Theimagine a world in which you can solve problems, create art or music or even improve your tennis serve in your sleep. If scientists working in the field of lucid dreaming succeed, that world could become a reality sooner than we realize.
Researchers are developing techniques that could enable more people to experience lucid dreaming – a state of consciousness where a person is aware that they are dreaming and can recognize their thoughts and emotions while doing so – and transfer the content of these dreams in his waking life.
They have shown in recent months that it is possible to transfer the rhythm of dream music, light a real kettle and control a virtual car on a computer screen from within a lucid dream.
“Sooner or later there will be methods or tools that will allow anyone to experience lucid dreaming easily or relatively easily, we are looking for ways to connect these two worlds together,” said Michael Raduga, founder and CEO of REMspace Inc. research company in Redwood City, California that led the studies. “Even for people who don’t think they’re smart, their subconscious is huge, and we hope to be able to transfer all this information into reality.”
Although not everyone can do this, roughly half of the population has experienced at least one lucid dream in their lifetime, and about a fifth experience them once a month or more.
An international group of researchers published a paper in Current Biology a few years ago that suggested it was possible to ask people questions, either by voice or using Morse code delivered via flashing lights, while they were in a lucid dream – including basic mathematical calculations—and for dreamers to respond using eye movements or contracting facial muscles to convey yes/no or numerical answers.
Raduga and his colleagues have since expanded these techniques to enhance communication between dreamers and the waking world. They showed last year that it was possible to communicate musical rhythms from lucid dreams by teaching people to contract their arm muscles in time with a piece of music while awake, and then applying the same technique to transmit the same rhythm. musical while they were. in a lucid dream.
Although the muscles are mostly paralyzed during REM sleep, when most dreams occur, they still produce micro-contractions that can be detected via electrical sensors on the skin. The next step will be to use this method to transmit unique musical compositions from lucid dreams.
Raduga said the study was inspired by a dream he had as a teenager, in which he watched the German rock band Rammstein perform a piece of music. “It was the best song ever,” he said. “I’m not a musician, but something that my brain, and maybe other people’s brains, is capable of creating music better than people create in reality.”
In another recent study, he and his colleagues converted electrical impulses from a dreamer’s hand and facial muscles into commands for a smart speaker that turned on a real-world light bulb, electric kettle, and radio from inside their dream. demonstrating the possibility of completing morning tasks while still asleep.
In a further study, activity in the dreamers’ biceps and forearm and thigh muscles was linked to a virtual car, which they learned to drive by contracting their muscles while awake. Then, after the brain recordings had confirmed that they were in REM sleep, flashes of light were used to signal to the dreamers that they needed to make turns to avoid obstacles, and they were able to respond by using the same muscle contractions. This technique could eventually be used to convey spatial information about the dream world.
“I’m showing that it’s possible to connect these two realms,” Raduga said. “These are small steps, but in 10 or 20 years, people can achieve things related to their work or personal life before they wake up.”
Other researchers questioned the usefulness of driving a virtual car or lighting a kettle during sleep, but said that the ability to communicate the content of dreams using several different muscle groups, with contractions held for different durations, could expand the complexity of information that can be transferred from dreams.
“Once we can communicate both ways, the pursuit of their dreams can move forward because you can ask people follow-up questions; perhaps present them with more difficult cognitive tasks to better understand how the awake brain differs from the sleeping brain,” said Dr Kristoffer Appel at the University of Osnabrück in Germany, who co-authored the Current Biology paper. “Currently we have to rely on dream reports [once people have woken up]which can be distorted.”
Emma Peters, a PhD student at the University of Bern in Switzerland, who is investigating ways to increase the frequency of lucid dreams, believes they could one day be used to aid physical recovery in stroke patients or improve athletic performance. There is already evidence from her lab and others that repeating physical movements such as throwing darts or flipping a coin during lucid dreams can improve real-life performance.
However, there may be a catch: “Although the point of sale [of lucid dreams] is that you’re in control of everything, so you can do whatever you want, the problem is that you’re in control of everything,” Peters said. “Say you want to practice alpine skiing: you can do the slope and the weather, but you can skiing down the mountain and then ending up in outer space.”
Lucid dreaming is also difficult to induce, even for experienced practitioners, limiting its application. “At this point, we’re still trying to figure out ways to do that [more] people are sober,” Peters said. “The next step will be to find ways to practice better dream control.”
There may already be ways to start harvesting the creative potential of the dormant brain. Laura Roklicer at Swansea University is investigating whether teaching creative writers and poet lucid dreaming can improve the quality of their writing.
She has already gathered evidence that such individuals may be more prone to lucid dreaming. Previous studies have suggested that about 45% of the population can be trained to lucid dream, but so far 83% of 29 Roklicer writers have experienced at least one such dream after eight weeks of training.
To draw ideas from these dreams, Roklicer encourages writers to set a work-related goal while falling asleep, such as: “find a new story idea” or “meet one of my dream characters”.
In a recent unpublished study, she asked independent judges to score short stories produced by writers before and after dream training. On a number of measures, from emotional content, to symbolism, setting, character and plot, “it all seemed to improve after the training,” she said.
Roklicer believes that other groups can also benefit from this kind of approach: “Many studies have looked at how different aspects of daydreaming can aid creativity through generating more original ideas or solving problems, and that can be applied across board, from arts. , for science, for business.
“I think the biggest benefit is authenticity. In today’s world of AI-generated ideas, where most stories are the same kind of stories and so on, by watching your dreams – and especially becoming lucid in your dreams – you can find more authentic ideas.”
How to dream lucidly
Various exercises have been designed to help people lucid dream, and researchers are developing others.
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Dream diary: Every morning, as soon as you wake up, write down everything you remember about your dreams or use a voice recording device to do the same. Doing this can help familiarize you with your dreams, enabling you to become more aware of them once you’re asleep.
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Reality check: This exercise, performed during waking hours, trains the brain to better distinguish between dreams and reality, which can increase lucidity once you’re asleep. At regular intervals throughout the day, pause and pay attention to your surroundings, looking for anything unusual that might indicate you’re dreaming.
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Goal setting: Some people can increase the frequency of their lucid dreams simply by telling themselves that they will become aware during their dreams, for example by repeating a phrase such as “as soon as I fall asleep, I will remember that I am dreaming.”
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Wake up in bed: Most dreams occur during REM sleep, which is most prevalent during the second half of the night. By setting an alarm to wake up an hour or so before your usual time, and then going back to sleep, you can increase your chances of falling right into a dream. Telling yourself that you will lucid in that dream can also help achieve this.
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External stimulation: Many recent studies designed to communicate with people during lucid dreaming have used gentle vibrations, electrical stimulation, or flashing lights during REM sleep as a cue for the person to become conscious in their dream and signal back. Some of these methods are also being investigated as a means of increasing the frequency of lucid dreaming.
