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This essay considers many of the benefits that dreams can have on the human brain. It speaks on the role it can play in assisting our minds in processing emotions as well as helping us solve real-life struggles and find solutions to problems taking place in our current reality.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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I took to interview a long time, personal friend on his memories of being lucid. Throughout the interview, he recalls memorable dreams that he has had in the past and the effects that they have had on him. He discusses one of his more recent lucid dreams and describes how he woke up feeling much more energetic and excited after experiencing the content of his lucid dream.

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This article speaks of a study that was done looking at the gray matter volume of high lucidity dreamers. Researchers split participants into two groups based off of their lucid dreaming abilities. The results revealed that the high lucidity group showed higher volumes of gray matter, showing a correlation between lucid dreaming and metacognitive function.

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Lucid dreaming is a very interesting phenomenon that perhaps gives us a peek into the inner workings of the human brain. I have had about a dozen lucid dreams in my life that I can remember. Normally while dreaming we are not aware of the fact that we are dreaming. Our dreaming selves accept the reality of the dream. During a lucid dream we become aware that we are dreaming, but we do not wake up. This state is inherently unstable and often results in actually waking up or dreaming that we wake up, which ends the lucidity.

The phenomenon of lucid dreaming was originally known from self report, but was first verified in a 1981 study in which subjects consciously gave a signal while lucid dreaming - they carried out predetermined actions in their dreams that resulted in "observable concomitants."

One of the goals of lucid dreaming research is to determine what exactly is happening in the brains of those who are lucid while dreaming. One hypothesis is that part of the frontal lobes may be more active, allowing for greater self-reflection and reality-testing while dreaming. Preliminary studies, for example using EEG to look at brain activity during wakefullness, normal REM sleep, and lucid dreaming, suggested that lucid dreaming is a hybrid state between fully awake and REM sleep. The frontal lobes are more active in lucid states than normal REM, but not as active as fully awake.

A 2012 study looked at the neural correlates of lucid dreaming using EEG and fMRI scanning. They found:

"During lucid dreaming the bilateral precuneus, cuneus, parietal lobules, and prefrontal and occipito-temporal cortices activated strongly as compared with non-lucid REM sleep."

These kinds of studies are helpful, but can also be difficult to interpret. The same parts of the brain may contribute to multiple networks and therefore functions in the brain. As you can see with this study, multiple areas may light up with a single activity. While looking for neural correlates has been hugely successful in understanding the brain, there isn't always a simple one-to-one relationship between an activity and brain localization. (The low hanging fruit of simple correlations have been picked long ago.) Networks and brain function are both complex.

A 2013 study tested the frontal lobe hypothesis further by using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to stimulate the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of lucid dreamers to see if it induced a lucid dream. This study did show an effect, but it was not strong and only showed in the frequent lucid dreamers.

Finally we get to a recently published 2015 study that looked at the gray matter volume of frequent lucid dreamers vs controls. They found:

Participants in the high-lucidity group showed greater gray matter volume in the frontopolar cortex (BA9/10) compared with those in the low-lucidity group. Further, differences in brain structure were mirrored by differences in brain function. The BA9/10 regions identified through structural analyses showed increases in blood oxygen level-dependent signal during thought monitoring in both groups, and more strongly in the high-lucidity group.

Many arrows seem to be pointing to the frontal lobes in lucid dreaming, which makes sense as that is the part of the brain that is most involved in reality testing, self-reflection, and metacognition (thinking about thinking). The authors in the 2015 study also conclude from this:

"Our results reveal shared neural systems between lucid dreaming and metacognitive function, in particular in the domain of thought monitoring."

In other words, we possess brain structures, specifically the frontopolar cortex, that allow our brains to monitor, and to some degree control, their own activity. We experience this as thinking about our own thoughts; being self-reflective.

It is therefore likely that lucid dreaming is an epiphenomenon. It is not something that humans specifically evolved nor does it serve a specific adaptive function. It is simply something that occasionally emerges out of brain function that has a separate function, that of introspection. These structures may have or be part of a deeper function still, such as the ability to pay attention, and just be aware of our own stream of consciousness.

Further, wakefulness and REM sleep are distinct brain states but the separation between the two is not always clean. Actually, it's remarkable that for the vast majority of the time the separation is complete and clean. However, occasionally hybrid states can emerge. One such hybrid state is lucid dreaming.

Another is hypnagogia or waking dreams. In such states we feel we are awake but dream-like hallucinations may still occur, along with sleep paralysis. Not surprisingly, such states occur in the transition from sleep to wakefulness (or vice versa) or when the system is stressed, by sleep deprivation or pathological sleep conditions.
Conclusion
Our brains are very complex and highly sophisticated machines, but they are machines. The more we study them, the more obvious that conclusion becomes. They are a bit glitchy and also a bit of a kluge. Their functioning can be altered by changing their anatomy or physiology, or by stressing the system beyond tolerance levels.

Lucid dreaming is just one example pointing to the fact that the brain is a biological machine. Lucid dreaming serves no obvious purpose, but it emerges from normal brain function as an occasional glitch. We can see anatomical and functional differences that correlate with lucid dreaming, and to some extent can preliminarily induce them simply by electrically stimulating the brain.

Further, lucid dreaming points to one of the "highest" brain functions that we possess - the ability to monitor and reflect upon our own thoughts.

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The Brains of Lucid Dreamers | NeuroLogica Blog

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Lucid dreaming is a very interesting phenomenon that perhaps gives us a peek into the inner workings of the human brain. I have had about a dozen lucid dreams in my life that I can remember. Normally while dreaming we are not aware of the fact that we are dreaming.

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Dr. Andrew Weil speaks on the factors that can lead to suppressing REM sleep. Marijuana, alcohol, and over-the-counter prescriptions all have similar effects in putting you to sleep, but limiting your REM cycle and prohibiting restful sleep. He furthers this with the effects that can follow such as trouble concentrating, obesity, irritability, and insomnia.

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Is Dreaming Healthy? - Andrew Weil, M.D.

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A silent epidemic of dream loss underlies many of the health concerns attributed to poor sleep. Find out more about how lack of dreaming can lead to health problems.

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This article talks about lucid dreaming and the different forms and positions it can take. He talks about the possibilities that lucid dreaming can have in helping your conscious mind as well as be used to treat things such as recurring nightmares and PTSD. He also begins to briefly explain the dangers that can come with lucid dreaming such as sleep paralysis and certain hallucinations.

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How Does Lucid Dreaming Effect Sleep Quality? | Sleepopolis

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If you've ever had such a vivid dream that you recognized that you were dreaming as the events unfolded, you have had a lucid dream. These dreams are often intense and even interactive. ... Read more

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The article speaks on the effects that lucid dreaming can have when returning back to full consciousness. Good dreams tend to result in us waking up happier and energetic compared to bad dreams/nightmares which can make you wake up feeling tired as well as thinking negatively.

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Many lucid dreaming beginners are concerned about the potential negative effect lucid dreaming may have on their sleep quality. But is this concern unnecessary? Based on my own experiences, and lucid dreaming research, lucid dreaming provides the same quality of sleep as non-lucid. In both cases (lucid and non-lucid), a good dream can make you feel blissful and provide positive energy throughout your day, and a bad dream can make you feel tired and negative. The difference of lucid dreaming: You have control over your dreams when you are lucid, so you generally wake up happier and with more energy.

Lucid Dreaming Shows Similar Brain Activity to Non-Lucid Dreaming

Whether you are lucid (aware you're dreaming) or not, you are still in REM sleep. Your brain has similar activity either way. There was an interesting study conducted on EEG activity during lucid dreaming that provides evidence of this. The study determined that "there were no important differences observed in the EEG activity of our LD signaller when LD REM and undisrupted, presumably nonlucid, REM samples were compared."

Lucid Dreaming Techniques May Affect Sleep Quality

Lucid dreaming in itself does not have an effect on sleep quality. However, you may notice some grogginess if you are attempting new lucid dreaming techniques. Additionally, if you try too hard to have lucid dreams, you could lose sleep due to your excitement in anticipating a lucid dream before going to sleep. For example, when using the Wake Back to Bed (WBTB) technique, you wake up after 6 hours, stay up for 30-60 minutes, and go back to sleep. You may have trouble going back to sleep the first few times you try this technique. It may be better to save techniques like WBTB for the weekend, or days when you are able to sleep in later.

Sleep Supplements and REM Rebound

REM Rebound (Wikipedia definition): The lengthening and increasing frequency and depth of REM sleep which occurs after periods of sleep deprivation. When people are prevented from experiencing REM, they take less time to return to the REM state.

You can take a sleep supplement (Melatonin or 5-HTP) to suppress REM and increase the amount of time you are in "deep sleep" (N-REM) in your earlier sleep cycles. Then you can attempt your lucid dreaming during later sleep cycles. This will help you get better quality sleep earlier in the night, and increase the likelihood of lucidity in later cycles due to a REM Rebound effect.

Poll Results about Sleep Quality and Lucid Dreaming

There was a poll conducted on Dream Views which asked "Is Lucid Dreaming affecting your sleep quality?" The results were that over 50% of lucid dreamers notice they are LESS tired the next day after lucid dreaming. So the lucid dreamers responding to the poll could either be getting better quality sleep, or are so excited about their lucid dream that it offsets any grogginess.

To learn more about lucid dreaming, sign up for your Free Lucid Dreaming Starter Handbook.

This post is part of the Dream Evolver Series
photo credit: richie preiss
Related Posts:

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The Effect of Lucid Dreaming on Sleep Quality

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Many lucid dreaming beginners are concerned about the potential negative effect lucid dreaming may have on their sleep quality. But is this concern unnecessary? Based on my own experiences, and lucid dreaming research, lucid dreaming provides the same quality of sleep as non-lucid.

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Edward Pace-Schott cites psychologist, Sigmund Freud, to further explain that dreams are merely fragments of reproductions from real-life experience, that are often incomplete and open-ended. Only on the very rare is the brain capable of producing a dream with as much completeness as reality; although he believed that REM promotes recovery from sleep and slowly prepares the brain to return back to consciousness.

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Sleep and Dreaming: Scientific Advances and Reconsiderations

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If you really are an aficionado of sleep disorders and want to better understand the latest models of dreaming as well as the theoretical connections among such disorders as narcolepsy, REM-behavioral disorder, and posttrau-matic stress disorder, you might find this compilation worth a read.

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This journal provides a deeper research into the factors that can lead to recurring nightmares in children. Results from one study showed that anxiety, trauma history, and dissociation accounted for 39% of the variation of nightmare stresses. Anxiety and dissociation proved to be positive predictors of nightmare distress whereas parent processing variables were weak predictors given the current findings.

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Memorable dreams (bizzare or emotionally intense dreams) showed links to the amygdala and hippocampus, both of which play primary roles in forming our short and long term memories as well as help us with emotional reactions. Another study performed by Mathew Walker at UC Berkeley found that "less dreaming" can affect our ability to understand complex emotions experienced in daily life.

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New research sheds light on how and why we remember dreams--and what purpose they are likely to serve

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The author discusses many different factor that can disrupt the normal sleep cycle, as well as factors that could lead to the content of our dreams. Factor such as depression and PTSD can lead to nightmares occuring often and substances such as marijuana and alcohol can also play roles in affecting your sleep cycles.

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Science has made great progress in deepening our understanding of dreaming. Still, there is no answer to the question: Why do we dream?

There are, however, a great number of theories being explored. While some scientists posit that dreaming has no direct function-but instead is a consequence of other biological processes that occur during sleep-many studying sleep and dreams believe dreaming serves a primary purpose. Theories of dreaming span scientific disciplines, from psychiatry and psychology to neurobiology. Some current theories suggest that dreaming is:

A component and form of memory processing, aiding in the consolidation of learning and short-term memory to long-term memory storage.

An extension of waking consciousness, reflecting the experiences of waking life.

A means by which the mind works through difficult, complicated, unsettling thoughts, emotions, and experiences, to achieve psychological and emotional balance.

The brain responding to biochemical changes and electrical impulses that occur during sleep.

A form of consciousness that unites past, present and future in processing information from the first two, and preparing for the third.

A protective act by the brain to prepare itself to face threats, dangers and challenges.

There is not likely ever to be a simple answer, or a single theory that explains the full role of dreaming to human life. Biological, cognitive, psychological-it's very likely that dreaming may serve important functions in each of these realms.

Like sleep, dreams are vulnerable to disruption from problems with mental and physical health. There are a number of conditions (as well as medications) that may affect dreams, and that can make dreams more difficult and disturbing.

Depression and anxiety often are accompanied by nightmares, and the presence of nightmares may be an indication of the severity of depression. Research has found that among patients with Major Depressive Disorder, the presence of frequent nightmares is associated with suicidal tendencies. People who are depressed or anxious are more likely to have stressful, disturbing, or frightening dreams, sometimes in the form of recurring dreams.

There's evidence that one type of drug commonly used to treat depression may alter dreaming. Selective Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors (SSRI) appear to affect dreaming in several ways. SSRI may decrease dream recall-the ability to remember dreams. This type of drug may intensify dreaming. SSRI may also lead to the presence of more positive emotions in dreams. Withdrawal from SSRI, on the other hand, may lead to nightmares and may also intensify dreaming.

Drugs and alcohol also can affect dreaming. Alcohol disrupts the normal, healthy sleep cycle and leads to fragmented sleep. Consuming alcohol heavily and too close to bedtime may alter and diminish time spent in REM sleep. Studies show that alcohol-dependency is linked to dreams with more negative emotional content. Marijuana also disrupts and reduces REM sleep. Withdrawal from marijuana and cocaine has been shown in studies to induce strange dreams.

Certain sleep disorders may be accompanied by altered dreaming. Insomnia can heighten dream recall, and also lead to more stressful and disturbing dreams. (Depression and anxiety are also more likely in people with insomnia.) Obstructive sleep apnea, because of its ability to disrupt normal REM sleep, can cause disturbed dreaming with more bizarre and negative dream content. Narcolepsy, a disorder that involves extreme daytime tiredness and altered sleep-wake cycles, can also lead to more negative and bizarre dreams. Restless Leg Syndrome, a neurological disorder and a sleep disorder, can also be accompanied by nightmares.

REM behavior disorder (RBD) is a condition where the normal paralysis that occurs during REM sleep doesn't take place. People with REM behavior disorder can move during this sleep phase, and often act out physically in reaction to their dreams. This activity can be violent-thrashing, kicking, getting out of bed-and can lead to injury to the sleeper or a bed partner. We don't know precisely what causes RBD, but it is associated with neurological illness and injury, as well as to withdrawal from alcohol or narcotics, or use of some anti-depressants.

Nightmares and disturbed dreaming are a hallmark of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as is disrupted sleep. People who suffer from PTSD often experience frequent and recurring nightmares, which may be accompanied by acting out during dreams, with symptoms similar to REM behavior disorder. PTSD occurs in some people who've experienced forms of trauma, including assault, disaster, war and combat. Soldiers who've served in active combat often experience sleep problems and disordered dreaming linked to trauma and PTSD. After years of observing a particular group of symptoms among combat soldiers, sleep scientists are now proposing the creation of a new sleep disorder: Trauma Associated Sleep Disorder, with symptoms that include nightmares, sleepwalking and other disruptive nighttime behaviors.

Altered dreaming is also linked to degenerative neurological conditions, including Parkinson's disease and some forms of dementia. Violent and aggressive dreams, along with RBD-physically acting out during dreams-are frequent symptoms of neurological degeneration. These dream-related symptoms also have been identified as a strong predictor of future development of degenerative neurological disease. Studies show that REM behavior disorder (RBD) is a strong predictor for both some types of dementia and Parkinson's disease.

What about dreaming's influence over our waking lives? Dreaming is a universal, enduring aspect of being human (though not limited to humans, since animals dream as well). Dreaming is something we do daily from the time we are very young to very old. Are dreams more than a nightly de-cluttering of the mind? Are there ways that dreams might help us live better? There is a long-held view of dreams as a creative portal-and scientific study may be giving that belief some credence. Evidence suggests that dreams may assist in daytime function and performance, especially as they relate to creativity and problem solving.

Both testimonies from creative people and contemporary scientific research suggest that dreams are a creative landscape for the mind. One study of musicians' dreams found that not only did they dream frequently of music, but nearly half of the music they recalled from their dreams was unfamiliar and novel to them, an indication that composing is possible in dreams. Paul McCartney famously credited the composition of The Beatles song "Yesterday" to a dream. Other artists, from the poet William Blake to the filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, have claimed to rely on dreams for creative inspiration and guidance. The golfer Jack Nicklaus solved a nagging problem with his golf swing after sorting out the problem in a dream.

Recent research examined the role of dreams in problem solving, using a group of lucid dreamers. They found that lucid dreamers could use their dreams effectively to solve creative problems (in the case of the study, the creative problem was crafting a metaphor as directed by researchers). Studies like this one suggest dreams may be fertile territory for influencing and enhancing our waking frame of mind.

More broadly, dreams provide us with insight about what's preoccupying us, troubling us, engaging our thoughts and emotions. Often healing, often mysterious, always fascinating, dreams can both shape us and show us who we are.

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Science has made great progress in deepening our understanding of dreaming. Still, there is no answer to the question: Why do we dream? There are, however, a great number of theories being explored. While some scientists posit that dreaming has no direct function-but instead is a consequence of other biological processes that occur during sleep-many studying sleep and dreams believe dreaming serves a primary purpose.

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Eagleman describes a series of interviews he conducted in which he met with Alcatraz inmates who had been sentenced to some time in the Hole, a place of complete isolation. While inmates were in this room of complete darkness, they experienced a complete lack of all sensory information, but were still capable of having real-life experiences and images during full consciousness.

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Read 1,725 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Locked in the silence and darkness of your skull, your brain fashions the rich narrative...

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The article discusses the theories behind dreaming, with a common denominator of describing it as a separate state of consciousness, without our senses. Due to a lack of input senses, our dreams our "corrected" by our senses, once woken up. Evidence has been found that REM activity helps the brain bind neural connections.

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"Most people who have studied dreams start out with some predetermined psychological ideas and try to make dreaming fit those," said Dr. Mark Mahowald, a neurologist who is director of the sleep disorders program at Hennepin County Medical Center, in Minneapolis. "What I like about this new paper is that he doesn't make any assumptions about what dreaming is doing."

The paper has already stirred controversy and discussion among Freudians, therapists and other researchers, including neuroscientists. Dr. Rodolfo Llinás, a neurologist and physiologist at New York University, called Dr. Hobson's reasoning impressive but said it was not the only physiological interpretation of dreams.

"I argue that dreaming is not a parallel state but that it is consciousness itself, in the absence of input from the senses," said Dr. Llinás, who makes the case in the book "I of the Vortex: From Neurons to Self" ( M.I.T., 2001). Once people are awake, he argued, their brain essentially revises its dream images to match what it sees, hears and feels - the dreams are "corrected" by the senses.

These novel ideas about dreaming are based partly on basic findings about REM sleep. In evolutionary terms, REM appears to be a recent development; it is detectable in humans and other warm-blooded mammals and birds. And studies suggest that REM makes its appearance very early in life - in the third trimester for humans, well before a developing child has experience or imagery to fill out a dream.

In studies, scientists have found evidence that REM activity helps the brain build neural connections, particularly in its visual areas. The developing fetus may be "seeing" something, in terms of brain activity, long before the eyes ever open - the developing brain drawing on innate, biological models of space and time, like an internal virtual-reality machine. Full-on dreams, in the usual sense of the word, come much later. Their content, in this view, is a kind of crude test run for what the coming day may hold.

None of this is to say that dreams are devoid of meaning. Anyone who can remember a vivid dream knows that at times the strange nighttime scenes reflect real hopes and anxieties: the young teacher who finds himself naked at the lectern; the new mother in front of an empty crib, frantic in her imagined loss.

But people can read almost anything into the dreams that they remember, and they do exactly that. In a recent study of more than 1,000 people, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Harvard found strong biases in the interpretations of dreams. For instance, the participants tended to attach more significance to a negative dream if it was about someone they disliked, and more to a positive dream if it was about a friend.

In fact, research suggests that only about 20 percent of dreams contain people or places that the dreamer has encountered. Most images appear to be unique to a single dream.

Scientists know this because some people have the ability to watch their own dreams as observers, without waking up. This state of consciousness, called lucid dreaming, is itself something a mystery - and a staple of New Age and ancient mystics. But it is a real phenomenon, one in which Dr. Hobson finds strong support for his argument for dreams as a physiological warm-up before waking.

In dozens of studies, researchers have brought people into the laboratory and trained them to dream lucidly. They do this with a variety of techniques, including auto-suggestion as head meets pillow ("I will be aware when I dream; I will observe") and teaching telltale signs of dreaming (the light switches don't work; levitation is possible; it is often impossible to scream).

Lucid dreaming occurs during a mixed state of consciousness, sleep researchers say - a heavy dose of REM with a sprinkling of waking awareness. "This is just one kind of mixed state, but there are whole variety of them," Dr. Mahowald said. Sleepwalking and night terrors, he said, represent mixtures of muscle activation and non-REM sleep. Attacks of narcolepsy reflect an infringement of REM on normal daytime alertness.

In study published in September in the journal Sleep, Ursula Voss of J. W. Goethe-University in Frankfurt led a team that analyzed brain waves during REM sleep, waking and lucid dreaming. It found that lucid dreaming had elements of REM and of waking - most notably in the frontal areas of the brain, which are quiet during normal dreaming. Dr. Hobson was a co-author on the paper.

"You are seeing this split brain in action," he said. "This tells me that there are these two systems, and that in fact they can be running at the same time."

Researchers have a way to go before they can confirm or fill out this working hypothesis. But the payoffs could extend beyond a deeper understanding of the sleeping brain. People who struggle with schizophrenia suffer delusions of unknown origin. Dr. Hobson suggests that these flights of imagination may be related to an abnormal activation of a dreaming consciousness. "Let the dreamer awake, and you will see psychosis," Jung said.

For everyone else, the idea of dreams as a kind of sound check for the brain may bring some comfort, as well. That ominous dream of people gathered on the lawn for some strange party? Probably meaningless.

No reason to scream, even if it were possible.

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Dreams as Anticipation for the State of Being Awake

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"Most people who have studied dreams start out with some predetermined psychological ideas and try to make dreaming fit those," said Dr. Mark Mahowald, a neurologist who is director of the sleep disorders program at Hennepin County Medical Center, in Minneapolis.