How Lucid Dreaming Can Help Ease Nightmares

  Nightmares are something that everyone experiences. These dreams sometimes come in different forms whether it is falling or being chased. These dreams can be triggered by multiple events. For example, patients who went to war experience nightmares about the war. Another example would be people who watch frightening movies like “The Shining”, experience nightmares as well. A way to combat this is by lucid dreams. Lucid dreams are effective in multiple areas and it has been seen in experiments. To see if a person is having a dream let alone a lucid dream the researchers use REM sleep. In the article, “Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep”, Konkoly et al. showed how through REM sleep the researchers can communicate with the patients during lucid dreams. For example, Konkoly et al. state, “ Lucid dreams occur pre-dominantly during REM sleep and can be accompanied by eye-movement signals used to indicate that dreamers recognize that they are dreaming”(Konkoly et al.). This helps the researchers to use REM sleep to use lucid dreaming as a method of coping for people who have nightmares. In the article, “ Nightmares and their treatment”, Vanek et al. discuss that with lucid dreams they can “[adjust] the dream to their liking”(Vanek et al.) This shows that lucid dreams can be effective in helping people with nightmares because of how the researchers can ease the person. Due to the REM sleep, the researchers can tell the cues that the patient is having a rough time during their sleep so they can manipulate it to help them. Lucid dreams have been experimented on for a while but recently people are manipulating them to help people. This makes a big difference to people with PTSD because of their recurring nightmares. This helps ease their suffering. Since this research is new, there might be more research on how REM sleep and lucid dreams can help with more disorders like depression.

Konkoly, Karen R., et al. “Real-Time Dialogue between Experimenters and Dreamers during Rem Sleep.” Current Biology, Cell Press, 18 Feb. 2021, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982221000592

Vanek J;Prasko J;Ociskova M;Holubova M;Minarikova K;Kamaradova-Koncelikova D;Kantor K;Nesnidal V; “Nightmares and Their Treatment.” Neuro Endocrinology Letters, U.S. National Library of Medicine, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33185995/.