August 19, 2018 • 6 mins
Science has proven that we can be aware of our dreams while we’re in them. But can we really control our dreams? We break it to you gently in this classic episode of BrainStuff.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,
I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and I've got a classic episode of
brain Stuff for you today. How does lucid dreaming work?
Come explore with our former host, Christian Sagar. Hey, brain Stuff,
(00:22):
it's Christian Sager here. Have you ever heard of lucid
dreaming before? Well, lucid dreaming is simply being aware that
you are dreaming while you're in a dream, and it's
not a new thing. Aristotle wrote about it, and Tibetan
Buddhists have been practicing dream yoga called malam for centuries.
(00:43):
A Dutch psychiatrist named Frederick van Eden actually came up
with the term lucid dreams in nineteen thirteen, and it's
become popular in some scientific circles since the early eighties,
largely because of the work of psychophysiologist Dr Deven Leberts,
a Stanford grad who founded the Lucidity Institute in Researchers
(01:07):
have confirmed that lucid dreaming is possible. The way they
do it is by having sleepers give you a distinctive,
predetermined eye movement signal when they become aware that they're dreaming. So,
how does that work well. Generally, people are dreaming when
they're in the fifth stage of sleep r e M
sleep or REM REM is marked by rapid eye movements,
(01:32):
paralysis through the rest of our muscles, rises in heart rate,
breath rate and blood pressure, changes in body temperature, and
acceleration of brain wave oscillation to the type we have
while we're awake, which are alpha waves. These are all
part of REM. Note that some of these can happen
during other stages of sleep and transitions between those stages,
(01:57):
signaling what's known as covert REM dreaming. So you can
monitor for these signs and your predetermined signal with machines
like a polygraphed or an e G or an e MG.
But what about the whole thing about controlling your dreams? Right?
That sounds cool, Let's get back to that. Some researchers
are skeptical that it's possible. That's because there's no empirical
(02:20):
way to test for it. We don't know enough about
how memories work or how dreams work to see and
experience what people are thinking or dreaming, so we've only
got their reports to go on. Sure, some subject report
being able to control their dreams, but even when people
are trying to be honest about their memories, they can't
always succeed. That's because memories are electrochemical patterns in the brain,
(02:45):
and every time we call one up, we change it,
maybe a little, maybe a lot. Some research indicates that
the harder we're trying for perfect recall, the more we
mess our own memories up. Okay, but you are year
because you want to learn how to control your dreams. Right.
There are lots of books and workshops that are totally
(03:07):
willing to help you at varying expenses. Of course, this
is another reason why we're skeptical about lucid dreaming. Here
at how stuff works. But here are some tips for
lucid dreaming no dream control promised. First, you could practice
mindfulness while you're awake. This is what they call reality testing.
Throughout your day, pay attention to how it feels to
(03:29):
be awake and the cause and effect nature of reality.
Like when you flip a light switch, a light turns on,
and if it doesn't, there are steps you can take
to figure out why. Well. The idea here is that
by being more aware of what it's like to be awake,
you'll be able to notice differences while you're dreaming. Secondly,
keep a dream journal. When you wake up, immediately write
(03:50):
down what you remember of your dreams. The immediacy is
important because we tend to forget dreams much more quickly
than waking events. One Freudian era dream researcher by the
name of L. Strumple hypothesized that that is because the
strength of our memories is based in association and repetition,
(04:11):
which we don't get in dreams the way we do
in waking activity. The idea here is that by paying closer,
wakeful attention to your dreams, you'll be able to recognize
them while you're asleep. Third, disrupt your dream cycles. Set
an alarm to wake yourself up after ninety minutes after bedtime.
(04:31):
That should give your brain enough time to cycle through
the sleep stages and reach rem Or set an alarm
to wake yourself up a couple hours early, stay awake
for about half an hour, then go to sleep again.
The idea here is that by waking yourself up in
the middle of rem sleep, you should be able to
remember your recent dreams more clearly than usual. And finally,
(04:53):
there's Laberge's mild technique, and that's mild in all caps
because it stands for new monic induction of lucid dreaming.
This is one of Leberge's most famous techniques. When you
wake up from a dream, try your best to remember
it fully, and when you go back to sleep, keep
telling yourself that you're going to remember that you're dreaming
(05:14):
during your next dream. The next step is to picture
yourself back in the dream that you just had and
look for a sign that the dream is a dream
and not reality, like the fact that you're flying through
the air with wings. Leberts calls these dream signs. At
this point, remind yourself that you're dreaming and continue the visualization.
(05:39):
Keep doing this until you fall asleep. If you liked
that and you want to learn more about lucid dreaming,
my other show Stuff to Blow Your Mind has a
real deep dive into the topic where my co host
Robert and I talk all about lucid dreaming, it's history
and all of the dream types that Frederick vany Eden
came up with ye Today's episode was produced by Tyler
(06:05):
Clang and written by me for brain Stuffs Erstwhile YouTube series.
If you enjoy our show and want to support us
in return for some brainy housewears or people wears. Visit
our online shop at t public dot com slash brain stuff,
and of course, for more on this and lots of
other dreamy topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works
dot com
Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,
I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and I've got a classic episode of
brain Stuff for you today. How does lucid dreaming work?
Come explore with our former host, Christian Sagar. Hey, brain Stuff,
(00:22):
it's Christian Sager here. Have you ever heard of lucid
dreaming before? Well, lucid dreaming is simply being aware that
you are dreaming while you're in a dream, and it's
not a new thing. Aristotle wrote about it, and Tibetan
Buddhists have been practicing dream yoga called malam for centuries.
(00:43):
A Dutch psychiatrist named Frederick van Eden actually came up
with the term lucid dreams in nineteen thirteen, and it's
become popular in some scientific circles since the early eighties,
largely because of the work of psychophysiologist Dr Deven Leberts,
a Stanford grad who founded the Lucidity Institute in Researchers
(01:07):
have confirmed that lucid dreaming is possible. The way they
do it is by having sleepers give you a distinctive,
predetermined eye movement signal when they become aware that they're dreaming. So,
how does that work well. Generally, people are dreaming when
they're in the fifth stage of sleep r e M
sleep or REM REM is marked by rapid eye movements,
(01:32):
paralysis through the rest of our muscles, rises in heart rate,
breath rate and blood pressure, changes in body temperature, and
acceleration of brain wave oscillation to the type we have
while we're awake, which are alpha waves. These are all
part of REM. Note that some of these can happen
during other stages of sleep and transitions between those stages,
(01:57):
signaling what's known as covert REM dreaming. So you can
monitor for these signs and your predetermined signal with machines
like a polygraphed or an e G or an e MG.
But what about the whole thing about controlling your dreams? Right?
That sounds cool, Let's get back to that. Some researchers
are skeptical that it's possible. That's because there's no empirical
(02:20):
way to test for it. We don't know enough about
how memories work or how dreams work to see and
experience what people are thinking or dreaming, so we've only
got their reports to go on. Sure, some subject report
being able to control their dreams, but even when people
are trying to be honest about their memories, they can't
always succeed. That's because memories are electrochemical patterns in the brain,
(02:45):
and every time we call one up, we change it,
maybe a little, maybe a lot. Some research indicates that
the harder we're trying for perfect recall, the more we
mess our own memories up. Okay, but you are year
because you want to learn how to control your dreams. Right.
There are lots of books and workshops that are totally
(03:07):
willing to help you at varying expenses. Of course, this
is another reason why we're skeptical about lucid dreaming. Here
at how stuff works. But here are some tips for
lucid dreaming no dream control promised. First, you could practice
mindfulness while you're awake. This is what they call reality testing.
Throughout your day, pay attention to how it feels to
(03:29):
be awake and the cause and effect nature of reality.
Like when you flip a light switch, a light turns on,
and if it doesn't, there are steps you can take
to figure out why. Well. The idea here is that
by being more aware of what it's like to be awake,
you'll be able to notice differences while you're dreaming. Secondly,
keep a dream journal. When you wake up, immediately write
(03:50):
down what you remember of your dreams. The immediacy is
important because we tend to forget dreams much more quickly
than waking events. One Freudian era dream researcher by the
name of L. Strumple hypothesized that that is because the
strength of our memories is based in association and repetition,
(04:11):
which we don't get in dreams the way we do
in waking activity. The idea here is that by paying closer,
wakeful attention to your dreams, you'll be able to recognize
them while you're asleep. Third, disrupt your dream cycles. Set
an alarm to wake yourself up after ninety minutes after bedtime.
(04:31):
That should give your brain enough time to cycle through
the sleep stages and reach rem Or set an alarm
to wake yourself up a couple hours early, stay awake
for about half an hour, then go to sleep again.
The idea here is that by waking yourself up in
the middle of rem sleep, you should be able to
remember your recent dreams more clearly than usual. And finally,
(04:53):
there's Laberge's mild technique, and that's mild in all caps
because it stands for new monic induction of lucid dreaming.
This is one of Leberge's most famous techniques. When you
wake up from a dream, try your best to remember
it fully, and when you go back to sleep, keep
telling yourself that you're going to remember that you're dreaming
(05:14):
during your next dream. The next step is to picture
yourself back in the dream that you just had and
look for a sign that the dream is a dream
and not reality, like the fact that you're flying through
the air with wings. Leberts calls these dream signs. At
this point, remind yourself that you're dreaming and continue the visualization.
(05:39):
Keep doing this until you fall asleep. If you liked
that and you want to learn more about lucid dreaming,
my other show Stuff to Blow Your Mind has a
real deep dive into the topic where my co host
Robert and I talk all about lucid dreaming, it's history
and all of the dream types that Frederick vany Eden
came up with ye Today's episode was produced by Tyler
(06:05):
Clang and written by me for brain Stuffs Erstwhile YouTube series.
If you enjoy our show and want to support us
in return for some brainy housewears or people wears. Visit
our online shop at t public dot com slash brain stuff,
and of course, for more on this and lots of
other dreamy topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works
dot com
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Jonathan Strickland
Ben Bowlin
Lauren Vogelbaum
Cristen Conger
Christian Sager
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