Lucid dreaming: benefits and risks
Junior Oscar Chacon flies across the sky and looks down upon the empty campus in search of a soccer field. The scene quickly transforms; he dribbles down the soccer field and skillfully outmaneuvers the last defender. He glances at the goalie, and with a skillful kick, scores.
In his lucid dream, Chacon was aware that he was actually sleeping but stayed within the dream. Despite the realistic experience, the dreamer during a lucid dream understands that he or she is neither riding a flying dragon nor eating dinner with Abraham Lincoln, and is able to control the lucid dream to a certain degree. Although the statistics are inconclusive, studies show that around 10% of the population has at least one lucid dream every month.
“In a way, I kind of do [enjoy lucid dreaming],” Chacon said. “But it was a bit time-consuming to actually begin dreaming…maybe if I had more time I would attempt it again.”
Stephen LaBerge, a famous lucid dream advocate who received his Ph.D. from Stanford University, even hosts seminars dedicated to teaching how to lucid dream. Although many people attend the seminars to have new sleeping experiences, others who listen to these lectures suffer from recurring nightmares or post-traumatic stress disorder. John Allan Hobson, M.D. is a psychiatrist and a professor at Harvard University, and some of his studies prove that lucid dreaming reduces nightmares.
However, lucid dreaming does not come without risks; one possible consequence is sleep paralysis. Before entering a lucid dream, the sleeper may experience this phenomenon in which a dreamer’s mind is awake, while his or her body is “asleep” or paralyzed. According to Wired Magazine, sleep paralysis while one’s mind is awake happens to half the population at least once.
“It was really scary, and I actually never want to try it again,” sophomore Sara Tan, who experienced sleep paralysis the first time she lucid dreamed, said.
If the mind is awake during sleep paralysis, the brain might create frightening hallucinations. Many people who go through this phenomenon visualize demonic figures chasing them. Tan remembers a dark figure chasing her into her house.
“Since I knew I was dreaming, I forced myself to wake up,” Tan said. “But it was terrifying because it felt so real.”
Scientists continue to research the negative side effects of lucid dreaming, but most believe no other detrimental consequences exist other than fear created from sleep paralysis.
“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible,” Dr. LaBerge said. “Fly… That’s what everybody likes to do. There’s also the possibility of…overcoming nightmares and anxieties.”
