Lucid dreams from reactivating mindfulness during REM sleep: A pilot study

Abstract

People typically become aware that a dream was “just a dream” only after awakening. Alternatively, people can become aware that they are dreaming during the dream. These lucid dreams are thought to involve increased prefrontal cortex activity relative to non-lucid dreams, and they are associated with volitional control over dream content. Lucid dreams could be valuable for many purposes, such as part of therapy for nightmares. Yet, research on such applications has been limited by the long-standing challenge of inducing lucid dreams. Recent studies made progress in showing that memory reactivation during an early-morning nap can induce lucid dreams. Here, we propose that reactivating mindfulness during REM sleep can also be an effective strategy for inducing lucid dreams. A brief literature review and preliminary results support this notion. In this pilot study, participants (N = 5) underwent a wake-back-to-bed procedure with standard polysomnography to track sleep stages and verify lucid dreams with electro-ocular eye signaling. After approximately 5 hours of sleep, participants were awakened to complete a breath-counting task while ambient music cues played in the background. When participants returned to sleep and reached REM sleep, cues were replayed to reactivate the task context. This procedure induced signal-verified lucid dreams in two participants. This rate of induction success approached that of recent full-scale investigations, though additional evidence will be needed to substantiate these initial results. Nevertheless, the present findings suggest that mindfulness-associated sensory stimulation in REM sleep has high potential value for promoting lucid dreaming.