Everyone can admit dreaming is a bizarre mental state. It takes you to all kinds of places, throws you back into a memory, and smashes together a kaleidoscope things that in the real world would be strange, like fishing for birds on the moon. To top it all off, you wake up and can hardly remember any of it. Well, lucid dreaming dials all that to eleven. Not only that, it puts you in the driver’s seat, letting you control the direction of the dream. Perhaps you’ve had a lucid dream in the past or want to find out how you can have one in the future? From the benefits of lucid dreaming to the percentage of natural lucid dreamers, we’ve got some of your burning questions covered. Here are 25 Bizarre Facts About Lucid Dreaming.
25
Lucid dreaming is when you can consciously control your dreams and may even experience them like they're real life.
Source: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/lucid-dreaming-8-fun-facts-and-how24
It was first described by Dutch psychiatrist Frederick Van Eeden in 1913, recounting a dream where he could voluntarily act but also knew he was dreaming.
Source: http://lucidity.com/vanEeden.html23
The only time you can lucid dream is during the REM sleeping phase. In this stage, your muscles are still but your eye-movement is working in overtime.
22
According to a study, over half the world's population will lucid dream at one point in their lifetime.
Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-winkles/what-is-lucid-dreaming-an_b_7663492.html21
While some have been skeptical of lucid dreaming, scientists have proven it occurs thanks to many conclusive studies. These studies include a break-through study at Hull University in 1975 and a study at Neurological Laboratory in Frankfurt in 2009 which studied brainwaves while lucid dreaming.
Source: https://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/is-lucid-dreaming-real.html20
No one really knows why lucid dreams happen, but some studies have found people with more gray matter in their brains, which is the substance around the cerebrum, tend to have them more.
Source: https://medlineplus.gov/ency/anatomyvideos/000016.htm19
While over half of the world's population will experience a lucid dream once in their lifetime, only about 20 percent will experience one per month.
Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-winkles/what-is-lucid-dreaming-an_b_7663492.html18
While people claim they have total control in a lucid dream, in reality, the amount of control they truly have varies. No one really has total control.
Source: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dreams-dreaming/17
Some claim lucid dreaming can be a good rehearsal space to practice real-life activities, like public speaking or standing up to your boss.
Source: https://lifehacker.com/the-benefits-and-risks-of-lucid-dreaming-179573530316
According to one study, taking Vitamin B6 before sleeping could help with dream recall and might even put you in a lucid dreaming state.
Source: https://newatlas.com/vitamin-b6-help-dream-recall/54424/15
Thousands of studies have shown meditation can be great for your overall health, but it's also a potentially key to unlocking lucid dreaming. Simply put, if you want to have more lucid dreams - meditate.
Source: https://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/how-to-meditate-for-lucid-dreaming.html14
A study at Harvard University found that if you try to visualize what you want to dream about before you go to bed, there's a chance you'll lucid dream about it that night.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-control-dreams/13
The same study also found if you think about a problem you want solved, you might be able to solve it in your lucid dream. This especially goes for problems that need visuals to help come to a solution.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-control-dreams/12
Some people are so good at lucid dreaming, they claim their dreams feel more real than actual reality.
Source: http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/02/what-its-like-to-be-a-lucid-dreamer.html11
Lucid dreams might help you kick a bad habit. One lucid dreamer claimed they smoked for 14 years and couldn't quit, but once they started smoking in their lucid dreams, they quit in the real world.
Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/3042659/how-lucid-dreaming-can-improve-your-waking-life10
The negative side effects can be feelings of intense fear, sadness, and many other negative emotions that might create a lucid nightmare.
Source: https://lifehacker.com/the-benefits-and-risks-of-lucid-dreaming-17957353039
With that said, a big concern of lucid dreaming is something known as "dream claustrophobia." It's when someone becomes lucid in a nightmare and are unable to escape or manipulate the situation.
Source: https://therooster.com/blog/lucid-dreamer-reveals-benefits-and-risks-controlling-your-dreams8
Another potential problem is sleep paralysis. Since your body is paralyzed but your mind is lucid, you might want to wake up and move your body, but can't. The helplessness involved stirs up intense feelings of terror.
Source: https://therooster.com/blog/lucid-dreamer-reveals-benefits-and-risks-controlling-your-dreamsWant to hear more about sleep paralysis? Check out these 25 Scary Facts About Sleep Paralysis.
7
In a 2009 study, scientists discovered that the brainwaves of lucid dreamers were different than regular dreamers. They concluded this dream phase is a altered state of consciousness.
Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-winkles/what-is-lucid-dreaming-an_b_7663492.html6
A study done at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich recorded lucid dream activity with an MRI; they could track what was happening in the dream by watching the brain activity.
Source: https://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/scientists-measure-dream-content-with-help-of-lucid-dreamers.html5
People who can lucid dream are thought to have heightened awareness and will notice things most people don't.
Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201212/lucid-dreaming-and-self-realization4
Another part of the lucid dreaming phenomenon is called "mutual dreaming" where people tell each other where they should meet in their dreams before falling asleep. When they meet there in the lucid dream, they tell each other secrets and when they wake up, they see if they know the secret.
Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201212/lucid-dreaming-and-self-realization3
The Ancient Egyptians were very attune to dreams and lucid dreams, believing they were messages from the gods. They had trained seers that would advise on state matters and military strategy.
Source: http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/dreamgates/2010/10/dreaming-like-an-egyptian.html2
In some cases, people have orgasmed during a lucid dream which resulted in physical reactions as well. Not surprisingly, there's an entire subset of people trying to achieve this in lucid dreaming.
Source: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wd7kmb/the-women-who-want-to-orgasm-during-their-lucid-dreams1
Tibetan Buddhists try to lucid dream in a practice called "Dream Yoga." They believe this state can help them reach other planes of existence and speak with enlightened beings.
Source: https://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/dream-yoga.htmlLists Going Viral Right Now
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