Can we manage our dreams?

About half of adults have experienced lucid dreaming, which is when a person becomes aware that they are dreaming without leaving the dream state. Within this group of lucid dreamers, some are able to control aspects of their dream environment.

We have known about lucid dreaming since Antiquity, with Aristotle noting: “often when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream”. Some Eastern cultures have long practiced meditation aimed at generating a dream state. Despite this, it’s only since the 1970s/80s that researchers have been able to empirically study lucid dreams.

As a result, we currently have a very incomplete understanding of why lucid dreams occur and the role they play in our sleep and general health. Nevertheless, some experts and commentators tout the psychiatric and neurological benefits of lucid dreaming, leading to a recent rise in the popularity of inducing lucid dreams.

This article will explore what the science tells us about lucid dreaming, including whether regularly inducing lucid dreams is safe and/or beneficial.

What is lucid dreaming?

Although a select few are able to control their dreams, most lucid dreaming is uncontrollable and simply involves the dreamer’s awareness that they are dreaming. Without the use of induction techniques, lucid dreaming naturally occurs infrequently and for short periods of time. Only 23% experience lucid dreams once a month or more.

Most lucid dreams occur during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is the final stage of a normal sleep cycle. There is some evidence that lucid dreams develop as activity levels in the prefrontal cortex of the brain increase. Researchers have been able to objectively distinguish lucid dreaming from both non-lucid REM sleep and wakefulness. The consensus amongst experts is that lucid dreaming is a hybrid sleep-wake state that develops from non-lucid dreaming during REM sleep.

It appears that some people are more predisposed to frequent lucid dreaming than others for reasons that remain unclear. Those with the sleep disorder, narcolepsy, tend to have longer, more complex and vivid dreams/nightmares, as well as a higher frequency of lucid dreams.

How can you induce lucid dreams?

For research purposes, experts have developed a number of techniques to encourage the occurrence of lucid dreams. These techniques tend to fall into the following 3 categories: (1) cognitive techniques; (2) external stimulation during sleep; and (3) intake of specific substances.

Cognitive techniques aim to train study participants to recognise the difference between dreams and reality while sleeping. For example, ‘reality testing’ involves participants performing regular tests throughout the day, such as asking themselves whether or not they are dreaming. In theory, this question should seep into the participants’ dreams, allowing them to achieve lucidity.

Another cognitive technique is mnemonic induction of lucid dreams (MILD). Study participants are woken up after a period of sleeping, which usually lasts 5 hours, and they repeat an iteration of: “next time I’m asleep, I’ll remember I’m dreaming.” MILD is often used in conjunction with the Wake Back to Bed (WBTB) method, which focuses on a scheduled night waking that lasts 30–120 minutes, blurring the lines between the sleep state and the conscious state.

External stimulation methods involve exposing study participants to flashing lights and other stimuli during REM sleep with the hope that stimuli will infiltrate participants’ dreams and trigger lucidity. Researchers have observed promising results from the use of transcranial direct current stimulation, which involves the application of electrical currents to areas of the brain. However, there is currently no proven method for reliably inducing lucid dreams through electrical stimulation and it certainly should not be tried at home or without medical supervision.

There is some strong initial evidence to suggest that certain medications enable the brain to reach an optimal state for lucid dreaming. Researchers have focused on arousal-inducing cholinergic agents, such as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, which are widely used in the treatment of Alzeimer’s disease. However, these studies were not undertaken in a controlled environment using objective measures of lucidity and these medications should not be used without medical supervision.

Despite our limited knowledge about lucid dreaming and the impact of lucid dream induction on our sleep and general health, many people are now attempting some of the methods outlined above at home. Some are seeking to overcome fears, heal from traumatic experiences, combat distressing nightmares, enhance their cognition or boost their mental health. Some simply see lucid dreaming as free entertainment, which allows them to live out their fantasies without causing harm.

There are now many widely-available, often expensive, lucid dream inducing devices on the market. They can come in the form of sleep masks and headbands designed to produce stimuli that infiltrate dreams, blurring the lines between dreams and reality. Alternatively, some lucid dream seekers are delving into the world of gaming. Studies have shown a link between lucid dreaming and playing interactive video games.

Is lucid dreaming good or bad for you?

Given the paucity of scientific proof that lucid dream induction actually improves mental health, neurological health and sleep disorders, some experts are questioning whether it’s worth taking the many risks associated with induction methods.

For example, studies on the application of lucid dream induction to mental health and psychiatric conditions have produced mixed results. While some have reported an association between lucid dreaming and enhanced self-confidence, others have shown that lucid dreamers do not experience fewer mental health symptoms compared with non-lucid dreamers.

It has been suggested that lucid dreaming can help individuals with schizophrenia to gain greater self-awareness and insight into their illness. However, researchers have found that lucid dreaming can worsen schizophrenia by encouraging deliria and hallucinations with a focus on internal fantasies, rather than external reality.

For those seeking to assert control over their dreams in order to overcome fears, heal from trauma or manipulate nightmares into positive outcomes, lucid dream induction may not be the answer. This is because the vast majority of lucid dreaming simply involves an awareness of the dream, not a significant degree of control over the dream environment.

Lucid dreams may support cognitive health, through the reactivation of certain areas of the brain that are associated with higher executive function. However, it’s not clear that it’s necessary for us to artificially increase arousal during sleep as our brains probably inhibit prefrontal cortical activity during sleep for a reason.

Even if lucid dream induction does lead to these health benefits, there are many potential side effects to lucid dream induction methods. Techniques, such as MILD, deliberately trigger night wakings and stimulating devices can incidentally cause night wakings or arousals. These effects can cause fragmented sleep, shortened sleep duration and the modification of sleep architecture. Over time this would compromise your cognitive, mental and physical health.

Lucid dreaming has been linked to sleep problems, poor sleep quality and nightmares. Researchers have also reported a correlation between lucid dreaming and depression.

Pharmacological methods could risk destabilising the balance between serotonergic and cholinergic systems that collaborate to regulate sleep. Again, this could negatively impact sleep architecture, leading to adverse health outcomes. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors also have a host of side effects including widening blood vessels, constricting pupils, a slower heart rate and constricted airways.

Many experts are now expressing concerns over the safety of artificially augmenting one particular type of sleep on a regular basis. When we induce lucid dreaming, we are replacing regular REM sleep with a hybrid sleep-wake stage. In doing so we may be losing out on vital processes that take place in non-lucid REM sleep and the regular sleep cycle, including emotional regulation and memory consolidation.

Ultimately, the potential side effects of lucid dream induction are under-studied and rarely mentioned, leading to a lack of awareness amongst the general population. This prompts the question: is it worth taking all of these risks for something that has little to no scientific backing?

It’s probably worth waiting for researchers to gain a greater understanding of the health consequences of lucid dream induction before incorporating it into your everyday life. In the meantime, there are plenty of tried and tested, scientifically proven alternatives. For example, motor imagery during wakefulness is a highly effective way of improving cognitive performance. There are also several behavioural techniques that work to diminish nightmare frequency while preserving your sleep.

There is a strong case for using lucid dream induction in laboratories and hospitals. Since some lucid dreamers are able to exercise control over their actions while dreaming, researchers can conduct experiments from within REM sleep that would not otherwise be possible to conduct. This could lead to some exciting findings about the relationship between consciousness and neurophysiological processes.

Lucid dream induction could also allow physicians to identify whether a patient is aware of themselves and their state when the patient is unresponsive, for example, due to traumatic injury or motor impairment. This information would be key for making decisions about treatment and prognosis.

However, there doesn’t seem to be any compelling evidence for the use of lucid dream induction amongst the general population in domestic settings right now. So, although we can manage our dreams, we may not want to.