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The Science of Lucid Dreaming

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transcript:
Dreams provide a world in which we escape from reality into the mind and seemingly have little control over what happens But what if you could know you were dreaming, and subsequently control the dream? It turns out lucid dreaming is entirely possible and with a little effort and practise, even you can do it Now, some of you might be saying, "I don't even dream" but the truth is everybody has about 3-7 dreams a night the problem is we quickly forget them The first strategy towards lucid dreaming is keeping a dream journal Keeping the journal improves your ability to recall dreams, and helps facilitate lucidity So every time you wake up, write down what you can remember, even if it's nothing, just to form the habit The next step is performing reality checks In a dream, something as simple as reading a sentence, counting your fingers, or checking the time can often go astray Try it right now: look at the time, look away, and then look back Assuming you aren't currently dreaming, the time probably stayed the same however, in a dream, the time or the words you were reading will often completely change The key is to do these reality checks often when you're awake This way they become second nature and when you're dreaming you're likely to perform the same test and realise that something's wrong After this comes a technique known as Mnemonically Induced Lucid Dreams (MILD) As you're falling asleep, begin to think of a recent dream, and imagine yourself becoming lucid The idea is to reinforce the intention to realise you're dreaming in your dream Keep repeating the phrase "I will have a lucid dream tonight" The highest rates of success tend to come if you wake up in the middle of the night get up for 30 minutes, and then go back to sleep with these intentions in mind Finally, once you've had success with MILD, an advanced technique known as Wake Induced Lucid Dreams (WILD) may be attempted The idea behind this is to keep your mind aware while your body falls asleep The risk here is that you'll experience sleep paralysis, a completely normal phenomenon that prevents your body from moving during sleep except you'll be awake which can be somewhat frightening The extra caveat with WILD is that, during sleep paralysis the brain can play tricks on you, inducing strong feelings of fear and causing hallucinations of dark and scary figures approaching you Scientific research into lucid dreaming has provided an insight into the location of metaconsciousness in the brain, provided opportunities for dream therapy and nightmare recession, and even begged the question if sleep and wakefulness are distinct events, or part of a continuum After all, dreaming of doing something is almost equivalent to actually doing it when looking at the functional system of neuronal activity in your brain So, are you sure you're not dreaming? Got a burning question you want answered? Ask it in the comments or on Facebook and Twitter And subscribe for more weekly science videos

auto_transcript:
dreams provide a world in which we escape from reality into the mind and seemingly have little control over what happens but what if you could know you were dreaming and subsequently control the dream it turns out lucid dreaming is entirely possible and with a little effort in practice even you can do it now some of you may be saying I don't even dream but the truth is everybody has both 327 dreams and night the problem is we could be forget them the first strategy towards lucid dreaming is keeping a dream journal keeping a journal improves your ability to recall dreams and helps assault in the city so every time you wake up write down what you can remember even if it's nothing just to form the habit the next step is performing reality checks in a dream something as simple as reading a sentence counting your fingers are checking the time can often go astray dry right now %uh look at the time look away and then look back assuming you are currently dreaming the time probably stay the same however in a dream the time were the words repeating what often completely change the key is to do these reality checks often when you're awake this way they become second nature and when you're dreaming you're likely to perform the same test and realize that something's wrong after this comes a technique known as mnemonic Lee induced lucid dreams or mild as a falling asleep begin to think I'm a recent dream and imagine yourself becoming lucid the idea is to reinforce the intention to realize you're dreaming in your dreams keep repeating the phrase I will have a lucid dream tonight the High Street success tend to come if you wake up in the middle of the night get up to 30 minutes and then go back to sleep with these intentions in mind finally once you've had success with mild an advanced technique known as awake induce lucid dreams or wild may be attempted the idea behind this is to keep your mind or care what your body falls asleep the risk here is that you'll experience sleep paralysis completely normal phenomenon prevent your body from moving during sleep except you'll be awake which can be somewhat frightening the extra caveat with wild is that during sleep paralysis the brain complete tricks on you inducing strong feelings appearing causing hallucinations dark and scary figures approaching you scientific research into lucid dreaming has provided and insight into the location have met a consciousness in the brain provided opportunities between therapy in a recession and even beg the question sleep and wakefulness artistic defense are part of a continuum after all dreaming up doing something is almost equivalent actually doing it when looking at the functional system neuronal activity in your brain so are you sure you're not dreaming got a burning question you want answered ask in the comments or Facebook and Twitter Skype from our weekly science videos you