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Dream while dreaming has shown to bring about cognitive benefits.
People who realise they are in a dream while they are dreaming — a lucid dream — have better problem-solving abilities, new research finds.
This may be because the ability to step outside a dream after noticing it doesn’t make sense reflects a higher level of insight.
Around 82% of people are thought to have experienced a lucid dream in their life, while the number experiencing a lucid dream at least once a month may be as high as 37%.
The study, published in the journal Dreaming, gave all the participants (non-lucid dreamers to frequent lucid dreamers) a test of problem-solving which required a flash of insight (Bourke & Shaw, 2014).
The results showed that in comparison to those who had never had a lucid dream, the frequent lucid dreamers solved 25% more of these insight problems.
Dr Patrick Bourke, who led the study, said:
“It is believed that for dreamers to become lucid while asleep, they must see past the overwhelming reality of their dream state, and recognise that they are dreaming.
The same cognitive ability was found to be demonstrated while awake by a person’s ability to think in a different way when it comes to solving problems.”
How to start lucid dreaming?
If you’d like to increase the chances you’ll catch yourself dreaming while asleep, here are three tips:
- During the day, repeatedly ask yourself if you’re dreaming.
- When you’re asleep, try to identify any signs or events that would be weird in real life. As you know, dreams are usually chock full of them.
- Keep a dream journal to help you focus on your dreams. Write down whatever you can remember when you wake up.
Category(s):Mindfulness
Source material from PsyBlog
