Can we control what we dream? The Science of Lucid Dreaming

If you are reading this, it may be because the title caught your attention because the possibility was not mentioned. Or, conversely, you may be part of the percentage of the population that experiences lucid dreams.

As is often the case with topics related to the working of the brain, it is not easy to answer the questions we ask, so let’s go in parts.

What do we know about dreams?

A person spends about a third of his life in sleep. Everything that happens at this time is of great interest, and dreams are probably the phenomenon that has aroused the greatest curiosity throughout history. However, there is still much to be learned in this area.

We now know that dreams are physiological phenomena that occur primarily during REM sleep and that they include emotions, sensations, perceptions, and thoughts. Although the content of dreams is very diverse, it tends to be related to visual experiences, people or objects that we encounter while awake.

What are lucid dreams?

The main characteristic of lucid dreaming is that the person is conscious of the dream; You can even control the content of the dream, although this is not always the case.

Such dreams are often triggered by a nightmare in which we feel, “This can’t be happening.” They are quite common, as more than half of the adult population has experienced them at least once in their lives, and more than 20% – with one or another frequency.

However, it is not clear what the degree of consciousness is during this period of time. Lucid dreams should be understood as an intermediate state between sleep and wakefulness, and people who are prone to experiencing them may experience higher neuronal activity in areas that control thought. Also, these people seem to have access to the memories they generate while awake.

Finally, the fact that methods such as attentiveness or whether full attention allows for this type of dreaming, as we will discuss later, this may indicate the possibility that some attentional control mechanisms are active during the experience.

Is there a way to call them?

As we have said, some people experience this phenomenon spontaneously, although it is not the most common. This is a skill that can be learned and the scientific community continues to explore different methods to do so.

Cognitive techniques, for example, start from the assumption that dreams reflect life experiences and attempt to train the ability to generate lucid dreams through aspects such as memory or self-reflection.

Other types of techniques rely on the inclusion of cues (such as sounds) during the REM phase that eventually enter dreams and are recognized by the person. And some researchers use methods like attentiveness increase both the ability to control lucid dreams and their frequency.

We also find experiments based on the consumption of substances, and devices have even been developed to help induce them. However, most of these works are not of high methodological quality; more research is needed.

How do they affect our health?

Although the general interest in this phenomenon tends to focus on its more recreational aspect, there are studies pointing to its possible clinical benefits. We cannot forget that this type of experience is common, particularly in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.

First, having lucid dreams has been associated with higher levels of well-being, positive emotions, resilience, and increased self-confidence. It has even been suggested that they can serve as a problem-solving strategy.

On a more therapeutic level, experts have used them to reverse the cessation of nightmares in people who suffer chronically from this problem. On the other hand, the intensity of lucid dreams and the fact that positive emotions appear during them can reduce psychopathological symptoms in people with emotional distress.

On the other hand, other research suggests that encouraging this practice may be harmful for patients with psychotic symptoms, as it may contribute to a loss of contact with reality.

Another important area of ​​research is related to the relationship between lucid dreaming and the quality of nighttime rest, but there is no conclusive evidence in this regard. If there is any change in this sense, it probably won’t matter much, since lucid dreaming will take up a small fraction of total sleep time.

We know that, in general, abnormal experiences that occur during sleep can be associated with symptoms of emotional distress, which can lead to sleep disturbance. However, it seems that lucid dreaming does not cause as much anxiety as other types of experiences.

In conclusion, it can be said that not all people experience this experience as something pleasant, and that lucid dreams are not in themselves positive or negative: the characteristics of the dream and the way it is experienced will determine its impact on emotional health. The possibility that they may affect the quality of our sleep is reason enough to approach this issue with caution.

Laura Rio Martinez, PhD in Psychology, Researcher and University Professor, International University of Valencia

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original.

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