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Post by auntym on Jun 11, 2017 20:49:17 GMT -6
midnightinthedesert.com/lucid-dreaming-get-started/What Is Lucid Dreaming and How Do I Get Started?by Patrick Allan / kinja.com/patrickallan5/26/17 Logo design by Angelica Alzona. Photo by sophie. Welcome to Lifehacker’s Lucid Dream Workshop. Each week we’ll learn a little more about the mysterious realm of sleep science, dreams, and how to “wake up” when we’re fast asleep. What are dreams?Experts can’t agree on what dreams are, precisely. Some say dreams are the brain resolving problems or processing emotions from your waking life; some say they’re just a collection of memory data that your brain is trying to incorporate. But perhaps the simplest possible definition is that dreams are your brain’s way of knowing that it exists. Your brain has plenty to do in your waking state, when you have nonstop external stimuli for it to process, but when you’re asleep, it has very little stimuli to sift through. When there is no world for your brain to perceive, it adapts by creating its own to maintain normal function and keep sharp. We may not know why we have dreams, but we do know when we have them. When you get a proper night’s rest, you experience four main stages of sleep: NREM 1 (N1): Also known as “non-rapid eye movement 1,” or “light sleep.” Your body temperature, heart rate, breathing rate, and energy use all decrease across the board. Your muscles are still active and you can still produce reactions to environmental stimuli. Essentially, you are falling asleep. NREM 2 (N2): Drifting toward deep sleep. You’re harder to awaken, and conscious awareness of your environment goes away. This stage accounts for about half of your sleep time. NREM 3 (N3): Deep sleep or “slow-wave” sleep. Environmental stimuli are no longer likely to produce any reactions. Thought to be the most restful stage of sleep, and accounts for about a quarter of your sleep time. This stage leads into the fourth stage and is sometimes considered to be a part of the fourth stage as well. REM (rapid eye movement): Also known as the “dream state.” Your muscles become paralyzed and your breathing and heart rate become unregulated. The true function of REM sleep is unknown, but missing it can impair your ability to learn complex tasks. This stage accounts for about a quarter of your sleep time as well. Each night, you cycle through each stage about four or five times in the order of N1, N2, N3, N2, REM, then repeat. The REM stage is where your most vivid, memorable dreams occur, and you experience that state for about 90 minutes a pop. What is a lucid dream?Normal dreams are a lot like an amusement park ride you didn’t choose to get on; you’re on guided rails, there are strange things all around you that seem real, and you’re forced to experience everything that comes your way. You may have the ability to react, but you can’t get off the ride, whether you love it or hate it. Lucid dreams, on the other hand, are like exploring an amusement park that you built yourself. Not only can you go wherever you want, you can do whatever you like. It’s your world. In essence, a fully lucid dream is a dream you have complete control over. Want to fly like a superhero? It’s possible—I’ve done it. Want to confront a bully without fear? No sweat. Want to have romantic relations with a beautiful dream person? You most certainly can. Imagine going to bed every night and living out your most extravagant fantasies, then waking up still feeling refreshed and rested. That’s lucid dreaming. Now, I’m sure you’re excited to give lucid dreaming a try, but like most wonderful things, it will take some patience and effort. Over time, we’ll learn to identify our dream state and bend every REM stage of our sleep to our will. But for now, we need to focus on a different state of consciousness: the one you’re in right now. CONTINUE READING: lifehacker.com/what-is-lucid-dreaming-and-how-do-i-get-started-1795552901
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Post by auntym on Oct 20, 2017 12:25:38 GMT -6
www.disclose.tv/news/technique_to_induce_lucid_dreaming_has_been_independently_verified_for_the_first_time/140587 Technique to induce 'Lucid Dreaming' has been independently verified for the first timeFor the first time a lucid dreaming technique has been verified, and it was said that it might be even more effective if it is combined with other techniques. Over half of the participants in a trial lasting one week had lucid dreams, without having to use an external intervention. Dreamers Can Influence The Progression Of Their Dream Lucid dreaming is a state where the dreamer is clearly aware that they have a dream and as such they have some say in how the dream progresses. It was once thought to be just a myth, but now science had confirmed that lucid dreams are reality and they have found methods that work to increase the chances of a person having a lucid dream. In the past, some of the methods have required the use of advanced equipment, and other methods have not been very reliable. Lucid dreaming is said to be enjoyable, and it has been considered to be a tool that is powerful for healing trauma. Dr. Denholm Aspy from the University of Adelaide wondered if by combining techniques there would be a greater success. Mnemonic Induction And MILD Techniques Used Together He set up a study with 169 people in techniques to bring about lucid dreaming. One of the techniques was reality testing, and it had the participants regularly checking to make sure that they were awake. Mnemonic Induction of lucid dreams saw those taking part setting the alarm to wake them up after five hours, and they would then say “The next time I am dreaming, I will remember that I'm dreaming” and then they would go back to sleep. MILD is another technique that relies on people thinking about what it would be like to lucid dream. Aspy said that the test on its alone did not produce benefits. However, 53% of people who tried reality testing and MILD together had success, and 17% had success each night. This had exceeded any study that came before it that was conducted without the use of intervention, such as wearing a mask that would shine into the eyes on detecting REM sleep. Aspy said that the lucid dreams that people had in the study could have been down to MILD on its own. However, he did say that the success rate has been better than any before, even studies that had been undertaken by the inventor. 55% Of All People Will Have At Least One Lucid Dream In Their Life It has been suggested that about 55% of people will have a lucid dream at some point, but for many, they are a rare occurrence. Aspy had one when he was young and became interested in them so much that he changed his psychology Ph.D. The night before he was supposed to have started his doctorate. You have a second life in the dream world The majority of people who have lucid dreams wake up quickly, but it has been known for people to have dreams lasting up to one hour. Now Aspy is asking for volunteers for another study. www.disclose.tv/news/technique_to_induce_lucid_dreaming_has_been_independently_verified_for_the_first_time/140587
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Post by auntym on Oct 22, 2017 12:57:38 GMT -6
mysteriousuniverse.org/2017/10/give-yourself-lucid-dreams-by-chanting/Give Yourself Lucid Dreams by Chantingby Paul Seaburn / October 22, 2017 “Om. Om. Om. Oh my God, I’m having a lucid dream!” OK, it’s not quite that easy, but new research has found that the best technique for inducing a lucid dream is by chanting. And you thought those monks were happy just because they were selling so many chant records (and the brandy). Most people would love to be able to control what they dream about, participate actively in dreams and choose their own endings … like something other than failing an exam while sitting in class in your underwear. There are a number of techniques said to allow one to enter into a lucid dreaming state, so Dr. Denholm Aspy, a visiting research fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Adelaide, decided to test the top three. The 47 volunteers attempted one, two or all three of the techniques. The easiest was “reality testing,” which sounds a lot like pinching yourself to see if you’re dreaming. Participants were instructed to check periodically to determine if they were awake or asleep (what did I tell you?). It’s a simple way to recognize the dream state. The “wake back to bed” technique is recognizable to anyone who uses a snooze alarm. The volunteers fell asleep and then were awakened after five hours. They spent a short period of time awake and then went back to bed and hopefully to sleep (good luck with that). Those who fell back asleep were more likely to quickly enter the REM state where most lucid dreaming occurs … which explains those great dreams you have in that 10 minutes between snooze alarms. The last technique Aspy’s volunteers tested is the one with the chanting. Called MILD, for Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams, it starts out the same as “wake back to bed” – participants were awakened after five hours of dreaming. However, this time they were given a chant to recite before falling back asleep: “The next time I’m dreaming, I will remember that I’m dreaming.” They were instructed to repeat the chant while envisioning themselves already in a lucid dream. That sounds like a lot of work (and not a chant you want to get caught saying in church) but the volunteers found that it worked surprisingly well. Of those who fell asleep within five minutes of chanting, 46 percent reported entering a lucid dream state. Dr. Aspy himself was not surprised. “The MILD technique works on what we call ‘prospective memory’ – that is, your ability to remember to do things in the future. By repeating a phrase that you will remember you’re dreaming, it forms an intention in your mind that you will, in fact, remember that you are dreaming, leading to a lucid dream.” For those who don’t think they can master the MILD, the volunteers who tried all three techniques still had lucid dreams 17 percent of the time compared to the poor control group who had to count sheep. Even if one doesn’t always go lucid, the study – published this month in the journal Dreaming – found that, rather than disturbing the sleep pattern, the technique left the participants feeling well rested rather than sleep-deprived or stressed. Dr. Aspy sees this as a tool for treating chronic nightmares and for changing behavior in life by practicing new actions in the lucid dream state. Kids, if you try MILD at home, don’t mess with the chant! mysteriousuniverse.org/2017/10/give-yourself-lucid-dreams-by-chanting/
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Post by auntym on Jul 17, 2021 14:30:59 GMT -6
www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/348921/lucid-dreaming-study-reports-alien-contactLucid dreaming study reports 'alien contact'Posted on Saturday, 17 July, 2021 Is it really possible to communicate with aliens through dreams ? Image Credit: CC0 Pixabay In a recent experiment, lucid dreaming was used as a tool to enable volunteers to attempt contact with aliens. A press release detailing the study, which was authored by Michael Raduga, Andrey Shashkov and Zhanna Zhunusova of the Phase Research Center in Moscow, can be viewed below. Scientists publish results from an experiment, in which 152 lucid dreaming practitioners tried to contact 'aliens' while asleep. The most plausible reports were accompanied by fear and sleep paralysis, which are common for 'real' alien abduction stories. 152 volunteers were instructed to enter a lucid dream, and there to picture themselves experiencing a contact with 'aliens'. Of the participants, 114 achieved the goal, revealing unexpected similarities with 'actual' alien abduction reports. The study was conducted at Phase Research Center, a research unit of REMspace, devoted to the investigation of lucid dreams, sleep paralysis, etc. The paper was accepted in the peer-reviewed journal International Journal of Dream Research. Authors: M.Raduga, A.Shashkov, and Z.Zhunusova. Lucid dreams are a form of REM sleep, during which a person becomes aware of their actions and can control the events unfolding in the dream. Millions of people experience it spontaneously. At the same time, people have believed in extraterrestrial civilizations for centuries. Books, films, and the media often describe flying saucers visiting our planet. Even Elvis Presley and John Lennon reported having come into contact with aliens. Many such stories are associated with sleep paralysis or awakening. Russian researchers decided to check how intentional contacts with 'aliens' in dreams resemble real alien abduction reports. They conducted an experiment involving 152 lucid dreaming practitioners. The volunteers had to deliberately meet with aliens in a dream. As a result, 114 people reported a successful experience of communicating with 'extraterrestrial civilizations'. Someone even managed to talk to the aliens and board their space craft. The researchers divided these 'contact reports' into two groups: absurd (dream-like experiences) and realistic (could be confused with reality). It turned out that fear and sleep paralysis, which is typical for many 'real' contacts with extraterrestrial civilizations, often occurred in the second group. This fact is the researchers' main finding, being a strong argument in favor of the dreamlike nature of many 'encounters.' if it is possible to do so deliberately, how often do such situations occur by accident? www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/348921/lucid-dreaming-study-reports-alien-contactFull report: journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/IJoDR/Onlinefirst
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Post by auntym on Jul 19, 2021 12:24:43 GMT -6
mysteriousuniverse.org/2021/07/new-experiments-link-lucid-dreaming-to-alien-and-ufo-encounters/New Experiments Link Lucid Dreaming to Alien and UFO Encountersby Paul Seaburn / July 20, 2021 One of the things people who have alien and UFO encounters often hear is, “You must have been dreaming.” A team of Russian researchers decided to test if this could indeed be true in at least some cases and enlisted a group of proven lucid dreamers to conduct an experiment involving alien and UFO encounters (AUEs). The results were enlightening and thought-provoking, answering some questions while eliciting many more. “Alien and UFO encounters (AUEs) have been a well-known part of human culture for centuries, but we are still unsure of their nature. Some studies suggest that in some such encounters, these phenomena could be related to dissociative REM sleep states, like lucid dreams (LDs), sleep paralysis (SP), and out-of-body experiences (OBEs). The present research focuses on the hypothesis that if some of AUEs are indeed the products of REM sleep, then they could be deliberately emulated by LD practitioners. Therefore, this experiment could help to explain the mystery of AUEs.” Michael Raduga, Andrey Shashkov and Zhanna Zhunusova of the Phase Research Center in Moscow are experienced lucid dreaming researchers but this was their first attempt to link them to AUEs. They assembled a group of 152 proven lucid dreamers and instructed them to induce dreams about aliens and UFOs and report their results. Showing their amazing abilities, 114 managed to have alien dreams, with 70 (61%) dreaming of alien encounters. Breaking that down, 22 encountered humanlike aliens, 44 observed them talking, 22 saw them touching and 14 witnessed them doing both. In addition, 32 had UFO encounters, with 12 being inside one and 3 reporting flying. The researchers next compared these lucid dream accounts to actual UFO and alien encounter reports to see how similar they were to ‘real’ experiences. “Regarding the successful cases, 20% were close to reality in terms of the absence of paradoxical dreamlike events. AUEs can be emulated willfully and can be perceived as being very close to reality.” How close? Lucid dreamers having alien encounters experienced fear and sleep paralysis – a common trait among people who report having alien encounters at night. Could this prove that nighttime abductions are actually dreams? “The results of the present study show that bedtime AUEs can be deliberately emulated during REM sleep and can mimic reality. As such, ordinary people might spontaneously enter PSs, unintentionally have an AUE, and confuse it with reality. This might be the case every time an AUE starts during sleep or while in a state of relaxation.” That seems to be the researchers’ conclusion. (More details and results of the study can read in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Dream Research.) Moreover, they propose that other unusual nighttime encounters — religious, paranormal, or mystical – could just be vivid dreams. They suggest as a follow-up training those with alien encounters to enter lucid dreams and attempt to recreate their experiences, thus allowing the researchers to compare ‘real’ and dream accounts from the same person. This may be disappointing news to those believing their nighttime alien and UFO encounters were the real thing. On the other hand, it might be comforting to know they were just dreaming and not actually probed or chipped. What about daytime encounters? Can the experiments be done with lucid daydreamers? Can they prove they actually conducted this experiment and we didn’t just dream reading about it? “Our findings aid the general understanding of the human brain, especially regarding the sleep process and its connection to consciousness. Therefore, our results help some irrational parts of our culture to become more reasonable and understandable.” Anything that helps irrational parts of our culture become rational is most welcome. And THAT’S no dream. mysteriousuniverse.org/2021/07/new-experiments-link-lucid-dreaming-to-alien-and-ufo-encounters/
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Post by auntym on Apr 16, 2022 14:44:04 GMT -6
www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/there-s-a-reliable-way-to-trigger-lucid-dreams-scientists-have-found/ar-AAWi3Qg?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=904560e350c04d38b10686cbcc4d17faThere's a Reliable Way to Trigger Lucid Dreams, Scientists Have Foundby Peter Dockrill / 4-16-2022 They're incredible. Amazing. Magical. But perhaps the most fantastic thing about lucid dreams – in which the dreamer becomes aware they're dreaming – is how realistic they seem.© Kladyk/iStock/Getty Images There's a Reliable Way to Trigger Lucid Dreams, Scientists Have Found Sadly, only about half of us ever experience lucid dreams in our lives, and efforts to trigger the phenomenon have delivered mixed results. But a study published in 2018 revealed one of the most effective ways of inducing lucid dreaming yet. Building on their own previous research, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Lucidity Institute in Hawaii wanted to investigate how chemicals called acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEls) might promote lucid dreaming. The neurotransmitter acetylcholine is thought to help modulate REM sleep, and AChEls help this compound to aggregate in the brain by inhibiting an enzyme (called acetylcholinesterase) that inactivates acetylcholine. As it happens, a common drug used to treat memory decline in Alzheimer's disease – known as galantamine – is a fast-acting AChEI with only mild side effects, so researchers recruited 121 participants to see what effect the drug had on their ability to have and recall lucid dreams. It's worth pointing out these volunteers weren't just everyday people, but enthusiasts with an established interest in lucid dreams, who also had undertaken training with lucid dream induction protocols (including what is known as the MILD technique). When this cognitive training was combined with galantamine, lucid stuff started to happen. Over three consecutive nights, participants took increasing doses of the drug, starting with a placebo, then 4 mg, then 8 mg on the final night. Each night, participants woke 4.5 hours after lights out, practiced their dream induction techniques, ingested their capsules, and returned to sleep. The combination of the induction technique paired with the Alzheimer's medication looks to indeed help trigger lucid dreams, and the higher dosage delivered a stronger result. While taking the 'active' placebo (0 mg of galantamine but still using the MILD technique), 14 percent of participants reported a lucid dream, but this increased to 27 percent when 4 mg was consumed and rose to 42 percent with an 8 mg dose. "This combined protocol resulted in a total of 69 out of 121 participants (57 percent) successfully having a lucid dream on at least one out of two nights on an active dose of galantamine," the researchers wrote in their 2018 paper. "This protocol is one of the most effective methods for inducing lucid dreams known to-date, and holds promise for making lucid dreaming available to a wider population." That's important because in addition to helping people enjoy fantastic dreams where they can help control what happens, the research could also help explain the links between lucid dreams and consciousness and help people to confront their fears and process trauma while safely asleep. "This new method finally has the success rate we need to be able to properly do research on lucid dreaming," psychologist Denholm Aspy from the University of Adelaide in Australia, who wasn't involved in the study, explained to New Scientist at the time. Until we know more about the safety of this technique, nobody should be experimenting with galantamine on their own. But once more research is done, these findings may ultimately beckon an almost limitless world of imaginary fun and adventure. "As I ran my hand along a brick wall… I could feel the coarse texture and the outline of individual bricks," said one of the team, cognitive neuroscientist Benjamin Baird from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, recalling his own experience of galantamine. "It's like going into the holodeck in Star Trek where you can have any imaginable experience you choose." THE FINDINGS WERE REPORTED IN PLOS ONE: journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0201246www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/there-s-a-reliable-way-to-trigger-lucid-dreams-scientists-have-found/ar-AAWi3Qg?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=904560e350c04d38b10686cbcc4d17fa
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Post by auntym on Oct 24, 2023 23:41:52 GMT -6
www.newyorker.com/science/elements/what-are-dreams-for?utm_brand=tny&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&mbid=social_facebook&source=Paid_Soc_FB_0_BoostedPosts_0_NYR_US_ProspectingBroad_CM_PAC_Facebook_Desktop_Feed_&utm_campaign=Paid_Boosted_Traffic_&utm_boosted-type=Soc_FBIG_DR_BAUCM_Traffic&fbclid=IwAR3l6Oiz2C4D_Uo6zdPP7nmtoegC7RWLTD5Bc5XJDtAxaYWMuX2T5_9_W1wWhat Are Dreams For?Converging lines of research suggest that we might be misunderstanding something we do every night of our lives.By Amanda Gefter / www.newyorker.com/contributors/amanda-gefterAugust 31, 2023 Illustration by Lina Müller In the late nineteen-nineties, a neuroscientist named Mark Blumberg stood in a lab at the University of Iowa watching a litter of sleeping rats. Blumberg was then on the cusp of forty; the rats were newborns, and jerked and spasmed as they slept. Blumberg knew that the animals were fine. He had often seen his dogs twitch their paws while asleep. People, he knew, also twitch during sleep: our muscles contract to make small, sharp movements, and our closed eyes dart from side to side in a phenomenon known as rapid eye movement, or rem. It’s typically during rem sleep that we have our most vivid dreams. Neuroscientists have long had an explanation for our somnolent twitches. During rem sleep, they say, our bodies are paralyzed to prevent us from acting out our dreams; the twitches are the movements that slip through the cracks. They’re dream debris—outward hints of an inner drama. Human adults spend only about two hours of each night in rem sleep. But fetuses, by the third trimester, are in rem for around twenty hours a day—researchers using ultrasound can see their eyes flitting to and fro—and their whole bodies seem to twitch. When a mother feels her baby kick, it may be because the baby is in rem sleep. Once born, babies continue to spend an unusual amount of time in rem, often sleeping for sixteen hours a day and dreaming for eight. Increasingly, these facts struck Blumberg as odd. In adults, dreams are offshoots of waking life: we have experiences, then we dream about them. But a baby in the womb hasn’t had any experiences. Why spend so much time in rem before you have anything to dream about? According to the dominant theory, the rats’ twitching eyes were supposedly looking around at dream scenery. But the rat pups were just days old; their eyelids were still sealed shut, and they’d never seen anything. So why were their eyes—and their whiskers, limbs, and tails—twitching hundreds of thousands of times each day? Blumberg decided to put the dream-debris theory to the test. He surgically removed the rats’ cortex—the brain region, involved in visual imagery and conscious experience, where dreams were believed to originate—leaving only the brain stem, which controls subconscious bodily functions, intact. The sleeping pups continued to twitch exactly as before. “There was no way that twitching was a by-product of dreams,” Blumberg told me, when we spoke last fall. Now in his sixties, Blumberg is the chair of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Iowa. He has spent the past twenty years studying sensorimotor development—the process through which an infant’s brain links up with its body. Twitches had long been overlooked by sensorimotor researchers. “If you’ve been told since Aristotle that they’re remnants of dreams—well, who wants to study a remnant?” he said. But, in fact, the science of dreams was far from settled. Freudians believed that they contained repressed wishes dredged from the dark corners of psychic life; many neuroscientists have seen them as random brain chatter. Some theories have suggested that dreams consolidate our memories, others that they help us to forget. With twitches, Blumberg had identified a new thread in the mystery of dreaming. By pulling, could he unravel the whole? CONTINUE READING: www.newyorker.com/science/elements/what-are-dreams-for?utm_brand=tny&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&mbid=social_facebook&source=Paid_Soc_FB_0_BoostedPosts_0_NYR_US_ProspectingBroad_CM_PAC_Facebook_Desktop_Feed_&utm_campaign=Paid_Boosted_Traffic_&utm_boosted-type=Soc_FBIG_DR_BAUCM_Traffic&fbclid=IwAR3l6Oiz2C4D_Uo6zdPP7nmtoegC7RWLTD5Bc5XJDtAxaYWMuX2T5_9_W1w
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