Some research has suggested that lucid dreaming and certain personality traits may be connected in some way. One study found that lucid dreamers tend to have a greater internal locus of control. They also score higher on measures of a need for cognition and creativity.
Our results suggest that frequent lucid dreaming is associated with increased functional connectivity between aPFC and temporoparietal association areas, regions normally deactivated during sleep.
Generally, lucid dreaming is quite rare. Only one half of the general population know the phenomenon from personal experience, approximately 20% have lucid dreams on a monthly basis, and only a minority of approximately 1% have lucid dreams several times a week.
Scientists have confirmed that lucid dreaming is a real phenomenon. It's considered a hybrid sleep-wake state. Not everyone lucid dreams, but about half of all people have had one lucid dream in their life. Young people are more likely to spontaneously have lucid dreams.
Lucid dreaming is the experience of achieving conscious awareness of dreaming while still asleep. Lucid dreams are generally thought to arise from non-lucid dreams in REM sleep.
Lucid dreaming has the ability to increase awareness and control of the dreamer. Neurological evidence seems to support the seven awareness criteria suggested by Holzinger. During LD, not a single brain structure, but a whole network of brain regions is activated.
In a 2014 study, researchers from the University of Lincoln found that lucid dreamer showed greater insight in waking life, with better than average problem-solving abilities.
Stress, anxiety, and trauma: If you're experiencing stress, anxiety, depression, emotional trauma, or post-traumatic stress disorder, you may be more susceptible to vivid bad dreams.
With enough practice, virtually anyone could enter a lucid dream, and gain the ability to change the course of their dream. From the research Page 3 discovered, it's safe to say, this phenomenon is indeed a learned skill, practiced by many.
Although spontaneous commencement of lucid dreaming can occur as early as age 3, it seems most likely to happen around age 12–14 years and much less likely to occur after age 25 (Figure 1).
Surveys show that roughly 55% of adults have experienced at least one lucid dream during their lifetime, and 23% of people experience lucid dreams at least once per month. Some research has pointed to potential benefits of lucid dreaming, such as treatment for nightmares.
1. Being chased. Being chased is one of the most common nightmares. If you dream that you're being chased by something, whether it's an 8-foot-tall rabbit or a shrouded figure, then it's an indicator that you're running away from something or someone in real life.
Having vivid dreams every night that you recall (which may also involve physical actions or verbal outbursts) can be an indication that something is disrupting your dreaming sleep, such as sleep apnoea (which is worse during REM sleep), narcolepsy (when the switch that involves going in and out of sleep goes awry) or ...
Lucid dreams can feel like they're going on forever but only last from ten minutes to one hour.
Generally, having a vivid dream once in a while isn't a cause for concern. However, if you are having vivid dreams frequently and it is interfering with your day-to-day life, it can cause harmful effects on your overall health and well-being.
Depression causes bad dreams for many people. One study found that 28.4% of participants with severe depression reported frequent nightmares and that depression was one of the strongest indicators of frequent nightmares. These depression nightmares can range from just plain scary to downright weird.
About 55 percent of people have experienced one or more lucid dreams in their lifetime. However, frequent lucid dreaming is rare. Only 23 percent of people have lucid dreams at least once a month.
Although some theorists have suggested that pain sensations cannot be part of the dreaming world, research has shown that pain sensations occur in about 1% of the dreams in healthy persons and in about 30% of patients with acute, severe pain.
During non-REM sleep, the thalamus is inactive, but during REM sleep, when we are dreaming, the thalamus is active, sending the cerebral cortex images, sounds, and sensations, which is why we are able to hear, feel, and see in our dreams similarly to how we do when we are awake.
Lucid dreaming therapy may be efficient for treating nightmares, and even when lucidity is not achieved, the induction exercises assisted patients by helping them develop a critical thinking over dream content.
Lucid Nightmares
Lucid dreaming is still dreaming, and like happens with ordinary dreams, your lucid dreams will sometimes turn into nightmares. Since you are self-aware, coupled with the fact that lucid dreams are usually more vivid than ordinary dreams, lucid nightmares can be extremely terrifying.
It is our observation (Voss et al., unpublished) that dreamers often experience their lucid dreams to be emotionally neutral, sometimes accompanied by a sense of achievement (“I did it!” and “success!”) and euphoria after awakening, both instances falling under the category of what Lewis (1995) refers to as “self- ...
Nightmares about falling were followed closely by dreams about being chased (more than 63 percent). Other distressing nightmares included death (roughly 55 percent), feeling lost (almost 54 percent), feeling trapped (52 percent), and being attacked (nearly 50 percent).