Have you ever had a dream in which you realized you were dreaming? If so, then you\u2019ve experienced what is called a lucid dream.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re in good company. It\u2019s estimated that about half of the population has or will experience at least one naturally-occurring lucid dream in their lifetime. Even Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, seems to have written about awareness in dreams.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve never had a lucid dream, or are eager to have another, you can try to induce one. There are even some potential advantages to doing so.<\/p>\n
A lucid dream is one in which your dream-self is conscious of the fact that you are dreaming. Like most regular dreams, they tend to take place during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stages of the sleep cycle when your brain is extremely active. The added awareness of a lucid dream can enhance your recognition of thoughts and emotions, as well as make the dream feel more vivid and realistic.<\/p>\n
While they can occur on their own, lucid dreams are a rare event for most people. If you\u2019re already good at remembering normal dreams or are naturally self-reflective and ruminate over thoughts during your wakeful hours, you may be more likely to experience a lucid dream or to have them more often. Whether or not that\u2019s the case for you, there are also ways you can prompt yourself to have a lucid dream.<\/p>\n
There are a number of methods you can try to increase your chances of having a lucid dream. Some are quick and easy to implement, while others will take more practice or a long-term commitment.<\/p>\n
Throughout the day, while you\u2019re awake, perform an action to test whether or not what you\u2019re experiencing is real. By doing so, you\u2019re training your brain to begin questioning reality not just while you\u2019re awake, but also when you\u2019re dreaming. Here are a few different actions you can try:<\/p>\n
It is recommended that you pick one action and do it at regular intervals throughout the day.<\/p>\n
Write down your dreams as soon as you wake up. Be sure to include as many details as you can remember. Periodically review your entries and look for signs that occur often (such as certain people, things, or events) and any other repeated patterns. It\u2019s thought that familiarizing yourself with your dreams while awake will help you to recognize specific signs and patterns as being dream-associated while you\u2019re asleep.<\/p>\n
You can also use a voice recorder or an app instead of pen and paper. Some apps will even let you search across all of your entries to make finding recurring dream signs easier.<\/p>\n
Deliberately wake yourself up during a REM cycle by setting an alarm to go off five hours after falling asleep. Stay awake and alert for at least 30 minutes by reading or performing another mentally-engaging activity. Just be sure to choose an activity that\u2019s not physically demanding, so your body will remain tired. After your activity, go back to sleep, hopefully taking your wakeful awareness directly back into REM.<\/p>\n
Simply tell yourself that you are going to have a lucid dream. It may sound too simple, but the MILD technique was developed based on scientific research<\/a> conducted by Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D. The act of reminding yourself to do something uses prospective memory, encouraging your mind to remember to do it in the future.<\/p>\n You can also add specificity, such as telling yourself that you\u2019re going to lucidly dream of flying, a behavior not associated with normal day-to-day life. To increase your chances even further, try combining this with WBTB by reminding yourself to lucid dream before you go back to sleep after your activity.<\/p>\n This is a more difficult method that will take a lot of practice. Lie down and relax your body while keeping your mind alert. The idea is to trigger a hypnagogic hallucination\u2014a half-asleep, dreamlike experience\u2014right before you\u2019re about to fall asleep and drop directly into a REM stage.<\/p>\n Video games immerse the player into a fictional world in a way that is similar to the fantasy of a dream. They also mimic the state of control you\u2019re aiming for in a lucid dream where you can explore the dream world and spend time looking at the details.<\/p>\n Role-playing video games take it a step further, mimicking control of the storyline. It\u2019s another way of training your brain while awake, but should be avoided during the last hour before bed to prevent insomnia<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are devices, often in the form of a headband or eye mask, and apps available that will use external stimuli to interrupt deep sleep. By causing lights or sound to penetrate your dreams, they can trigger awareness in the dream state.<\/p>\n This is an easy option that is also beneficial to your general health. Every night, you cycle through multiple REM stages, each one increasing in duration the longer you sleep. Since vivid dreams are most likely to occur in the REM stage, making sure that you get in as many cycles as possible will increase your chances of having a lucid dream in one or more of them. You could also have more time to spend in a lucid dream during a longer REM stage just before you wake up.<\/p>\n To increase your chances of getting more REM sleep, try the following sleep hygiene tips<\/a>:<\/p>\n Aside from being fun or interesting, lucid dreaming could also provide more tangible benefits.<\/p>\n Jolting awake from a frightening or acutely stressful dream is never fun. Recurring nightmares are often caused by stress or anxiety, and lucid dreaming may be able to help you realize what you\u2019re experiencing isn\u2019t real. This could let you end the dream outright, waking yourself up before it reaches peak intensity, or allow you to change the nightmare into something more pleasant.<\/p>\n The dream environment can be a safe place for you to interact with something you fear, thereby reducing your fear of it. <\/span>Since dreams are not real, nothing in your dream can cause you actual, physical harm. If, for example, you\u2019re afraid of speaking in front of people, you can safely practice public speaking in your dreams, manipulating crowd size and reactions. Or, if you\u2019re afraid of heights, you can gradually increase how high up you go, knowing that you can never hurt yourself if you fall in your dream.<\/p>\n By acting out movements in your dreams, you may be able to increase your ability or effectiveness at doing them in real life. When you move in your dream, it activates the sensorimotor cortex of your brain, just as if you were actually moving while awake. This could be used to aid in rehabilitation after an injury or to enhance athletic abilities.<\/p>\n Some lucid dreamers claim they\u2019ve experienced greater creativity. Though these claims have not been scientifically backed, there\u2019s no harm in trying lucid dreaming to see if it will work for you, too. It may aid you in actual creation, such as writing a story or solving problems that require creative thinking, by testing out different scenarios and their outcomes.<\/p>\n Before trying to induce lucid dreaming, be sure to consider the following:<\/p>\n This will vary from person to person. Your best bet is to use trial and error. Begin with a method that will be easiest for you to put into practice, then move on to another if it doesn\u2019t work for you after a few tries.<\/p>\n Yes! Many of these methods can be combined. For instance, you can practice reality testing and keep a dream journal all while making sure to give yourself plenty of time to sleep each night so that you can maximize your time in REM.<\/p>\n The number of times you enter a REM cycle\u2014the dream stage\u2014is dependent on how long you\u2019re asleep for, so be sure to allow yourself a suitable amount of time for rest. The average adult needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep. If you\u2019re getting less than that, try going to sleep earlier.<\/p>\n Since dreams are not real, they pose no danger in that respect; however, lucid dreaming could cause you to lose sleep or to get poorer sleep. If you start to notice that you\u2019re more tired during the day after lucid dreaming, you should stop trying to induce them. You may also want to consult a doctor if you continue to feel fatigued or have symptoms of depression, which can be worsened by poor or lack of sleep.<\/p>\n The good news is that you can only remain in the dream state for so long and will eventually wake up. You can also try prompting yourself to wake up in the dream by calling for help, blinking, falling asleep in the dream, or trying to read.<\/p>\n Lucid dreams can help you to solve a problem or be used as a form of entertainment while you sleep. With practice, you can experience them more frequently and enhance your level of control. While safe for most people, be sure to consider both the positives and negatives for yourself before trying to initiate lucid dreaming on purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever had a dream in which you realized you were dreaming? If so, then you\u2019ve experienced what is called a lucid dream. You\u2019re in good company. It\u2019s estimated that about half of the population has or will experience at least one naturally-occurring lucid dream in their lifetime. Even Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, seems to have written about awareness in dreams. If you\u2019ve never had a lucid dream, or are eager to have another, you can try to induce one. There are even some potential advantages to doing so. What is a Lucid Dream? A lucid dream is one in which your dream-self is conscious of the fact… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":16916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","spay_email":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-lucid-dream-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-lucid-dream-600x453.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Healthy Sleep","author_link":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/author\/healthysleep\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-lucid-dream.jpg","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-lucid-dream.jpg",1000,453,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-lucid-dream-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-lucid-dream-300x136.jpg",300,136,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-lucid-dream-768x348.jpg",768,348,true],"large":["https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-lucid-dream.jpg",1000,453,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-lucid-dream.jpg",1000,453,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-lucid-dream.jpg",1000,453,false],"ab-block-post-grid-landscape":["https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-lucid-dream-600x400.jpg",600,400,true],"ab-block-post-grid-square":["https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-lucid-dream-600x453.jpg",600,453,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-lucid-dream-125x125.jpg",125,125,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Healthy Sleep","author_link":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/author\/healthysleep\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Have you ever had a dream in which you realized you were dreaming? If so, then you\u2019ve experienced what is called a lucid dream. You\u2019re in good company. It\u2019s estimated that about half of the population has or will experience at least one naturally-occurring lucid dream in their lifetime. Even Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16914"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16914"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16919,"href":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16914\/revisions\/16919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthysleep.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Wake-Initiated Lucid Dreaming (WILD)<\/h3>\n
Play More Video Games<\/h3>\n
Use a Device or App<\/h3>\n
Get More REM Sleep<\/h3>\n
\n
Potential Benefits to Lucid Dreaming<\/h2>\n
Stop Recurring Nightmares<\/h3>\n
Conquer Phobias<\/h3>\n
Improve Motor Skills<\/h3>\n
Creativity<\/h3>\n
Some Caveats<\/h2>\n
\n
FAQs<\/h2>\n
Which method is the best for inducing a lucid dream?<\/h3>\n
Can I try more than one method at a time?<\/h3>\n
How many chances will I have to lucid dream each night?<\/h3>\n
Is lucid dreaming dangerous?<\/h3>\n
Can I get stuck in a lucid dream?<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n