Imagine being able to meet with any of your lost loved ones through dreams. Not only that you can meet anyone you want, but you can also travel the whole world, try anything you can think of, this is all possible through lucid dreaming.
Lucid dreaming is something that almost everyone experienced once in their lives. When it happens, you will probably be dreaming about something horrifying, and something alerted you that you are only sleeping and this is all just a dream.
When that moment of awareness happens, it opens all the doors to a different, magical, and lovely place of your imagination. Even though most people wake up right after they realize that they are dreaming.
It is still possible to control your dreams and only dream of what you want through learning the simple steps to lucid dreaming. Keep reading Sleep Underground to find out more.
What is Lucid Dreaming?
A lucid dream is one in which the dreamer is aware of his or her surroundings. Even if you are aware that you are dreaming, you continue to sleep. You may control yourself in a dream and explore a whole new world when you’re in this state.
During lucid dreaming, the amount of control you have over yourself varies, but at the very least, you’ll be traveling around a world drawn by your subconscious mind while fully aware that you’re dreaming.
There are two types of lucid dreams, one where you fall asleep, dream of something and then realize that you are dreaming, so you remain asleep and dream about anything you want. This is known as dream-initiated lucid dreaming.
The other type is when you are awake, and you go straight to lucid dreaming, this type of lucid dreaming is called wake-initiated. And this is the type of lucid dreaming you can do with a little practice, it also allows you more control of your surroundings.
Steps to Lucid Dreaming Tonight
To start, you need to have enough information about lucid dreaming, what it is, what is it good for, and how it is done, let’s start with how it is done.
Start with Reality Checks
The goal of a reality check is to do something basic to confirm that you’re awake. Whether you’re awake or asleep, the outcome of the action will be different. You might need to start with 25 times each day and then decrease the checks number gradually as you gain more control.
To do reality checks, start by looking at your hand, then try to push a finger from your other hand through your palm. Normally, you would feel the touch of your finger on your palm, but if you are asleep, you will see your finger passing through your palm.
If you do this reality check several times a day, it will become a habit that your dreaming mind will catch up on. When your body performs this work while you’re dreaming, you’ll then realize you are sleeping.
No Screens Allowed
It is very important to keep your bedroom environment as dark as possible. This is to ensure your body produces enough melatonin to help you fall asleep, while lights can interrupt the production of melatonin.
Therefore, make sure to turn off all electronics at least one hour before you go to sleep, this includes mobile phones, TV, tablets, etc.
Set Your Alarm and Keep Your Eyes Closed
This is one of the most important steps to enter lucid dreaming. The idea is that your alarm should wake you up during REM sleep, you need to keep your eyes shut even though you wake up for a moment in the middle.
Ideally, the alarm should be set for five hours after you fall asleep, preferably between 4 AM and 6 AM. After the alarm wakes you up, turn it off whilst keeping your eyes shut. To ensure this process is done properly, you need to keep the following notes in mind:
- Use a soothing alarm sound, avoid sounds that are too noisy.
- Keep your alarm nearby so that you can turn it off without moving too much.
Perform a “Wake Back to Bed”
After you’ve turned off the alarm and kept your eyes shut, it is time for you to perform the biggest step, entering the lucid dream. Once you feel your body drift to sleep, your body will start tricking you to realize that your mind is really awake.
Once that happens, you need to ignore those messages by touching your stomach or scratching your nose. Once your body believes you are asleep, it will surrender, then you will start seeing colors, shapes, and peeks of a picture.
And slowly, those shapes and colors start turning shapes into a whole picture, once you are in that picture, you are in a lucid dream!
Benefits of Lucid Dreaming
Lucid dreaming was proven to have a few therapeutic effects, it also helps people overcome certain issues such as:
Recurring Nightmares
It’s very natural to experience a nightmare occasionally. Between 50 and 85 percent of adults experience nightmares on a regular basis.
Recurrent nightmares, on the other hand, might induce anxiety and tension. They’re frequently linked to anxiety, depression, stress, and sleep difficulties, such as insomnia, abuse of substances, and PTSD.
By allowing the dreamer to direct the dream, lucid dreaming may be beneficial. Furthermore, when a dreamer is aware that they are dreaming, they are able to identify that the nightmare isn’t real.
Relieving Anxiety
The majority of scientific research has focused on PTSD and anxiety caused by nightmares. However, anecdotal research suggests that lucid dreaming might also help with anxiety, as people think that managing their dreams allows them to face stressful situations.
Developing Motor Skills
Lucid dreaming could be very beneficial to people who are going through physical rehabilitation. According to a study published in Medical Hypotheses, mentally executing motor skills can improve physical ability to perform them.
What Are the Risks of Lucid Dreaming?
There are a few risks to lucid dreaming, but they are mainly caused because of the wrong induction techniques. The risks might include sleep problems as WBTB causes you to wake up in the middle of the night. These disruptions can make getting enough sleep challenging, particularly if you have a sleep problem or an inconsistent sleep routine.
Additionally, it might also cause Derealization, which is the feeling that everything around you is not real. This is also a side effect of sleep disturbance. As well as Depression, which is also caused by sleep disturbances.
Furthermore, it might cause sleep paralysis, which even though it is usually brief, is quite scary to go through. Sleep interruptions might be a cause of sleep paralysis.
Controlling your dreams might sound like the best idea ever especially if you suffer from anxiety or other worrying thoughts. By following the steps, lucid dreaming could be your way out of stressful situations.
