The benefits of lucid dreaming

Controlling dreams is a skill with more benefits than we thought.

Have you ever heard of lucid dreaming? Lucid dreams (also known as conscious dreams) are those dreams we have in which we are aware that nothing of what we are experiencing is actually happening, since we know we are asleep.

There are several levels at which an individual can experience lucid dreaming. At the lowest level the person notices that he or she is dreaming, but fails to recognize the meaning of what is happening. Those who achieve a higher degree of lucid dreaming are fully aware of what is happening. are fully aware of what is happening and are able to control the dream..

Lucid dreaming and real-world problem solving

The dream world can be either a wonderful place or a hostile place to spend the night. But if sleep is controlled, it can become something more: it can help hone those cognitive skills we use when we are awake and help solve problems in the real world. A recent study from the University of Lincoln in the UK proves this.

The research was conducted by Dr. Patrick Bourke, a professor at the University of Lincoln's School of Psychology, and his student Hannah Shaw. This is the first study to link lucid dreaming to insight.

Lucid dreaming, self-confidence and life satisfaction

Other studies on lucid dreaming are aimed at demonstrating the benefit that this type of dreaming has on well-being and mental health in general.

According to Ursula Voss, a sleep researcher at the University of Bonn in Germany, people who experience lucid dreams tend to wake up "with a sense of euphoria, as they actually feel better and with the feeling of having accomplished something in their dreams."

According to another study conducted by Evelyn Doll of the Medical University of Vienna, her research subjects who had experienced lucid dreams scored higher on questions related to self-confidence, tended to be more assertive, and showed greater well-being. In this sample, they compared scores on a questionnaire completed by 27 frequent lucid dreamers and 33 people who had rarely experienced lucid dreams.

Lucid dreaming for overcoming Post Traumatic Stress

Following the 2008 Gaza conflict between Israeli and Palestinian forces, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel demonstrated that lucid dreaming is effective in overcoming Post Traumatic Stress. Nirit Soffer-Dudek and her collaborators conducted the research with 223 women living in the area affected by the military offensive, the results indicated that subjects who had been exposed to higher levels of violence showed the highest levels of distress, a state that was less severe in those who claimed to be able to experience lucid dreaming.

Lucid dreaming and imagination training

This study indicates that the same brain areas are used in lucid dreaming as in imagination training. Therefore, in addition to the benefits we have shown in the previous lines, there are other positive effects:

• Increases the ability to concentrate and precision.
• Strengthens memory
• Stimulates creativity
• Helps combat stress and anxiety

To read more about mental training through imaginationwe recommend this article: "Mental Training through Imagination: Psychology of Sport".