Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsHow to Experience a Lucid DreamHistory of Lucid DreamingHow to Know If Your Dream Is LucidUses of Lucid DreamingResearchPotential Pitfalls of Lucid Dreaming
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
How to Experience a Lucid Dream
History of Lucid Dreaming
How to Know If Your Dream Is Lucid
Uses of Lucid Dreaming
Research
Potential Pitfalls of Lucid Dreaming
Close
A lucid dream occurs when a person is asleep but aware that they are dreaming. In this state, a person can take control of their dream’s narrative to some degree, essentially guiding and directing the course of their dream.
Because this type of sleep is associated with awareness and the reflection of this awareness, it is often associated with what is known as metacognition. Metacognition involves the awareness and understanding of your own thought processes.
Research suggests that lucid dreaming and metacognitive functions share similar neural systems. This means that people with heightened abilities to monitor their own thoughts may be more likely to experience lucid dreams.
You can do a few things to help increase your chances ofexperiencing a lucid dream:
While the phenomenon was first observed and described thousands of years ago, it was not until the nineteenth century that scientists began to take a more formal look at lucid dreaming. Not until the last few decades have researchers utilized objective scientific methods to actually study what happens during a lucid dream.
Research during the 1960s and 1970s led to the discovery that lucid dreams were associated with REM sleep and the creation of the electrooculogram (EOG) that could be used to detect a pre-determined set of eye movements in order to signal awareness.
The development of technology such as the electroencephalogram (EEG) and other tools that allow researchers to look more closely at what is happening inside the brain during sleep has led to increased research on changes in brain activity during lucid dreaming.
Duringmost non-lucid dreams, people are not aware of the fact that they are dreaming. A commoncharacteristic of these dreamsis that even when truly strange things happen within the dream, it seems real. It is only after people wake that they realize that it was only a dream.
When having a lucid dream, however, there is a recognition that what is happening is not real and that it is taking place within a dream. This often allows the dreamer to exert some degree of control over what is happening.
How do you know if you have had a lucid dream? Some signs that you might have had this experience in the past:
Why Do People Dream?
Prevalence of Lucid Dreaming
How many people have lucid dreams? How frequently do they experience them? Research suggests that the spontaneous experience of lucid dreaming tends to be fairly infrequent, but many people report having them at least once. Experiencing lucid dreams on a frequent basis, however, appears to be fairly uncommon.
Lucid dreaming tends to be rare. Even people who are known to frequently have lucid dreams only report having one or two such dreams each month.
Because lucid dreaming is such a vivid experience, it appeals to those who want to explore their inner dream world with greater awareness. The idea of lucid dreaming is so intriguing to people because, as some researchers suggest, it is “the ultimate form of immersive experience.”
“[Lucid dreaming] offers a (free) unique and fantastic world in which everything may become possible or controllable and feels real without putting the dreamer at risk,” suggest researchers in an article published in the journalFrontiers in Psychology. This combination of fantastic sensory and emotional experiences, they suggest, is what makes lucid dreaming so highly desirable.
Aside from the novelty of the experience, could lucid dreaming have any practical applications? While this is an area where further research is needed, it may have some possible uses. Some potential benefits are listed below.
Enhanced Creativity
Because lucid dreaming allows the dreamer to invent or create anything within the dream, it could be an exciting way to explore creatively and safely within the confines of a dream.
Because the dreamer has some degree of control over the characters, scenery, and events of the dream, it could be a way to experience and explore things that a person might not be able to do in everyday life.
Fewer Nightmares
Some researchers believe that lucid dreaming might have some therapeutic effects, particularly for addressing nightmares. Bad dreams can interrupt sleep and can play a role in reducing the quantity and quality of sleep.
Lucid dreaming could allow people to take control of their dreams and either prevent nightmares from happening or redirect the events of the dream toward something more pleasant or relaxing.
Less Anxiety
Some suggest that lucid dreams might be useful for reducing symptoms of anxiety orpost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Because the dream allows people to explore situations with a degree of control, they could do things like practice doing things that normally give them anxiety or learning to relax in situations that would normally cause them stress if they were to experience it in the real world.
Other ApplicationsAccording to the results of one study published in theInternational Journal of Dream Research, the most frequently cited applications for lucid dreams were:Having fun (81.4%)Changing a bad dream or nightmare into a pleasant one (63.8%)Solving problems(29.9%)Getting creative ideas or insights (27.6%)Practicing skills (21.3%)
Other Applications
According to the results of one study published in theInternational Journal of Dream Research, the most frequently cited applications for lucid dreams were:Having fun (81.4%)Changing a bad dream or nightmare into a pleasant one (63.8%)Solving problems(29.9%)Getting creative ideas or insights (27.6%)Practicing skills (21.3%)
According to the results of one study published in theInternational Journal of Dream Research, the most frequently cited applications for lucid dreams were:
Such findings suggest that lucid dreaming may have a number of different uses. Further research is needed to explore whether people can learn to lucid dream and the possible effects that the dream state may actually have.
Research on Lucid Dreams
Lucid dreaming can be difficult to study. Because it is uncommon, it is difficult to find participants who are able to experience this type of dreaming in a lab setting.
How exactly do researchers study lucid dreaming? During REM sleep, people who are experiencing a lucid dream maintain the same brain activity and muscle paralysis that are hallmarks of REM sleep. However, they are able to communicate their experience of lucid dreaming through predetermined eye movements that can be detected and monitored.
While researchers continue to find new ways to investigate the phenomenon, they still aren’t sure exactly why people have lucid dreams. Research has shown, however, some ways that lucid dreaming may be unique from normal dreaming.
One study found that people who are experiencing a lucid dream exhibit brain activity that seems to be a hybrid of both REM sleep and wakefulness.
Other studies have found that certain areas of the prefrontal cortex appear to exhibit increased activity during lucid dreaming compared to standard REM sleep. The prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain associated with higher-level cognitive tasks such asdecision makingand memory recall.
The research shows that the anterior prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain associated with higher levels of self-reflection, is larger in people who report having frequent lucid dreams. The researchers suggest that people who are more likely to engage in such self-reflection during normal waking life are also more readily able to take control of their dreams.
There are a number of factors that can play a role in whether or not you experience lucid dreaming. While lucid dreaming may have some mental health benefits, some evidence suggests that it may also have some downsides. Some things to remember:
So, although you can do things that make spontaneously experiencing a lucid dream more likely, it is impossible to guarantee that you will be able to induce the experience.
Why You Can’t Remember Your Dreams
16 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Aviram L, Soffer-dudek N.Lucid dreaming: intensity, but not frequency, is inversely related to psychopathology.Front Psychol. 2018;9:384. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00384
Erlacher D, Stumbrys T.Wake up, work on dreams, back to bed and lucid dream: a sleep laboratory study.Front Psychol. 2020;11:1383. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01383
Aspy DJ, Delfabbro P, Proeve M, Mohr P.Reality testing and the mnemonic induction of lucid dreams: Findings from the national Australian lucid dream induction study.Dreaming.2017; 27(3):206–231. doi:10.1037/drm0000059
LaBerge S.Lucid dreaming in Western literature. In: Gackenbach J., LaBerge S. (eds)Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain. Springer, Boston, MA. 1988. doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-0423-5_2
Saunders DT, Roe CA, Smith G, Clegg H.Lucid dreaming incidence: A quality effects meta-analysis of 50years of research.Conscious Cogn. 2016;43:197-215. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2016.06.002
Schredl M, Erlacher D.Frequency of lucid dreaming in a representative German sample.Percept Mot Skills. 2011;112(1):104-108. doi:10.2466/09.PMS.112.1.104-108
Harb G. C., Brownlow J. A., Ross R. J.Posttraumatic nightmares and imagery rehearsal: the possible role of lucid dreaming.Dreaming. 2016;26:238–249. doi:10.1037/drm0000030
Schädlich M, Erlacher, D.Applications of lucid dreams: An online study.International Journal of Dream Research. 2012;5(2):134–138.
Filevich E, Dresler M, Brick TR, Kühn S.Metacognitive mechanisms underlying lucid dreaming.J Neurosci. 2015;35(3):1082-8. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3342-14.2015
Voss U, Holzmann R, Tuin I, Hobson JA.Lucid dreaming: a state of consciousness with features of both waking and non-lucid dreaming.Sleep. 2009;32(9):1191-1200. doi:10.1093/sleep/32.9.1191
Dresler M, Wehrle R, Spoormaker VI, et al.Neural correlates of dream lucidity obtained from contrasting lucid versus non-lucid REM sleep: a combined EEG/fMRI case study.Sleep. 2012;35(7):1017-1020. doi:10.5665/sleep.1974
Aviram L, Soffer-Dudek N.Lucid dreaming: intensity, but not frequency, is inversely related to psychopathology.Front Psychol. 2018;9:384. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00384
Blagrove M, Hartnell SJ.Lucid dreaming: associations with internal locus of control, need for cognition and creativity.Personality and Individual Differences. 2000;28(1);41-47. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(99)00078-1
Schredl, M., & Erlacher, D. (2004).Lucid dreaming frequency and personality.Personality and Individual Differences, 37(7), 1463–1473. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2004.02.003
Meet Our Review Board
Share Feedback
Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit
Was this page helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit
What is your feedback?
