Have you ever dealt with lucid dream? Lucid dreaming real-world applications have some significant benefits. It reduces people anxiety, raises their creativity, or help them solves the solution to a particular difficulty. It has also treated recurring stress, nightmares, and depression.
Nowadays, it is said that only 20% of citizen have mastered lucid dreaming. So, if you want to join their elite ranks, keep reading our article.
What is a lucid dream?
It is a dream in which dreamers are aware of what they are dreaming. The numbers vary, but between 51% and 82% of people report experiencing a lucid dream at least once. A lot of people wake up from lucid dreams, but lucid dreams are the practice of being in a dream state and discovering it.
In some cases, reality goes beyond that. A lucid dreamer can use specific techniques to influence their brain to dream about a particular problem or idea. When they fall asleep, they may think about a challenging work problem that they have not yet found a solution.
In this way, a lucid dreamer can train their mind towards the goal while they sleep, such as improving confidence or athletic ability. For example, a person with social anxiety can use their dreams to deal with different social situations, allow themselves to practice engaging with others, and find that nothing scary happens. After practising in lucid dreams, they may feel more daring to try the same techniques in the real world.
A lucid dreamer can also open their minds to be more creative by exploring the dreams they experience. By taking power and making effective decisions through ideas, instead of passively experiencing them, they are able to make creative connections and test how things work.
The most advanced dreamer can even point out to researchers when they are experiencing a lucid dream. Lucid dreams occur during the REM phase of sleep. During REM, most of our muscles are paralyzed, to prevent us from injuring ourselves while fulfilling our dreams. However, our eye muscles can still move.
In one study, participants “told” researchers that they dreamed lucidly by moving their eyes from left to right twice in a dream. Because the motion matches their eyes, researchers can study the effects on brain waves and other biological functions while they sleep.
How to lucid dream
Daydreaming Lucid takes time and practice to learn. By regularly practising the following techniques, you can train your brain to realize lucid dreams.
Start a lucid dream with actual testing
Practical testing is a form of mental training. It raises awareness by training the mind and mental health.
This condition is related to the anterior cortex – the part that plays a role in actual testing and lucid dreaming. To improve your cognitive ability, you can take the following practice tests immediately after waking up:
- Ask yourself many times: “Am I dreaming or not?”
- Look closely at the surrounding scenery to see if it is real or not
- Pay attention to your behaviour with everyday situations
Additionally, you can set the alarm after 2-3 hours to remind yourself to perform the actual test. Tests that unravel the mystery of your dream include:
- Look in the mirror, see if the reflected image is healthy or not
- Punch your hand into the wall or use your index finger to push into the opposite palm, if it is a dream, your hand will go through
- The time in your dream is not stable, and you look at the clock to see that constant change
- Pinch your nose with your hand. If you can still breathe deeply, you are in a dream
For increased cognitive power, you should choose a practice test and do it several times a day. This will help you train your mind to repeat these dreams tests, controlling from one dream to dozens of lucid dreams.
Go back to bed
Going back to bed is linked to REM sleep while you are still awake. There are many versions of the technique going back to bed, but usually, these are the following steps:
- Set the alarm so that your first sleep lasts only 5 hours
- Prepare a clean sleeping environment, turn off the electronics before bed
- When the alarm goes off, keep your head awake for 30 minutes
- Enjoy your favourite activity in those 30 minutes awake
- Continue to sleep
When you go back to sleep, you are more likely to experience a lucid dream. Your chances of controlling your goal depending on your level of alertness for 30 minutes between two periods of sleep.
Mnemonic injection of a lucid dream
In 1980, LaBerge studied a technique called “memory induction of lucid dreams” (Mnemonic injection of lucid dreams (MILD). This is one of the first methods of using scientific research to create lucid dreams.
Accordingly, MILD techniques are based on the behaviour of “potential memory”, including establishing the intention to do something later. In MILD, you make the intention to retain your memories in dreams. To use memory induction techniques, LaBerge recommends that you follow these steps:
- When you fall asleep, think continuously about a recent dream
- Identify signs of a dream (with actual tests) and try to find out unusual and strange things in ideas like flying, wings.
- Rethinking about dreaming, understanding these peculiar things only happens in dreams
- Tell yourself: “If the next time I dream, I want to remember that I am dreaming” many times in the dream
According to Medical News Today, you can practice MILD techniques after waking up in the middle of a dream to make them more refreshing. A 2017 study determined that a combination of field testing, going back to bed and MILD properly would lead to lucid dreams.
You can also combine the technique of returning to bed with MILD by setting the alarm to wake up after 5 hours. While you wake up, practice the steps of the MILD method.
Write a dream diary
Establishing a dream journal is an essential step in starting a lucid dream. When writing about what happened in the dream, you also accidentally recall the dream. This will help raise your awareness of your daydreaming.
To get the best results, prepare a diary by your bedside and write down all the details in your dream, right after waking up. You should also reread what you wrote daily to systematize all thoughts.
Awakening induced lucid dream (WILD)
A lucid dream awakening (WILD) occurs when you go directly from sleep to dream and control them. The WILD technique keeps your mind fully awake while the body is asleep.
To do this, simply lie down and relax until you experience hallucinations. However, you need to go through practise tests, go back to bed, write a diary and MILD to be able to have lucid dreams in a direct form. If you want to skip all of the steps above, you’ll need the help of a hypnotherapist to come up with a dream of control.
How to wake up induced in a lucid dream?
Sometimes you get tired of dreams like this. However, it is difficult for you to wake up frequently; there are several wake-up techniques including:
- Speak out loud or even scream to signal it’s time to wake up for your brain
- Blinking will help keep your mind ready for dreams.
- Sleeping in a dream can wake you up in real life.
- Try to read anything in the idea that will activate the brain and go to sleep without REM.
There is some evidence that lucid dreaming aids physical recovery and healing. The mentioned diseases include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sleep disorders, recurring nightmares, anxiety.
Also, lucid dreams are often used in image training (IRT). Accordingly, the therapist will help patients with mental disorders re-enact dark nightmares. Next, they will change their scary experiences with a more pleasing story.
Besides the undeniable charm, lucid dreaming also has some dangers. Experts have uncovered the negative aspects of this kind of daydreaming, including difficulty sleeping, anxiety, stress and hallucinations.
If you are a dreamer, you can try the techniques above. A controlled dream will bring you great experiences. However, if accompanied by this condition is persistent nightmares, anxiety, memory loss and traumatic recall, you should consult a psychiatrist.
