Blogpost # 2: Lucid Dreaming: Evidence

The photo that I saw on Facebook.

I bet you would like to sleep super early everyday if you know about lucid dreaming.

I used to hate sleep because it constricts me from doing everyday activities but when I earned about lucid dreaming... I would never want to wake up again.

I first discovered lucid dreaming in a posted photo on Facebook, the post gives you instructions in how to lucid dream. When I first saw it I was like "Nah... It's just a scam to trick gullible people." After a few days, I tried it, maybe I was too gullible or maybe I just got super curious because the photo that I saw multiplied on Facebook, I saw a lot of them spawning on the Internet. So when I first tried it, it was a success! I never thought I could do it in the first try, so I continued to do it. It's a very fun thing to do but with all that fun I started to think, Am I really doing those things or is my first thought about lucid dreaming true? With all that doubt I tried searching for evidence myself.

In an article "What is lucid dreaming?" from that site "world-of-lucid-dreaming.com". Rebecca Turner says that "Tibetan Monks have used dream control for more than a thousand years, in a philosophy called Dream yoga". Since it's been used before by peaceful and honest monks maybe it's real since monk's don't look like the're a fan of scamming. And it was first coined "Lucid dreaming" in the 20th century by a Dutch psychiatrist named Fredrick Van Eeden, meaning mental clarity in dreams.

So is lucid dreaming scientifically proven?

In another article "Lucid dreaming research"  from that site "lucidipedia.com" Tim Post says
"Evidence for lucid dreaming was first found by LaBerge et al. (1981), based on earlier studies showing that some of the eye movements of REM sleep corresponds to the reported direction of the dreamer's direction of sight." The only scientific evidences of lucid dreaming are laboratory experiments.

So lucid dreaming occurs when someone is in a state called REM sleep. REM sleep is a state in which the eyes move rapidly, REM occurs 90 minutes after sleep onset. Intense dreaming occurs during REM sleep.

Even though the only evidences of lucid dreaming are experiences and laboratory experiments, a lot of articles say that lucid dreaming is true. I also agree on that because I've experienced it, but still a lot of people are doubting it because there isn't really a strong pillar of evidence to hold that phenomenon in to place.

Blogpost # 1: Lucid Dreaming: Is it dangerous?

What's a lucid dream? A lucid dream is any dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming.
Since you're aware that you're dreaming, you can do anything you can ever imagine.

I'm an imaginative person. I've created tons of characters, places and creatures in my mind and I wish I could make them all come to life. I thought it can never happen but then I discovered a phenomenon called lucid dreaming, where I can be anything, create everything and pretty much do everything that's impossible while awake. So I tried it, it's an amazing experience, even though I was unable to control the dream, I was just conscious while dreaming and everything around me was moving and morphing. I could not move because I did a technique called sleep paralysis where I'am conscious but my body is asleep. So while everything around me was going crazy and I was enjoying the experience. In the distance, I saw a tall skinny man, with white long hands and two heads and is walking a straight path towards my body. I was panicking and I wanted to ran away but I couldn't because I was in sleep paralysis and I couldn't move. Then when I looked at him again, he was suddenly right in front of me and he is waving his hand around my body like he was casting a spell. I was so scared! Then suddenly, I woke up and thought, is lucid dreaming dangerous?

In an article "The Superhuman Mind" from that site "www.psychologytoday.com". Berit Brogaard says that

"No, it's not a potential problem for lucid dreamers. By definition, lucid dreamers know they are dreaming, so they are not confused about when they dream and when they're awake. However, non-lucid dreamers that could become confused between dreaming and being awake"

The line is saying that as long as you're experienced in lucid dreaming or that you've done it a thousand times, you're safe but if you're a beginner and you're trying to practice lucid dreaming, you need to take it easy, don't get to excited or do extreme things like jumping off a cliff, swimming in a tank filled with sharks, or catching a bullet. You need to start with the basics like practicing how to float before doing high jumping stunts or underwater breathing before swimming really deep. also in the article, it says that

"I don't think an experienced lucid dreamer would ever jump off a cliff without testing whether they could float in the air".


So, can a lucid dream give you mental illness if you do extreme stunts?

In another article "Is lucid dreaming dangerous?" from this site "http://dreamstudies.org". Ryan Hurd says "There's no evidence that lucid dreaming can bring on mental illness". And in the article, it says that, lucid dreaming can actually boost you resilience. Meaning, the more you lucid dream, the better you can cope with traumatic events.

You can fight nightmares or face fears using lucid dream.

Is lucid dreaming safe for kids?

In an article "Is lucid dreaming safe?" from this site "howtocontroldreams.com". Denisa Veselska says " Kids tend to have more nightmares than adults. You can teach them how to control dreams to changing their nightmare into positive dreams or generally reduce frequency of nightmares with lucid dreaming techniques". So if you happen to  have kids, you cant teach them techniques on how to control dreams, so your kids could have less traumatizing dreams.


I think lucid dreaming is all good, even if you're a beginner, as long as you don't panic while doing it. I encourage everyone to lucid dream because it is an amazing thing to do. I mean come on... who wouldn't want to be a god of your own world and make, create and control everything & anything that is around you.