Our dreams have always been a mysterious part of everyday life. We go to sleep and suddenly we are either living out our deepest desires, being confused by something that we find completely irrelevant, or rather cast into a completely horrifying nightmare. I assume that I’m not the only one who has had a dream that seems completely realistic and woken up either in despair or with relief depending on the situation. Wouldn’t it be nice to know whether you’re dreaming or in real life? Well, this consciousness while dreaming is described as lucid dreaming.

Lucid dreamers usually report being able to remember the circumstances of waking life, to think clearly, and act deliberately in their actions while dreaming in a world that seems real but clearly is not. In other words, they are aware that they are dreaming and can manipulate their actions and scenery based on this awareness. According to scientists such as Snyder & Gackenbach, only about 20% of the population reports having lucid dreams once a month or more. However, if you’re ever able to experience a lucid dream it’s a rather surreal experience. People are mostly seen to get attracted to lucid dreaming because it allows individuals to do things they could never do in waking reality. An example that I found in an article that I read would be to taste fire or fly to the sun.

One of the earliest evidence for lucid dreaming was first found by important scientists such as LaBerge, Nagel, Dement, and Zarcone. There were other studies done previously that suggested that some of the eye movements that the dreamer made during their REM sleep were the same as the reported direction of the dreamer’s direction of sight in their dream. The purpose of the experiment was to see if there was an actual correlation between experiencing lucid dreams and REM sleep. The subject were asked to make deliberate distinctive patterns with their eye movements once they realized that there was the onset of lucidity while dreaming. It is also said that the subjects were asked to clench their fists as well. The specific dream actions would be observable on a polygraph. The records shows that the prearranged eye movement proved that the subjects had been lucid dreaming during REM sleep. The scientists then reported that the occurrence of lucid dreaming during REM sleep had been demonstrated for five subjects. The subjects had been recorded from 2 to 20 nights each in the course of 34 nights, and at the end the results demonstrated that 35 lucid dreams were reported from various stages of sleep.

One of the most pronounced lucid dream researchers, Beverly D’Urso, knows everything about lucid dreaming. The same article mentioned above claims that D’Urso has been a lucid dreamer since she was seven years old. In her dreams she vividly remembers having the ability to be able to taste fire, visit the sun, and even overcome her writer’s block. If this is not confusing and fascinating enough, upon doing a study in which her main objective was to go into her dream and experience the first ever recorded orgasm in a dream she was successful. She now holds that specific title. The secret to being able to lucid dream is not clear, however there are a couple things that you can do to make it a little easier. Having the ability to tell a difference from our waking life to our dream life is all about paying attention. Being more aware and looking as well as listening and paying attention to details makes it much easier. Our mental habits that we practice during the day are said to continue in our dreams, therefore if we examine our environments closely during the day as well as our awareness it’s a lot easier to see the differences once you start dreaming.

There is an ongoing controversy as to whether or not individuals who are able to experience lucid dreaming are overall better off or agitated. A study done by Gackenbach in 1994 actually showed that frequent lucid dreamers are less stressed and more able to focus their attention compared to most of the population. Also, according to one website I looked at, lucid dreaming frequency is seen to be positively related to one’s search for controlling situations in our waking life. Overall, lucid dreaming offers an opportunity for adventure and does not live by the rules of physics or society. It’s risk free and that’s why it’s so appealing. I personally have only experienced a few lucid dreams when I was completely aware that I was in a dream and it was an overwhelmingly amazing experience. For the adventurers or someone simply looking to explore the boundaries of their dreams, lucid dreaming might not be such a bad thing to try.

Sources:

http://www.lucidipedia.com/lucid-dreaming-research/

http://www.lucidity.com/SleepAndCognition.html

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201212/lucid-dreaming-and-self-realization

http://www.durso.org/beverly/