Such feats of dream manipulation may not seem possible to the same extent in our real lives, but they are not altogether absent. In fact, a number of people are able to experience something called lucid dreaming, and some of them are even able to control certain elements of their nightly dreams.
What Causes Lucid Dreams. Though it may not be possible to understand exactly why lucid dreams occur, some research reveals that dreams of this type may be associated with times of stress and anxiety. Psychopathologies, such as depression and OCD, may also play a role.
Daily Activities. Different things you hear and smell while sleeping can also influence what happens in your dreams. For example, studies show that people who smelled a rose scent while sleeping had more pleasant dreams than people who smelled rotten eggs, who had weird dreams.
Develop a regular sleep pattern
Making sure you get a decent night's sleep will help you stop having lucid dreams, or at least remembering them upon waking and worrying about them. Reset your body clock by going to bed at a particular time and getting up at a certain time in the morning repeatedly, and unfaltering.
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.
Researchers have noted that lucid dreamers are not psychologically better than non-lucid ones. Lucid dreaming can disrupt sleeping patterns and negatively affect mental health. It can make psychosis worse for some individuals and exhibits no benefits for anyone with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Most of the time, our dreams are a product of our subconscious. We're not in control: Our brain creates the images we see in dreams, despite how we feel about them. However, some people can fully control their dreams or at least control certain variables through lucid dreaming.
So, why do my dreams sometimes feel so incredibly real? It comes down to how intensely stimulated parts of the brain become during REM sleep. Coupled with the powerful emotions we're experiencing within them at the same time – creating an illusion that feels more life-like than reality itself!
"For many people, the adrenaline and excitement experienced upon realizing that they are dreaming is enough to wake them," Backe said. "However, if this is not the case and you are 'stuck' in a bad dream, doing something particularly jarring — for example, jumping off of a cliff in your dream should do the trick."
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.
It is possible to get the sensation that you are stuck in a lucid dream, if you have many dreams back-to-back, or try to go back to your body and keep waking up into a new dream. However, you will always wake up, so you are never actually stuck.
Those who are more adept at lucid dreaming are able to control the action and content of their dreams to varying degrees. But can people learn to lucid dream and perfect their technique? According to a new study that Frontiers in Psychology recently published, the answer is “yes.”
The length of a dream can vary; they may last for a few seconds, or approximately 20–30 minutes. People are more likely to remember the dream if they are awakened during the REM phase.
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.
“Since dreams are thought to primarily occur during REM sleep, the sleep stage when the MCH cells turn on, activation of these cells may prevent the content of a dream from being stored in the hippocampus – consequently, the dream is quickly forgotten.”
Alan Eiser, a psychologist and a clinical lecturer at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, says dreams can be “highly meaningful,” because they “deal with the sort of personal conflicts and emotional struggles that people are experiencing in their daily lives.”
Some of the reasons we dream about the same people may be: We see them a lot during the day (such as a family member or colleague) Their bond is particularly strong with us, such as a parent. Your dream may be a way of dealing with loss and grief, especially if someone close has passed away.
Humans typically lack awareness that they are dreaming while dreaming. However, at times a remarkable exception occurs and reflective consciousness can be regained while dreaming, referred to as lucid dreaming. While most individuals experience lucid dreams rarely there is substantial variance in lucid dream frequency.
A related theory suggests that dreams help the brain to process and understand emotions, work through problems, and store emotional memories. Generalization: A more recent theory suggests that dreams help the brain to generalize, which means to apply prior experiences and knowledge to the present.
As dreams are all about the self—your feelings and behaviors—if you're dreaming about a specific person in your life, then it's likely there's some aspect of them that is currently at work in your life, Loewenberg explains. Perhaps you both share a behavioral trait that is currently being activated.