Researchers have discovered that lucid dreaming is more than just a vivid sleep state, it’s actually a whole other state of consciousness.
Lucid dreaming occurs when a person becomes aware they are dreaming, often gaining the ability to control the dream’s events.
For instance, they might fly, walk through walls, or confront fears, taking advantage of the limitless possibilities.
Previously, scientists believed lucid dreams were simply more vivid or intense versions of the typical dreams that occur during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is a normal phase of the sleep cycle characterized by increased brain activity.
But this new study shows that brain activity patterns during a lucid dream are entirely different from those that occur during regular dreams and wakefulness.
These patterns reflect changes in how brain regions activate and communicate, linked to shifts in perception, memory, self-awareness, and cognitive control.
Specifically, they found that lucid dreaming was associated with reduced beta brain waves (which are linked to waking consciousness and alertness) in two different brain regions that control spatial awareness, sense of touch and self-perception.
Meanwhile, gamma waves, which indicate heightened focus and consciousness, increased in the medial prefrontal cortex, a region involved in self-referential thinking and metacognition.
These findings suggest lucid dreaming is a unique neural state, offering new insights into consciousness and potential applications in therapy.
Researchers have discovered that lucid dreaming is more than just a vivid sleep state, it’s actually a whole other state of consciousness
‘This research opens the door to a deeper understanding of lucid dreaming as an intricate state of consciousness by pointing to the possibility that conscious experience can arise from within sleep itself,’ said lead researcher Çağatay Demirel, of Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands, in a statement.
‘This work offers a perspective that could challenge the traditional binary view of sleep and wakefulness in future research,’ he added.
Demirel and his colleagues compiled an enormous amount of data from previous sleep studies — which measured brain activity with EEGs — into what they believe is now the largest dataset in this field.
They then compared brain activity patterns for wakefulness, REM sleep and lucid dreaming to determine what makes each state unique.
At the surface level, brain activity during lucid dreaming did not look all that different from REM sleep.
But when the researchers dove deeper to look at the sources of electrical signals in the brain, key differences began to take shape.
The reduction in beta waves associated with lucid dreaming was isolated to the right temporal lobe (which controls spatial awareness and nonverbal memory) and the parietal lobe (which controls the senses and self-perception).
Beta waves are high-frequency brain waves that are typically associated with a wakeful state. They are involved in conscious thought and logical thinking, and tend to have a stimulating effect.
Lucid dreams are dreams where the dreamer is aware they are dreaming and can sometimes control what happens
The researchers suggest that this reduction could signal the brain’s process of recognizing that the dream is not real, thereby allowing the dreamer to become aware that they are dreaming.
They also found an increase in gamma waves in the right precuneus, which plays an important role in spatially guided behavior and imagining one’s own actions.
This surge of gamma activity coincided with the moment the dreamer realizes they are dreaming, suggesting that it may further reflect the brain’s process of becoming lucid while sleeping.
The researchers concluded that these patterns of brain activity are totally unique to lucid dreaming, indicating that it is its own state of consciousness.
But perhaps more interestingly, they also found that these patterns are most similar to the brain activity associated with the effects of psychedelic drugs such as LSD and ayahuasca.
Like lucid dreams, these psychedelic experiences are also associated with activity changes in the precuneus, according to the researchers.
But ‘While psychedelics often lead to a dissolution of ego and decreased self-referential processing . . . lucid dreams may actually harness elements of self-awareness and control,’ Demirel they wrote in their report.
The team published their findings in The Journal of Neuroscience.
Lucid dreams can occur spontaneously, but you can also train yourself to have them.
Researchers have identified several techniques that can help you induce a lucid dream. But the Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams, also known as the ‘MILD’ technique, is among the most effective, according to SleepFoundation.org.
It’s designed to be used when you wake up in the middle of the night, and involves four basic steps.
First, upon awakening, try to recall what you have been dreaming about or the details of a dream you just had that you’d like to reenter.
Then, identify signs from the dream that will help you realize that you’re dreaming once you reenter it.
Say the words: ‘When I begin dreaming, I will remember that I’m dreaming.’
Then continue recalling the dream content and repeating that phrase until you fall back asleep.
This technique is more effective for some people than others, but it tends to result in lucid dreaming 20 percent of the time.
