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What is lucid dreaming; 5 amazing benefits and facts that will blow your mind

By, Delhi
Sep 12, 2022 02:02 PM IST

When you know you are dreaming while you are asleep and even shape the dream narrative as per your imagination, it is a lucid dream. It is not only fun but also has loads of benefits.

Ever realised in the middle of a dream that you are actually dreaming and it's not real? It's called lucid dreaming and the concept is increasingly capturing the imagination of many who are tapping into this fascinating world for healing, honing their skills and even getting over their nightmares. Simply put, when you know you are dreaming while you are asleep and even shape the dream narrative as per your imagination, it is a lucid dream. Such dreams feel vivid, real and even magical in a sense that one can do impossible things like flying in the air, enjoying a free-fall from the building, and materialising things that are impossible in real life. It's like directing your own sleep movie and controlling who and what you are seeing in your dream. (Also read: Lucid dreamers are better problem solvers, says study)

What is lucid dreaming; 5 amazing facts that will blow your mind(Pinterest)
What is lucid dreaming; 5 amazing facts that will blow your mind(Pinterest)

Research says around half of the people may have had at least one lucid dream. In 2016, a study by David Saunders and colleagues on 34 lucid dreaming studies, showed that 55% of 24,282 people experienced lucid dreams at least once or more in their lifetime. While we do not exactly know why we encounter lucid dreams, studies find differences in the brains of people who do and don’t have lucid dreams as per WebMd. The front part of the brain, called the prefrontal cortex which is the site of high-level tasks like making decisions and recalling memories is reportedly larger in lucid dreamers.

Charlie Morley, a lucid dreaming teacher and author in a YouTube video talks about 5 amazing facts about lucid dreaming that you will find fascinating.

FACT 1

Children naturally lucid dream

A recent Harvard study looking at children from 6-16 years of age found that most kids reported regular lucid dreams as part of their childhood development. This shows that we do not need to learn how to lucid dream but we need to remember how to do it because as kids we knew the technique naturally.

FACT 2

Lucid dream gives you more energy

A lot of people think that lucid dreaming is going to make you feel very tired. On the contrary, once we become lucid the brain moves into a gamma wave brain state. This is a brain state usually associated with people who have done more than 10,000 hours of meditation. But because lucid dreaming is a natural state of meditation, the brain moves into gamma spontaneously. When you wake up from a lucid dream, you wake up with a brain bathed with gamma and that is going to give you more energy and more mindfulness in your waking state.

FACT 3

You can require your brain through lucid dreaming

Once you become lucid, the prefrontal cortex becomes reactivated and your neuroplasticity becomes engaged. This is the capacity of human brain to rewire itself in favour of a newly learnt skill or a repeated action. Scientific studies have shown that if you practice a certain athletic discipline within the lucid dream, the brain rewires itself allowing yourself to get better at the skill

FACT 4

Lucid dreaming is used to treat recurring nightmares

Lucid dreaming has been scientifically verified as such a powerful intervention for recurring nightmares that military veterans and now practising lucid dreaming as a way to integrate their posttraumatic stress disorder.

FACT 5

Lucid dreaming is used to treat trauma integration

It is such a powerful treatment for trauma integration that there is now even a practice called lucid dreaming therapy in which psychotherapists use lucid dreaming techniques with their client to help them integrate their trauma. There's even potential of lucid dreaming healing where people go into the lucid dream and apply certain visualised healing techniques that through the power of maximised placebo, that occurs within the lucid dream state, leads to a reduction of waking state ailments based on a lucid dream healing.

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