Can You Control Your Dreams?

When we recognize we are dreaming, we have a unique reality with which to face our real-world concerns. Shutterstock
Updated:
Almost everyone dreams, even if they don’t remember their dreams. The practice of lucid dreaming has shown benefits when applied to waking life. Research has shown that if you can remember your dreams, you may be able to control what you dream about using techniques to induce lucid dreaming.

When Do You Dream

Scientists hypothesize that your dreams help process emotions, conflicts, and memories from your day. They talk about two stages to your sleep: non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Dreams are associated with REM sleep, and a person switches between the NREM and REM stages several times before waking up.
The first half of your sleep is mostly NREM or restful sleep, during which the body is repaired and restored. The second half is REM or dreaming sleep, which helps to reactivate the mind, improving learning and memory. You can experience several REM phases per night. The final phase can last an hour or less and occurs in the early morning before you wake up. Brain research indicates that your mind can perform psychological healing during REM sleep, which thus holds the greatest potential for lucid dreams.

What Are Lucid Dreams?

References to the phenomenon of lucid dreaming date at least to the time of Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, and his treatise “On Dreams.” Later works in the 19th and early 20th centuries, including Friedrich Nietzsche’s writings and texts from Tibetan Buddhists, also reference lucid dreaming.
The term “lucid dream” was reintroduced by Dutch psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden in his 1913 book “A Study of Dreams,” which was most likely inspired by earlier works of St. Denys from France. Many students of lucid dreaming regard Denys as the father of modern lucid dream research.
Story continues below advertisement

Those engaged in lucid dream research also use the terms “conscious awareness” and “conscious dreaming” in their descriptions of lucid dreaming because in that state of mind, the dreamer is aware he’s dreaming while he’s in the dream. Dreams can be controlled during this state. When you’re awake, your senses dictate your reality. In lucid dreams, when consciousness arises, the sensations become intensified and lifelike. You’re still asleep, but you recognize that you’re in a dream.

What’s the difference between vivid dreams and lucid dreams? Vivid dreams can be mistaken for lucid dreams; however, in vivid dreams, faces, sounds, colors, and traumatic scenes are more intense. Because of this, you will often remember them. Lucid dreams can be vivid, but vivid dreams aren’t always lucid. You can’t control vivid dreams like you can lucid dreams.

Benefits of Lucid Dreaming

Some people have been lucid dreamers for a long time. There are even societies and groups that compare their lucid dream experiences. One of the attractions is that lucid dreams have been known to help dreamers in their waking lives. These benefits include the feeling that you can control your waking life like you can your lucid dreaming life. This heightened sensation is empowering as well as addictive. Others report having less anxiety, better motor skills, more creativity, and even the ability to improve their problem-solving skills due to lucid dreaming.

How to Experience Lucid Dreaming

For best results, follow these recommendations:

First, if you’re sleep-deprived, it will be challenging to remember your dreams, so be sure to have sufficient good quality sleep for several days before trying these techniques.

Second, you must be able to recall your dreams before trying lucid dreaming. You should be able to remember and write down at least one dream every morning for several weeks.

Third, you need to be relaxed when you go to bed so that you can fall asleep within 10 minutes.

Story continues below advertisement
So, how can you experience lucid dreams for yourself? Although several techniques exist to help induce lucid dreaming, there are two that have shown the best results. These two methods, referred to as cognitive techniques, have the most research and include reality testing and mnemonic induction.

MILD Technique

The Stanford University work of mapping mind–body relationships during the dream state by Stephen LaBerge resulted in the introduction of the MILD technique, which stands for mnemonic induction of lucid dreams. It’s very effective and ideal for beginners.

MILD involves creating a memory along the lines of “Next time I’m dreaming, I will remember I’m dreaming” as a trigger. Over time, this memory will start to reside in your REM, triggering a lucid dream while you sleep. There are a few variations on this technique.

In his book “Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming,” LaBerge details his work, his study of Tibetan dream yogis, and his experiments.

Reality Testing Technique

Reality testing is the practice of noticing differences in your environment throughout the day that are different from your dreams. It’s based on the idea that as noticing this difference becomes habitual, it will eventually become part of your dreaming life, thus triggering lucid dreams. This method is relatively subjective and consequently more difficult to practice.

Research Example

A study published in Frontiers of Psychology in 2020 looked at different methods of inducing lucid dreams. The International Lucid Dream Induction Study, conducted by Denholm Aspy of the University of Adelaide in Australia, looked at six techniques to induce lucid dreaming.

Participants were asked to record their dreams and improve recall for a week, and then were taught a method to induce lucid dreaming and test it for a week. Recruited through the internet, 355 men and women, aged 18 to 84, from various countries participated. All six techniques were somewhat effective, especially in improving dream recall; however, the MILD technique and the senses-initiated lucid dream technique showed the best results.

Story continues below advertisement
There are challenges to studying lucid dreaming. Doing so in a laboratory setting is difficult because there are too many variables. Standardized procedures for testing and measuring lucid dreams also need to be created. Effective and reliable induction methods also need to be in place, and it can take time for participants to learn them well enough to know how effective they are and gain insight on lucid dreaming itself.

Future Applications

Lucid dreaming has shown some potential for helping both children and adults deal with recurring nightmares. Aspy calls this “lucid dreaming therapy.”

As an example of the application of this technique, he told Medical News Today: “Let’s say you’re being attacked by someone in a nightmare. You could try to talk to the attacker. You could ask them, ‘Why are you appearing in my dreams?’ or ‘What do you need to resolve this conflict with me?’”

There may also be help for those suffering after traumatic incidents such as those with post-traumatic stress disorder, since they often experience nightmares.
There’s also some potential to help people to deal with phobias such as a fear of flying or a fear of spiders.

Doubts and Risks

Because current studies have had mixed results, there’s concern among the medical community about the harm lucid dream practices may cause, especially those that require the participants to wake up for a period of time in the night and return to sleep. Some scientists feel there’s a risk of disturbing the balance between sleep- and wake-promoting neurotransmitters. Others think that continuous lucid dream induction may result in fragmented sleep, adverse effects on health, and even possible psychotic mental states due to the brain’s difficulty distinguishing between reality and dreaming.
Until you have mastered control over your lucid dreaming, experienced lucid dreamers caution others to avoid such topics as flying, spinning, tempting fate, or focusing on negative thoughts such as violence or aggression. The consequences of using these for lucid dreams are questionable and have yet to be studied.

Before trying lucid dreaming on your own, be sure you’re aware of the benefits, risks, and induction methods. If you have any doubts or questions, see your health care provider or sleep specialist first.

Sandra Cesca
Sandra Cesca
Author
Sandra Cesca is a freelance writer and photographer focusing on holistic health, wellness, organic foods, healthy lifestyle choices, and whole-person medical care. Her background includes allopathic medicine, naturopathy, homeopathy, organic and biodynamic farming, and yoga practices.
Related Topics