Lucid Dreams: Legit Virtual Reality

By Susan Wang' 22

It is a starless night. You are running in the darkness and are almost out of breath. The heavy footsteps in the back indicate that something is chasing you. You feel desperate and afraid as it moves swiftly towards you. “Stop! Don’t catch me!” You order it. Suddenly, the footsteps vanish. You are now standing by the sea during sunset, and the world around you becomes more tranquil and lovely than ever. What has just happened?

Apparently, you are dreaming, but this dream is very special. You are dreaming with awareness, which is a phenomenon known as lucid dreaming. In lucid dreaming, dreamers clearly understand they are in a dream, and they can even manipulate it. The earliest human records of lucid dreaming dated back to Aristotle’s time. In his treatise On Dreams, Aristotle described lucid dreaming as “when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which tells us that what presents itself is but a dream.” However, lucid dreaming was never verified in the laboratory until thirty years ago, when neuroscientists Hearne and Laberge first identified lucid dreaming from other stages of sleep by measuring dreamers’ eye movements. Henceforth, many studies have been conducted to explore lucid dreaming. Research reveals that lucid dreaming is not only a technique that can be acquired through repeated practice but also a potential therapy for PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), recurring nightmares and mood disorders.

So what is the neuroscience mechanism behind lucid dreaming? During lucid dreaming, the afferent neurons––the neurons transporting perceptual input signals from all parts of the body to the brain––are not as suppressed as during other stages of sleep. Therefore, the dreamers may be able to differentiate the external stimuli from the internal stimuli in the dream. Researchers also discovered that those who frequently experience lucid dreams have more grey matter in the frontal polar cortex, which typically correlates to a better capability of thought monitoring.

Lucid dreaming rarely occurs naturally: only about 50% of all populations have personally experienced it, and about 20% undergo lucid dreaming on a monthly based. About 1% of people experience lucid dreaming several times a week. Nevertheless, there are some tactics to help people become better lucid dreamers. The most common trick is the reality check. For example, one can push one’s fingers against the other palm. If the fingers go through the palm, then one is dreaming. Another tactic is to look at one’s hands. If the shape of both hands is distorted, one is probably in a dream. In daily life, people can perform the reality check intentionally to differentiate between reality and dreams.

So are you dreaming?

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