Imagine a world where you can solve problems, create art or music, or even improve your tennis serve while you sleep. If scientists working on lucid dreaming succeed, that world could become a reality sooner than we realize.
Researchers are developing techniques that will enable more people to experience lucid dreaming – a state of consciousness in which a person is aware that they are dreaming and can recognize their thoughts and emotions while dreaming – and to transfer the content of these dreams into their waking lives.
In recent months, they have demonstrated that it is possible to transfer the rhythm of dream music from a lucid dream, turn on a real kettle and drive a virtual car on a computer screen.
“Sooner or later there will be methods or tools that will allow everyone to experience lucid dreaming easily or relatively easily, and we’re looking for ways to connect those two worlds,” said Michael Raduga, the founder and CEO of REMspace Inc., a sleep research company in Redwood City, California, who led the studies. “Even for people who think they’re not smart, their subconscious is huge, and we’re hoping to turn all that information into reality.”
Although not everyone can do this, about half of the population has had a lucid dream at least once in their lifetime, and about a fifth experience it once a month or more.
An international group of researchers published a paper in Current Biology a few years ago suggesting that it was possible to ask people questions, either verbally or using Morse code via flashing lights, while they were in a lucid dream – including basic mathematical calculations – and that the dreamers could respond using eye movements or by tensing facial muscles to convey yes/no or numerical answers.
Raduga and his colleagues have since expanded these techniques to broaden the communication between dreamers and the waking world. Last year, they showed that it was possible to communicate musical rhythms from lucid dreams by teaching people to contract their arm muscles to the beat of a piece of music while they were awake, and then using the same technique to transmit the same musical rhythm while they were in a lucid dream.
Although muscles are largely paralyzed during REM sleep, when most dreams occur, they still produce microcontractions 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 saw the German rock band Rammstein perform a piece of music. “It was the best song ever,” he said. “I’m not a musician, but my brain, and probably other people’s brains, are capable of creating better music than people actually create.”
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. This enabled them to turn on a real light bulb, kettle and radio from within the dream, demonstrating that it is possible to perform morning tasks while the dreamer is still asleep.
In a further study, activity in dreamers’ biceps, forearm, and thigh muscles was matched to a virtual car, which they learned to drive by contracting their muscles while awake. Then, after brain recordings confirmed that they were in REM sleep, light flashes were used to signal dreamers to turn to avoid obstacles, and they could respond with the same muscle contractions. This technique could eventually be used to convey spatial information about the dream world.
“I show that it is possible to connect these two worlds,” 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 have questioned the usefulness of moving a virtual car or turning on a kettle while you sleep. They argue that the ability to convey dream content using different muscle groups, holding contractions for different lengths, could increase the complexity of information that can be conveyed from dreams.
“Once we can communicate in both directions, dream research can move forward because you can ask people follow-up questions; maybe you can give them more difficult cognitive tasks to better understand how the waking brain differs from the sleeping brain,” said Dr. Kristoffer Appel of 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 may be distorted.”
Emma Peters, a PhD candidate at the University of Bern in Switzerland who is researching ways to increase the frequency of lucid dreams, believes they could one day be used to promote physical recovery in stroke patients or improve athletic performance. There’s already evidence from her lab and others that rehearsing physical movements like throwing darts or flipping a coin while lucid dreaming can improve real-life performance.
There may be a catch, however: “Although the selling point [of lucid dreams] “The problem is that you control everything, so you can do whatever you want,” Peters said. “Let’s say you want to do downhill skiing: You can make the slope and the weather, but you can also ski down the mountain and end up in space.”
Lucid dreams are also difficult to induce, even for experienced practitioners, which limits their application. “Right now, we’re still trying to find ways to [more] people lucid,” Peters said. “The next step will be to find ways to practice better dream control.”
There may already be ways to harvest the creative potential of the sleeping brain. Laura Roklicer from Swansea University is investigating whether teaching creative writers and poets to dream lucidly, the quality of their writing could improve.
She has already gathered evidence that such individuals are more prone to lucid dreaming. Previous studies have suggested that about 45% of the population can be trained to dream lucidly, but so far, 83% of the 29 writers Roklicer has worked with have had at least one such dream after eight weeks of training.
To harvest ideas from these dreams, Roklicer encourages writers to set themselves a work-related intention as they fall asleep, such as “find a new idea for a story” or “meet one of my characters in a dream.”
In a recent, unpublished study, she asked independent judges to rate short stories the writers had written before and after the dream training. On a range of criteria, from emotional content to symbolism, setting, character and plot, “all of that seemed to improve after the training,” she said.
Roklicer believes other groups could benefit from this kind of approach: “There’s a lot of research on how different aspects of dreaming can enhance creativity by generating more original ideas or problem solving. This can be applied to everything from the arts to science to business.
“I think the biggest advantage is authenticity. In today’s world of AI-generated ideas, where most stories are the same kind of stories and so on, by looking into your dreams – and especially by becoming lucid in your dreams – you can find more authentic ideas.”
How to lucid dream
Several exercises have been developed to help people dream lucidly, and researchers are working on developing more.
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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 recorder to do the same. This can help you become familiar with your dreams, which can help you become more aware of them once you are asleep.
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Reality test: This exercise, done during waking hours, trains the brain to better distinguish between dreams and reality, which can increase clarity once you fall asleep. Take frequent breaks throughout the day and carefully observe your surroundings, looking for anything unusual that might indicate that you are dreaming.
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Declaration of intent: Some people can increase the frequency of their lucid dreams by simply telling themselves that they will become aware during their dreams. For example, by repeating a phrase such as “Once I’m asleep, I will remember that I’m dreaming.”
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Wake up in bed again: Most dreams occur during REM sleep, which is more common in the second half of the night. Setting an alarm to wake yourself up an hour or so earlier than you normally would, and then going back to sleep, increases your chances of falling into a dream right away. Telling yourself that you will become lucid in that dream can also help to achieve this.
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External stimulation: Many recent studies designed to communicate with people during lucid dreams have used gentle vibration, electrical stimulation, or flashing lights during REM sleep as a cue for the person to become aware of their dream and signal back. Some of these methods are also being investigated as a tool to increase the frequency of lucid dreams.