For many, lucid dreaming sounds straight out of a science
fiction movie. People are quick to believe lucid dreaming is much more than
just allowing oneself to do unworldly things in a dream. When one investigates
the depths and possibilities of lucid dreaming, great findings and
possibilities seem to appear. Shockingly and excitingly for the purposes of
lucid dreaming research, “approximately eight out of 10 people have had a lucid dream,
in which they were conscious of their dreaming, at least once” (Voss).
First,
let’s define lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is when someone understands they
are asleep and dreaming and can stay asleep and continue to dream and sometimes
control their dream (Konkoly et. al.). Lucid dreams occur most often in REM
sleep and can occur for varying amounts of time. One of the big issues for
dream researchers has been getting good data or results (Konkoly et. al.).
Until recently, dream researchers had to rely on the dreamer’s recollection of
the dream once they woke up. Recently, researchers have developed newer methods
based on the knowledge that we can make small eye movements and breathing
signals while staying asleep (Konkoly et. al.). This allows for researchers to
set defined signals for participants and allows the participants to communicate
that they are lucid dreaming. Now that the participants can communicate this to
the researcher, a variety of methods and possibilities have opened.
In “Lucid
Dream Analysis Could Tap the Creative Unconscious” by Ursula Voss the method of
EEG is discussed to monitor brain activity once the participant signaled that
they were lucid dreaming. They found what they “believe to be an electrical
signature of lucid dreaming—increased activity in the 40-hertz range (the “gamma
band”), primarily in the frontal lobe, located behind the forehead.” (Voss). This
allowed for them to make the conclusion that the frontal lobe may have a large
part of lucid dreaming. The finding that I found to be most fascinating was “patients
suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder suggests that learning how to
control dreams reduces the fear of dreaming, boosts self-confidence and makes
patients more optimistic about their ability to eventually cope with their
trauma.” (Voss). This allows for the possibility to help people with trauma and
anxiety-based disorders to cope. The article also discusses the way that lucid
dreaming can help people with generalized anxiety disorder to cope and better
their symptoms.
Lucid dreams and
communication with lucid dreamers were further delve into by Karen Konkoly at
Northwestern University. In “Real-time dialogue between
experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep” by Konkoly et. al. it is discussed
how they communicated with participants while in lucid dreams. They trained
participants to communicate once they had started a lucid dream. Once in this
dream, the researchers asked simple math problems such as “eight minus six”.
About 18.4% of the participants responded correctly with eye movements to
signify their answers. Konkoly and her team also developed ways to induce lucid
dreaming for the purposes of their research which greatly expands the
possibilities of lucid dreaming research.
I
had the incredible opportunity to shadow Karen Konkoly in her lab for a night
while she was running a pilot experiment and we were able to have some great
conversations about the future of lucid dreaming research. Something I am quite interested in is the possibility of
teaching lucid dreamers a language-or other tasks that our brains are already
wired to do-while they are asleep. I believe that if we can maximize our
sleep by learning new things in our sleep, we can further our cognitive
functions and become more intelligent than ever before. We will see what the
future of lucid dreaming research brings, and I cannot wait to see where it
goes.
References:
(1) Voss, U. (n.d.). Lucid dream analysis could tap the creative unconscious. Scientific American. Retrieved October 21, 2021, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lucid-dream-analysis-could-tap-the-creative-unconscious/.
(2) Karen R. Konkoly et. al. “Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep”, Current Biology, Volume 31, Issue 7, 2021, Pages 1417-1427.e6, ISSN 0960-9822, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.026.
(3) The Sheekey Science Show]. (2021, February 19). Real-time communication with lucid dreamers! [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Av-zhlPE4HM
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