Lucid Dreaming is a state with aspects of waking and dreaming. In a simplistic manner, brain activity in the frontal lobe increases in the form of electrical charges which causes the subject to be aware they are in a dream and begin to control it. They realize this by small abnormalities that would not be feasible in the real world. Once the person realizes this, they can control their dream by attempting anything they want to. For example, if someone is scuba diving, then they may not feel that the water is cold or not get wet. This is when they realize they are in a dream, they can make anything happen, no matter how radical it is. They could ride a turtle in the night sky, swim as fast as a sailfish (that is 68mph), or even take a dolphin to the moon.
Lucid dreaming is not only fascinating because it can fulfill any personal desires, but it can also help one solve problems in one’s real life. Since most of the world seems uncontrollable, people have used lucid dreaming to take control of their surroundings and create an interior locus of control. This has been used as therapy, called dream analysis, which allows the person to enter their unconscious thoughts and deal with them in their own way. Aside from a mental effect though, it can also have physical effects on the body. An example is a lady named Beverly D’Urso, who dreamt of having sexual intercourse and had a physical orgasm during the dream. People have also achieved voluntary movement in the state of lucid dreaming such as moving one’s eyes to the left and right. However, people do not much about lucid dreaming still since the only form of research that is currently known is the subject to describe what happened after they wake up. This leaves a lot of room for error but as people continue to research, then lucid dreaming could lead to many advancements that could help people mentally later.
Personally, I find this topic fascinating as I lucid dream all the time. Even when life was not very kind to me, I always knew I could relax in the dream. I would meet up with different friends and we would fly into a new world where were the heroes or just have my ideal day with friends where we were all laughing and having fun. It was a way to escape problems during the night and see my inner thoughts. I would find my fears of isolation and being weak were very prevalent in these dreams as physical monsters. When I overcame them and woke up, they did not scare me as much because I realized they only existed in my mind and I made them bigger problems than they actually were. While it did not cure me from these fears, it strengthened me a little more each day as I felt the first to take on the challenges in the outside world, one must first face the challenges within.
http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/types-of-dreams.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2737577/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201212/lucid-dreaming-and-self-realization
History of Lucid Dreaming: Ancient India to the Enlightenment
Chris Pratt says
I really wish more research could and would be done about lucid dreaming. Of course, my first thought when it comes to lucid dreaming is the movie Inception. The ability to control dreaming, even if not to the same extent as the movie, could be very useful to many people. Its great to hear that you found a coping mechanism in lucid dreaming.
tdw5267 says
Carlos I would love love love to hear more about lucid dreaming. It is something that I have always found extremely fascinating but have not taken the time to research myself. I have heard some crazy lucid dream stories though. So please continue and let me know what it is all about.
chl131 says
This was cool dude! I think that sleeping is really cool, and in particular dreaming can be awesome depending on what happens as a result. It’s really interesting to think about lucid dreaming because as you write, the entire dream is in the dreamer’s control. I haven’t had the privilege of experiencing this, but I hope that some day I do. I’m surprised that you’ve apparently had a history with lucid dreaming, and I’m ready to hear more about it!