Lucid Dreams

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to control your dreams? To be able to choose what happens, be fully aware and in power of your dreams?

A lucid dream is when you know you're dreaming while you're sleeping. You may even have the ability to control what's happening in your dreams, which are usually very vivid. Neuroscientists aren't sure exactly how or why a lucid dream occurs, but they have some theories. They have found that there are physical differences in the brains of people who have and don't have lucid dreams. A front part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex, which is the region of personality expression, decision-making, and recalling memories is bigger in lucid dreamers, suggesting that people who are more likely to have lucid dreams are usually more self-reflective.

A small study in Germany tracked brain electrical activity in sleeping volunteers, and based on measurements, found that lucid dreaming is a state between sleep and awakeness. Most lucid dreams take place during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep which is a period of extremely deep sleep, with eye motion, quicker breathing, and more brain activity. REM sleep happens around ninety minutes after falling asleep and lasts about ten minutes, each time REM sleep takes place it lengthens until it lasts up to one hour. Some researchers think lucid dreams may also happen outside of REM sleep. Like many things, there are benefits and disadvantages to lucid dreaming. Less anxiety, more creativity, and better problem-solving are advantageous, whereas side effects like confusion, poor sleep quality, and hallucinations can be dangerous. These can also affect people with mental health problems more.

The first written recording of a lucid dream was described by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. He wrote of how he reached a state of awareness while dreaming Though it was thousands of years ago when lucid dreaming was first observed, scientists didn't take a good look at it until the nineteenth century. Scientists have only begun looking into what happens during a lucid dream in the last few decades. Technology, such as the electroencephalogram, a brain electrical activity test, and other tools help with the study of sleep and brain activity during a lucid dream.

One study's findings suggested that lucid dreaming is more common among women and the frequency decreases with age. Frequent lucid dreaming itself is uncommon, with only 11% of people have reported having two or more lucid dreams in a month and 23% reported having one per month.

Lucid dreams are challenging to study due to their uncommon nature and finding volunteers who are able to experience this in a lab setting is difficult. Scientists are still finding new ways to investigate lucid dreaming and are still unsure of exactly how lucid dreams work.