt you just woke up and you dreamt that you tried to lucid dream?!! Whoa this is so meta?
If I was asleep the whole time – this is known as a "false awakening" – and, curiously academics have written about this phenomenon where your dreams try to convince you that they're actually not dreams.[76][77] AC says for him – it's the people in his lucid dreams who tell him – this is not a dream.
AC: Like, what the fuck? This is ridiculous. And I don't understand why the dream tries so hard to convince me that it's reality.
And Denholm and Başak told me that when you think about the neuroscience of lucid dreaming – in a weird way this kind of makes sense…
DAH: The state that the brain is firing in when you're in a lucid dream, it's like a tightrope walk between normal waking consciousness and normal non-lucid dreaming. But but that's a difficult state for the brain to maintain, almost like it wants to tend towards either just waking up or falling into non lucidity.
BT: So maybe it's a way your brain to get back to this, you know, its natural state. But yeah, I don't know that's that's very insane that your dream characters would tell you this real life.
WZ: Exactly. It's completely insane.
Can we use Lucid Dreaming to help us?
Ok - our next question: Can we use lucid dreaming to help us in our lives? To be happier people??
Well, in one survey, many folks said that having a lucid dream helped them when they were feeling depressed or low[78]. One person said that after a lucid dream they could have this happy and beautiful experience that would stay with them for days.[79] Another said "It can kickstart your day and keep you warm." And a small study found that the day after people had lucid dreams, on average, they felt less stressed.[80]
But be warned, if you're waking yourself up in the middle of the night, we know that messing with your sleep can be bad for your mental health[81]. [82][83] Just remember Blythe? ….
Blythe: Inside my head I'm like wowowowow
And curiously, some research has actually found a link between being depressed and having more lucid dreams. We're not sure why.[84]
And, just quickly, the last we want to look into is whether lucid dreaming can help people who have horrendous nightmares. which if this happens to you regularly – it can be awful[85] making you anxious, having difficulty sleeping[86]… And so, there's been this idea that – if you can have a lucid dream?
BH: It's like, of course, yeah. With a lucid dreaming. If you have a nightmare, you can do things, change it or transform it.[87]
Brigitte Holzinger, is a psychologist at the Medical University of Vienna - and she has studied this herself. She's recruited people who were having nightmares about being assaulted[88], run over by a train, or hunted by a monster. She'd teach them how to lucid dream. And told me it really helped some patients…
BH Some woke themselves up, others would turn around and face their monster.
There was one person who used to have these really frightening dreams of being chased where they had to escape… but after learning to lucid dream they told Gita
BH: Now that I know that I'm dreaming, I would be stupid if I would stop this or change it. It's much better than every James Bond movie I've ever seen.
WZ: Wow! Now they could have fun with it. Now that the true realization. It's just a dream.
BH: Yeah, that was all very impressive and wonderful
But, unfortunately, the evidence that lucid dreaming can help lots of people conquer their nightmares isn't so impressive and wonderful[89][90][91]. We now have several rather small studies – including Gita's studies[92][93] and there's a new one that's been making headlines[94] - that show after getting people to try lucid dreaming they report fewer nightmares – but these studies combine lucid dreaming with intensive therapy - and it's really hard to tease out what's doing the heavy lifting here.
Plus – surveys find that even when people become lucid in their nightmares, they often can't change what's happening – so they'll be stuck in a terrifying dream[95][96]. And just knowing "this is a dream, it's not real", isn't necessarily that helpful[97][98] . In a survey including more than 30 US Veterans with PTSD who could lucid dream - only 3 said they felt relieved to know that they'd been dreaming, many just felt anxious about it.[99] So even this superpower has its kryptonite… its limitations…
Did the Science Vs team have a Lucid Dream?
But despite that – just like Superman – I still wanted to fly. I switched up the lucid dreaming method a bit, so I could sleep better – but kept trying. And still, the closest I'd gotten is realizing that I'm in a dream - but getting too excited and waking up before I could do anything!! I talked to Gita about it - who gave me one final piece of advice…
BH: Almost everybody experiences that to get so exhilarated. OH my God, this is now happening! And you get up, you wake up.
WZ: Exactly. Exactly.
BH Yes I know Of course, I had those as well. To me, it is like how learning how to skate, you have to get your balance. Eventually you will be able to keep that balance and ride that wave. Just be patient and persistent.
WZ All right all right
BH But it will happen if you keep doing it.
WZ: Blythe, Rose. It's the end of the episode. Everyone say yay! If you had a lucid dream: 1 2 3.
…
WZ Yay!
BT: OH!! Really?
RR Wow it worked.
BT: You did?
WZ: I had one
BT My God Wendy! What?!
WZ I know!! I did it! I did it! Do you want to hear the voice message I made straight after?
BT and RR Yeah.
WZ: Oh my gosh. I just had a lucid dream. I just did it. I just did it. I just did it. I was just having a nap, and I just went to sleep. And in the dream, I was lying on my bed, and my entire pony tail came off, and I was looking at it going and I was like, No, wait, this is a dream. Ponytails don't just pop off – this is a dream, this is a dream, this is a dream! And I put the ponytail down on the bed and I just felt it like how everyone says, as you just feel - things feel so real. And it did. And it did. And it did! It felt, I felt like my hair. Felt like my hair. All the little strands, all the little, the little bit of hair – felt like that. It felt like that in that I did. But. I did it.
BT: How did you feel when you woke up?
WZ: It felt awesome. It felt awesome.
BT: I do love that the lopped off ponytail was enough. Of the like unreality dream world, you know, like it was the. The chopped off ponytail was, like, weird enough.
RR: Yeah. Not taking your laptop into a cave at the beach. That was par for the course. But a haircut? That would never happen.
That's Science Vs
This episode was produced by me Wendy Zukerman with help from Rose Rimler, Michelle Dang, Meryl Horn, Joel Werner and Ekedi Fauster-Keeys. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Erica Akiko Howard. Mix and sound design by Sam Bair. Music written by Bobby Lord, Bumi Hidaka, So Wiley, Peter Leonard and Emma Munger. Thanks to all the researchers we spoke to including Dr Karen Konkoly, Dr Benjamin Baird, and Professor Ken Paller. Also a big thanks to the Zukerman Family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.
Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you are listening on Spotify, follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. And if you like the show - please give us a five star review – it really helps new people find the show.
I'm Wendy Zukerman - fact you next time
[1] “evidence suggests that during lucid dreams individuals can be physiologically asleep while at the same time aware that they are dreaming, able to intentionally perform diverse actions, and in some cases remember their waking life”
[2] See Table 2 "Overall, the findings indicate that many lucid dreamers
reported benefits of lucid dreaming on their mental wellbeing,
" https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/IJoDR/article/view/75952
[3] (Schädlich & Erlacher, 2012; Stumbrys & Erlacher, 2016) indicate that the major motivation behind influencing dream actions is having fun but participants also mentioned overcoming fears (e.g. lucid dreaming as nightmare therapy), solving waking-life problems and being creative. A relatively small percentage of lucid dreams (6.5%), but employed by 40% of lucid dreamers, were dedicated to “physical/mental healing” (
[4] The majority of lucid dreamers agreed or strongly agreed to the statements that lucid dreaming helped them when they were feeling depressed or low; that they have experienced some form of physical or mental healing from lucid dreaming; and that they have experienced a transformation (a dramatic change in their life) from lucid dreaming (
[5] “The final sample included 34 studies spanning five decades of research with a total n of 24,282 comprised of differing sample types (student n = 3355; representative = 7300; children = 4162; interest groups (individuals who have engaged with the research due to an explicit interest in the topic area) = 6252; ; Research groups (samples comprising individuals belonging to research societies such as the Society for Psychical Research; the Association for Research and Enlightenment) = 886; Athletes = 2235; Video gamers = 92) … This quality effects meta-analysis shows the proportion of individuals who have experienced at least one lucid dream in their lifetime is 55% [49%, 62%] and that 23% [20%, 25%] report experiencing lucid dreams once a month or more.” The numbers in brackets represent 95% confidence intervals.
[6] “While most people spontaneously experience lucid dreams infrequently, there is substantial variation in lucid dream frequency, ranging, by current estimates, from never (approximately 40-50%) to monthly (approximately 20%) to a small percentage of people that report lucid dreams several times per week or in some cases every night”
[7] “Recent research indicates that deliberate control is possible in approximately one third of lucid dreams (Soffer-Dudek, 2020). Examples include changing location and deliberately waking up (LaBerge and Rheingold, 1991; LaBerge and DeGracia, 2000; Love, 2013; Mota-Rolim et al., 2013).”
[8] Voss, Frenzel, Koppehele-Gossel, and Hobson (2012) found only 37% of lucid dreamers in their sample reported they could manipulate the dream. (sci-hub)
[10] https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sleep/how-to-lucid-dream / https://www.calm.com/blog/how-to-lucid-dream / https://www.tiktok.com/@onlyjayus/video/7035750781147942191?lang=en
[11] https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sleep/how-to-lucid-dream / https://www.calm.com/blog/how-to-lucid-dream / https://www.tiktok.com/@onlyjayus/video/7035750781147942191?lang=en
[12] “Lucid dreams are initiated in two distinct ways. Subjects usually report having been in the midst of a dream when a bizarre occurrence causes sufficient reflection to yield the realization that they are dreaming. Less frequently, subjects report having briefly awakened from a dream and then, falling back asleep, directly entering the dream with no (or very little) break in consciousness”
[13] “Reality testing/reflection is a cognitive method is a training method used during wakefulness by posing the question, “Am I dreaming or am I awake”, several times a day and checking the environment for possible incongruences with the physical laws of waking reality (Tholey, 1983).”
[14] .participants identified the waking life elements (WLEs) related to their dream content…they could report WLEs from the whole lifespan, and mundane ones before they had been forgotten. Participants (N = 40, 14 males, age = 25.2 ± 7.6) reported 6.2 ± 2.0 dreams on average. For each participant, 83.4% ± 17.8 of the dream reports were related to one or more WLEs… [O]ur results clearly show that dreams mix various and opposite elements of waking life which are all incorporated in significant proportions, i.e. recent and old, emotionally loaded and emotionless, positive and negative, rare and occurring daily, familiar and new, important and insignificant, concerns and non-concern issues.”
[15] “Participants with an interest in lucid dreaming (N = 355) completed a pre-test questionnaire and then a baseline sleep and dream recall logbook for 1 week before practicing the lucid dream induction techniques for another week. … Country of residence was: 111 in United States (31.3%); 76 in Australia (21.4%); 26 in United Kingdom (7.3%); 25 in Canada (7.0%); 14 in Germany (3.9%); 9 in Mexico (2.5%); and 94 in a wide variety of other countries (26.5%).”
[16] For 7 days (consecutive if possible): “Participants reported whether they could recall anything specific about their dreams from the preceding night and provided brief titles for each dream they could recall.” And participants responded to this question (among others): ““Did you have any lucid dreams last night? (Lucid dreams are those in which a person becomes aware of the fact that he or she is dreaming while the dream is still ongoing)” (“yes” or “no”).”
[17] “No significant correlations were observed between number of RT performed each day and lucid dreaming incidence. This replicates the lack of significant correlations in the RT only and the RT + WBTB + MILD groups of the NALDIS, and the lack of correlation reported by Konkoly and Burke (2019).” [RT = reality testing; WBTB: wake-back-to-bed technique; MILD = mnemonic induction of lucid dreams technique; NALDIS = National Australian Lucid Dream Induction Study]
[18] “The present findings showed that although the overall effects were not significant, slight increases in lucid dream frequency due to the cognitive techniques (Wake-up-back-to-Bed, reality testing/reflection) were measured.” https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/IJoDR/article/view/37498
[19] Taitz (2011) found that daily RT for 2 weeks was ineffective”; from Taitz: “The analysis revealed no significant correlation between group and lucid dreaming frequency. The average number of lucid dreams for the experimental group at the end of the survey was neither a significant increase from the experimental group at the beginning of the study nor significantly different than the control group at the end of the study (Table 2).”
[20] Reality Testing: “Only one study showed a significant increase in LDF, but the effect of RT could not be identified due to the presence of other techniques. … The RT techniques seemed ineffective in five of six studies that including it” [LDF = lucid dream frequencies; RT = reality test]
[21] “The weighted average lucid dreaming rate for the four MILD technique groups was 16.5%.”
[22] REM: “This stage usually starts 90 minutes after the sleep state, with each REM cycle increasing throughout the night. The first cycle typically lasts 10 minutes, with the final cycle lasting up to 1 hour.[21] REM is when dreaming, nightmares, and penile/clitoral tumescence occur.”
[23] “Together these results indicate that lucid dreams occur in activated periods of REM sleep, as opposed to, for example, a state that is intermediate between waking and REM sleep… Together, these results suggest that although most lucid dreams occur during REM sleep, they can also occur during NREM sleep.”
[24] lucid dreams were found to occur in REM sleep periods later in the night (LaBerge et al., 1986).
[25] “For the first lucid epoch, beginning with the initiation of the signal, the sleep stage was unequivocal REM in 70 cases (92%).”
[26] See Table 4 in Adventure-Heart 2020: https://www.frontiersin.org/files/Articles/521520/fpsyg-11-01746-HTML-r1/image_m/fpsyg-11-01746-t004.jpg
[27] MILD (mnemonic induction of lucid dreams): “Six of the eight studies showed a significant increase in the number of lucid dreams or lucid participants, in which five studies applied MILD independently. … In the present review, only one [technique] was rated as ‘effective’ (i.e., MILD), seven were rated as ‘insufficient/ambiguous’ (i.e., RT, Tholey's combined technique, SSILD, dream diary, galantamine, and visual and auditory stimulation), and six were rated as ‘ineffective’ (i.e., MBSR, α-GPC, tACS, tDCS, and tactile and odour stimulation)”
[28] A significant increase in lucid dreaming was observed in the RT + WBTB + MILD group, with lucid dreaming reported on 17.4% of nights in Week 2 compared to 9.4% of nights in Week 1 (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319855294_Reality_testing_and_the_mnemonic_induction_of_lucid_dreams_Findings_from_the_national_Australian_lucid_dream_induction_study, see Table 4)
[29] “The strongest predictor of lucid dreaming following practice of the MILD technique was the amount of time it took for participants to fall asleep after they finished the technique. On occasions when participants were able to fall asleep in less than five minutes, L DRF lucid was very high at M 45.8%.” [L DRF lucid = lucid dream recall frequency] https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-40360-001
[30] “Mean Week 2 L DRF Lucid was 17.5% (SD = 38.1%) for 177 occasions when participants fell asleep within 5 min or less, compared to 13.8% (SD = 34.6%) for 275 occasions when participants took more than 5 min to return to sleep.”
[31] “Just over half of participants (54.9%) reported prior experience with lucid dream induction techniques… a Mann-Whitney test showed that there was no difference in Week 2 L DRF Lucid between participants who had prior lucid dream induction experience (M = 15.3%, SD = 24.9%) and participants without prior experience (M = 16.4%, SD = 25.7%): Z(355) = 0.75, p = 0.454, r = 0.04.”
[32] Overall, these data provide strong initial evidence that cholinergic enhancement with AChEls, and galantamine in particular, facilitates a state of the brain favorable to lucid dreams. ... The mechanism by which AChEls facilitate lucid dreams remains unclear. There are several, not mutually exclusive, possibilities, including increasing REM sleep intensity/phasic activation, influencing the brain regions/networks associated with lucid dreaming, and influencing cognitive processes associated with becoming lucid. ... Administration of galantamine has been associated with increased phasic activity and shortened REM latency (Riemann et al., 1994). The increased frequency of lucid dreams associated with AChEls could therefore plausibly be related to its effects on cholinergic receptors during REM sleep, leading to longer, intensified REM periods with increased phasic activity, which, as noted above, has been found to be associated with lucid dreams (LaBerge et al., 1981a)."
[33] “On 3 consecutive nights, they awoke approximately 4.5 hours after lights out, recalled a dream, ingested the capsules and stayed out of bed for at least 30 minutes. Participants then returned to bed and practiced the Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams technique while returning to sleep. The percentage of participants who reported a lucid dream was significantly increased for both 4 mg (27%, odds ratio = 2.29) and 8 mg doses (42%, odds ratio = 4.46) compared to the active placebo procedure (14%).” https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0201246
[34] recent double blind, placebo-controlled study (Sparrow et al 2018), as discussed in a 2020 review paper: “35 participants completed an eight-night study that tested the effect of 8 mg of galantamine paired with 40 minutes of sleep interruption (termed “Wake-Back-to-Bed” (WBTB) in the study). The study additionally tested combining galantamine with middle-of-the-night meditation and the imaginary reliving of a distressing dream… 9% of participants reported a lucid dream in the WBTB + placebo condition and 11% in the MDR + placebo, whereas 40% of participants reported a lucid dream in the WBTB + galantamine and 34% in the MDR + galanatamine (S. Sparrow, personal communication, December 17, 2018). Overall, therefore, these results are comparable to the effect of 8 mg galantamine observed by LaBerge and colleagues.”
[35]Study using another drug that messes about with Acetyl Choline – didn't find that it helps: Review paper noted: "Although AChEIs increase cholinergic activity, it seems that cholinergic agonists are not always effective in LD induction, as is the case of alpha-GPC. Alpha-GPC is a precursor of ACh, which, in contrast to ACh itself, can cross the blood–brain barrier." This study didn't get them to do MILD/ mentation techniques – so maybe you need to do both: "One possible reason is that no mental training was used to achieve lucidity, and cognitive training is widely used in experimental studies"
[36] https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/galantamine-oral-route/description/drg-20067458#drug-side-effects
[38] https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53997/Details "50% of participants that received our full TLR [Targeted Lucidity Reactivation] protocol experienced a signal-verified lucid dream, a success rate that improves on other laboratory methods." “participants underwent a 20-minute training that involved associating alternating audio and visual cues to a state of critical self-awareness that was described by a verbal prompt. Following training, the participant was allowed up to 90 minutes to nap, during which the cues were re-played during REM sleep in the cued groups … The audio cue was a series of 500-700-900 Hz beeping tones (200ms on/off at each ascending frequency). The visual cue was a red LED light, flashed three times at an approximate rate of 500ms on/off.”
[39] “This procedure was derived from the procedure developed by Carr and colleagues.50 A method of reality checking to induce lucid dreaming was paired with sensory stimulation and accelerated in a single session immediately before sleep, and then cues were presented again during REM sleep. In this procedure, participants were trained to associate a novel cue sound with a lucid state of mind during wake. The sound consisted of three pure-tone beeps…”...”The first 4 times, it was followed by verbal guidance to enter a lucid state as follows. “As you notice the signal, you become lucid. Bring your attention to your thoughts and notice where your mind has wandered…[pause] Now observe your body, sensations, and feelings…[pause] Observe your breathing… [pause] Remain lucid, critically aware, and notice how aspects of this experience are in any way different from your normal waking experience.”
[40] “Participants were informed that before bed, the app would train their brain to become lucid in response to a sound, which would be presented again during sleep to trigger lucid dreams. … Participants were randomly assigned to a TLR cue of either (a) three pure-tone beeps increasing in pitch (400, 600, and 800 Hz) lasting approximately 650 ms, or (b) a 1000-ms violin sound.” [preprint]
[41] Reviews 10 products, several crowdfunded. But only Dreamlight (1995) has been empirically tested (in one study with published results): The study (as described in another publication): “Lights were used during REM sleep in 14 subjects for 4–24 nights. As a way to control for the placebo effect, lights were delivered on alternate nights, without the volunteers’ knowledge. Eleven subjects (78%) reported 32 LD episodes: 22 happened on nights with the light cues and 10 on nights without them. Besides, the volunteers reported seeing the cues in their dreams significantly more often on light-cue nights compared to non-light-cue nights (73 vs. 9, respectively).” The creators then marketed the NovaDreamer, but it was discontinued in 2004 – they said they would release something in 2016 (but it still has not been released)
[42] Hearne KM, 1978. Lucid dreams: An elecro-physiological and psychological study (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Liverpool University, Liverpool, UK. https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3174691/1/458729.pdf (accessed from https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Lucid%20dreams:%20An%20elecro-physiological%20and%20psychological%20study%20(Unpublished%20doctoral%20dissertation)&author=KM%20Hearne&publication_year=1978&)
[43] “The subjects were instructed to respond to the light flashes by making different eye-movement signals. A variety of signals were agreed upon, typically two pairs of extremely horizontal eye movements (left, right, left, right—termed LR2) to indicate a state of lucidity and four pairs of the same eye movements (left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right—termed LR4) to denote a waking state.” [scihub]
[44] “This began to change in the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, with the first validation of lucid dreaming as an objectively verifiable phenomenon occurring during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Building on prior research that showed that shifts in the direction of gaze within a dream can be accompanied by corresponding movements of the sleeper’s eyes (Dement and Wolpert, 1958), lucid dreamers were asked to move their eyes in a distinct pre-agreed upon sequence (full-scale up-down or left-right movements) as soon as they became lucid (Hearne, 1978; LaBerge et al., 1981c).”
[45] “According to previous studies, lucid dreams can be detected through objective measures, such as eye signals (e.g., Blanchette-Carrière et al., 2020; Carr et al., 2020; LaBerge, 1980), … Eye signals are predetermined one- or multiple-time left–right eye movements practiced before implementing lucid dream induction techniques and detected by electrooculogram later if lucid dreams occur during sleep (Carr et al., 2020; Blanchette-Carrière et al., 2020; Erlacher, Schmid, Schuler, et al., 2020).”
[46] “Through this technique, which has since become the gold standard, reports of lucid dreams could be objectively verified by the presence of distinct volitional eye movement patterns as recorded in the electrooculogram (EOG) during polysomnography-verified sleep”
[47] Good history from LaBerge here: e.g. “LaBerge, Nagel, Dement, and Zarcone (1981) provided the necessary verification by instructing subjects to signal the onset of lucid dreams with specific dream actions that would be observable on a polygraph (i.e., eye movements and fist clenches). Using this approach, they reported that the occurrence of lucid dreaming during unequivocal REM sleep had been demonstrated for 5 subjects… LaBerge et al. argued that their investigations demonstrated that lucid dreaming usually (though perhaps not exclusively) occurs during REM sleep. This conclusion was supported by research carried out in several other laboratories (Dane, 1984; Fenwick et al., 1984; Hearne, 1978; Ogilvie, Hunt, Kushniruk, & Newman, 1983).”
[48] “For example, patients with narcolepsy, who experience fragmented sleep during the night and sleep attacks during day, report significantly increased lucid dreaming frequency (Rak et al., 2015, Dodet et al., 2015).” See sections titled Interim Discussion and General Discussion.
[49] “The LRLR signal is readily discernable in the HEOG, which exhibits a distinctive shape of four consecutive full-scale eye movements of higher amplitude compared to typical REMs.” [HEOC = horizontal(?) electrooculogram]
[50] “behavioral responsiveness had only been demonstrated during the sleep onset period3,21,22 or in the unique case of lucid REM sleep19”
[51] Crucially, in such studies it has typically been assumed that (or phrased as if) certain brain states, particularly coma, deep slow-wave sleep, and deep general anesthesia, are genuinely unconscious, or that they have significantly reduced level/degree of consciousness (e.g., Crick and Koch, 1990; Casali et al., 2013; Oizumi et al., 2014; MacDonald et al., 2015; Nieminen et al., 2016; Siclari et al., 2017; Juel et al., 2018; Casey et al., 2022). These explicit or implicit assumptions are often based on lack of complex behavior/communication during the state, no recollection of any experience after returning to wakefulness, and/or marked differences in neural dynamics relative to wakefulness
[52] Sleep has long been considered as a state of behavioral disconnection from the environment, without reactivity to external stimuli.
[53] “20-year-old French participant with narcolepsy and remarkable lucid-dreaming abilities. Because of his narcolepsy, he reached REM sleep quickly, about 1 min after the beginning of a 20-min daytime nap, and he signaled lucidity 5 min later. We verbally asked him yes/no questions and he answered correctly using facial muscle contractions (zygomatic muscle for yes, corrugator muscle for no). In a separate analysis of facial contractions during lucid dreaming, we never observed a response in the absence of stimulation.” See Figure 4
[54] “we presented a spoken math problem: 8 minus 6. Within 3 s, he responded with two left-right eye movements (LRLR) to signal the correct answer 2.” https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00059-2?tag=slashgearcom-20
[55] Moving corrugator (frowning) or the zygomatic (smiling) muscles, depending on the stimulus type (for example, contracting the corrugator if they heard a pseudo-word "Ditza" and smiling if they heard a word "Pizza".. During the ON periods, participants were presented with words and pseudo-words and asked to either frown (corrugator muscle contractions) or smile three times (zygomatic muscle contractions) in response to the stimuli. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01449-7
[56] Our results provide compelling evidence that sleeping humans present transient windows of sensory connection with the outside world during which they process external information at a high cognitive level and can physically respond.
[57] Although remaining rare in HP, we argue that the existence of these transient windows of behavioral reactivity provides a much more complex picture of sleep/wake phenomena than previously considered. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01449-7
[59] “Their sleep/wake stage was continuously monitored by polysomnography (electroencephalography (EEG), electrooculography (EOG) and EMG).”
[60] "Lucid dreams are associated with higher-than-average levels of physiological activation during REM sleep,"
[61] “In sum, lucid REM sleep was characterized by a systematic increase in EEG markers of higher cognitive states ... Our analysis revealed similar patterns of variations in nonlucid NP and HP, including an increase in the EEG complexity and in the high-frequency PSD, and a decrease in the δ PSD in responsive trials versus nonresponsive trials."
[62] Some research finds " increased activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex" and the precuneus (“a brain region that has been implicated in self-referential processing”); a 2019 review reports that "...Currently, there is only one fMRI study contrasting lucid and non-lucid REM sleep and it is a case study. Nevertheless, the results of this study converge with MRI studies that have evaluated individual differences in lucid dreaming frequency. Together, this preliminary evidence suggests that regions of anterior prefrontal, parietal and temporal cortex are involved in lucid dreaming.” [PubMed link]
[63] A case fMRI study showed lucid REM sleep linked to reactivation of areas “normally deactivated during REM sleep,” such as bilateral precuneus, parietal lobules, and prefrontal and occipito-temporal cortices [sci-hub]
[64] Frontal regions linked to self awareness – but are usually turned off during REM - get turned on: “the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) and parietal cortex, including the inferior parietal lobule and precuneus, show low regional cerebral blood flow during normal REM sleep (Braun et al., 1997; Maquet et al., 1996). Deactivation of these regions has been postulated to underlie the diminished insight into the global state of consciousness and restricted volitional control typical of non-lucid dreaming (e.g., Hobson and Pace-Schott, 2002; Nir and Tononi, 2010).”
[65] “At the neurobiological level, LDT [lucid dreaming therapy] may work by frontal activation, which inhibits the limbic system. During normal REMS, the frontal activity decreases (Maquet et al., 1996); however, during LD [lucid dreaming] the frontal gamma activity (∼40 Hz) increases (Mota-Rolim et al., 2008, 2010; Voss et al., 2009). The frontal region is associated with executive control, attention, rational judgment, working memory, etc.”
[66] “There may be ways in which dreamers are limited in their cognitive abilities, perhaps due to dorsolateral prefrontal deactivation during REM sleep”
[67] “Compared with non-lucid REM sleep, lucid REM sleep is associated with increased frontolateral EEG power in the lower gamma band (usually activated during waking)51 or decreased delta frontocentral EEG power” [scihub]
[68] “PET data show cognitive control in dreams to be associated with activation of frontal cortex components”
[69] “A reasonable explanation for the association between lucid dreaming and alternating sequences of wakefulness and sleep would be the assumption that wake-associated prefrontal activation persists into subsequent sleep periods, thereby increasing the occurrence of metacognitive processing.”
[70] “Evidence linking frontopolar cortex to lucid dreaming is consistent with a role of this region in metacognition and self-reflection.”
[71] “During REM, limbic forebrain structures and the amygdala are activated while both DLPFC and the locus coeruleus become less active. This presumably inhibits the ability of DLPFC to allocate attentional resources (and the dreaming brain classically pays little attention to bizarre incongruities in dreams).” (DLPFC = dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) [scihub]
[72] “In a pioneering EEG study, Voss et al. (2009) succeeded in recording the brain activity of three dreamers while they were experiencing a lucid dream. They observed an increased activity in the gamma frequency band in the frontal lobe in lucid rapid eye movement (REM) sleep as compared to non-lucid REM sleep and concluded that LD constitutes a hybrid state of consciousness in-between sleep and wake (Hobson, 2009)...”
[73] “Perhaps the largest potential of research on lucid dreaming is that it provides a unique method to investigate the neurobiology of consciousness, which remains one of the largest lacunas in scientific knowledge." https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6451677/
[74]"Between the two ocular left-right codes, we observe an 11-second-long central apnoea, characterized by a cessation of nasal flow along with the absence of thoracic and abdominal movements and a mild heart rate decrease. After this episode, the patient reported a dream in which he was threatened by a gun and held his breath in fear. "
[75] “The experimental protocol called for her to make specific eye movement signals at the following points: when she realized she was dreaming (i.e., the onset of the lucid dream); when she began sexual activity (in the dream); and when she experienced orgasm. … Data analysis revealed a significant correspondence between her subjective report and all but one of the autonomic measures; during the 15 second orgasm epoch, mean levels for VEMG [vaginal EMG] activity, VPA [vaginal pulse amplitude], SCL [skin conductance level], and respiration rate reached their highest values and were significantly elevated compared to means for other REM epochs.”
[76] When Brains Dream by Professor Robert Stickgold and Professor Antonio Zadra - pg 243
[77] “It is also remarkable that though some dream characters may try to dissuade the dream ego in the prelucid phase from the belief that a dream is taking place, others actually make the dream ego recognize that it is dreaming.” [Sci Hub]
[78] The majority of lucid dreamers agreed or strongly agreed to the statements that lucid dreaming helped them when they were feeling depressed or low; that they have experienced some form of physical or mental healing from lucid dreaming; and that they have experienced a transformation (a dramatic change in their life) from lucid dreaming (
[79] I have a lucid dream and can regain a happy and beautiful experience… it will stay with me for days after and it helps me in my conscious wake.
[81] Vallat and Ruby (2019) "Considering the gigantic amount of scientific evidence linking poor-quality or insufficient sleep to adverse health outcomes (including shorter life expectancy), and especially of sleep fragmentation in altered physical and cognitive health (e.g., Stepanski, 2002; Bonnet and Arand, 2003; Mullington et al., 2009; Mary et al., 2013; Walker, 2017, 2019; Ahuja et al., 2018; Barnes and Watson, 2019; Brauer et al., 2019; Pichard et al., 2019), one may seriously question the health consequences of regularly practicing LD induction methods."
[82] https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01746/full “Soffer-Dudek (2020) raised similar concerns about the effects of lucid dreaming”
[83] In Aviram and Soffer-Dudek (2018), the frequency of attempting to deliberately induce LD using induction techniques (rather than spontaneous LD) was the factor associated with sleep problems, stress, dissociation, schizotypy, depression, and obsessive–compulsive symptoms.
[85] “Whereas approximately 2–8% of the general population suffers from idiopathic nightmares, nightmares are a core feature of PTSD, with up to 80% of individuals with PTSD reporting disturbing and suicidal dreams with some degree of resemblance to the actual traumatic event”
[86] “Affecting about 4% of the adult population (Levin and Nielsen, 2007) and up to 20% of children and adolescents (American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2014), frequent nightmares are quite common and have a big impact on quality of life, daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and anxiety.”
[87] “allows one to alter the nightmare story line during the nightmare itself by realizing that one is dreaming or being “lucid” during the nightmare.”
[88] “Forty patients (30 females, 10 males) suffering from nightmares (ICD-10: F51.5) at least two times per week were initially enrolled in the exploratory study (minimum inclusion criteria: at least 2–3 nightmares per week).... The advertisements called for people with frequent nightmares, and who experienced those as interfering and were willing to participate in a non-pharmaceutical research project with the aim to test a technique to overcome the nightmares or the suffering from the nightmares.” (Sci-Hub)
[89] Study from 2003: N=8. “Due to the small sample size no significant results were found (See Table 1). The mean for nightmares a week decreased from 2.31 to 0.88, which is a reduction of more than 60%. … Seven participants reported that the treatment had helped them, while six actually had fewer nightmares. Only four participants were able to become lucid in one of their nightmares, and three were able to alter the nightmare lucidly.”
[90] “To our surprise, both LDT and IRT+ showed a smaller decrease in nightmare measures compared to IRT. Moreover, IRT was the only condition that convincingly proved itself compared to the waiting-list. … However, these data should be interpreted with caution due to the low power and high dropout.” [IRT = Imagery Rehearsal Therapy; IRT+ = Imagery Rehearsal Therapy with sleep hygiene; LDT = IRT with sleep hygiene and Lucid Dreaming Therapy]
[91] “At follow-up the nightmare frequency of both treatment groups had decreased. There were no significant changes in sleep quality and posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity. Lucidity was not necessary for a reduction in nightmare frequency. … LDT seems effective in reducing nightmare frequency, although the primary therapeutic component (i.e. exposure, mastery, or lucidity) remains unclear.”
[92] “Subjects were randomly assigned to group: A) Gestalt therapy group (= GTG), or B) Gestalt and lucid dreaming group therapy (= LDG). Each group lasted ten weeks. Participants kept a sleep/dream diary over the treatment. … Concerning nightmare frequency, a significant reduction was found in both groups after the ten-week-study and at the follow-up (Wilcoxon test: P ≤ 0.05).... No significant differences in NMF [nightmare frequency] were found between ‘end of therapy’ and ‘follow-up’” [sci-hub]
[93] “LDT [lucid dreaming therapy] had no effect on the investigated sleep variables. No correlation between reduction of nightmare severity and changes in PTSD-profile (IE-S) was found. Nevertheless, levels of anxiety and depression decreased significantly in the course of therapy.”
[94] See Figure 4, only 6 participants in total: and the ones who just got therapy did roughly the same as therapy + lucid dreaming. Also helpful "CBT-N [Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Nightmares] was associated with reductions in nightmares for all six participants. For the CBT-N group, nightmares continued to decrease during the posttreatment period for two participants (101, 102). One participant (103) experienced a small increase during posttreatment (103), which may have been due to increased health-related stress reported by the participant. For participants who also received TLR [targeted lucidity reactivation], nightmares continued to decrease for all three during the TLR phase, and these improvements were maintained during posttreatment for two participants (202, 203), whereas nightmares increased back to baseline for one participant (201). The latter attributed her increased nightmares to having attended a haunted house and watched scary movies. This participant was also coincidentally diagnosed with severe sleep apnea during the posttreatment phase." https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsr.14384
[95] “Halliday (1988) and Zadra (1990) reported case studies in which lucidity was achieved, but without control, and it actually worsened the nightmare.”
[96] “The characteristics that were most frequently indicated were the lack of dream control, intense fear, violent autonomous dream characters, and the inability to wake up, present in about one-third to one-fourth of lucid nightmares. Intense fear is the core defining emotion of nightmares, although other emotions, such as anger and grief, have been reported in ordinary nightmares… Lucid nightmares were found be infrequent and similarly distressing as ordinary nightmares. Lack of dream control and intense fear seem to be among their most common features, although the possible spectrum of the features and themes seems to be broad.”
[97] “In more than 55% of the nightmares the dreamer wanted to wake up; however, the success rate was only 50%, in 50% of the nightmares the dreamer could not wake up ... If the wish to awaken did not occur in the dream, the dreamer was able to change the dream or was relieved knowing that s/he is dreaming in about 68% of the nightmares. That is, the total number of lucid nightmares is 67 (16.42% of all 408 dream reports)”
[99] Survey of 54 US veterans with PTSD… “Over half of the sample (n = 32, 59%) endorsed experiencing lucid awareness in nonnightmare dreams. A majority of these individuals (n = 27; 84%) also explicitly endorsed lucid awareness in nightmares. … The most commonly endorsed reactions to lucid nightmare experiences were feeling stuck (n = 19, 70%), trying to wake up (n = 18, 67%), and feeling anxious (n = 18, 67%). Ten individuals (37%) reported trying to change a nightmare narrative, with only five (19%) having success. Similarly, 18 individuals (67%) reported trying to wake themselves from a nightmare, with only five (19%) having success. Only three individuals (11%) endorsed feeling relieved to know that they had been dreaming.”
