The benefits of lucid dreaming

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

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

Lucid Dreaming and Problem Solving in the Real World

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

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

Lucid Dreaming, Self-Confidence, and Life Satisfaction

Other studies on lucid dreaming are aimed at demonstrating the benefit that this type of dream 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 they tend to wake up “with a feeling of euphoria, since they really feel better and with the feeling of having achieved something in their dreams. "

According another study carried out by Evelyn Doll of the Vienna University of Medicine, 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, scores from a questionnaire conducted by 27 frequent lucid dreamers and 33 people who had rarely experienced lucid dreaming were compared.

Lucid Dreaming to Overcome Post Traumatic Stress

Behind the Gaza conflict of 2008 Among Israeli and Palestinian forces, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel demonstrated that lucid dreaming is effective in overcoming the Posttraumatic stress. Nirit Soffer-Dudek and her collaborators carried out the investigation With 223 women living in the area affected by the military offensive, the results indicated that the subjects who had been exposed to greater levels of violence showed the highest levels of distress, a state that was less severe in those who claimed to be able to experience dreams lucid.

Lucid Dreaming and Imagination Training

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

• Increases your ability to focus and precision
• Strengthens memory
• Stimulates creativity
• Helps fight stress and anxiety

To read more about the mental training through imagination, we recommend this article: "Mental Training through Imagination: Sports Psychology”.