Lucid dreaming is where you are aware that you are dreaming. It’s kind of cool, if you have ever experienced it, that you are watching what’s going on in the dream.
Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered that the dreamer can actually communicate to an observer while they are in the lucid dreaming state. What the researchers found was that the dreamer could move their eyes or twitch their facial muscles to signal to the observer when they were in the dreaming state.
The researchers also found that flashing lights or gentle beeping sounds can register with the dreamer and even alter their memory processing, but these things won’t wake them up.
They even taught the dreamer how to signal the researchers when they moved into lucid dreaming. The researchers were able to confirm that the person was dreaming by measuring their rapid eye movements to confirm that they were in that stage of dreaming.
Here’s where it gets interesting. The researchers found it was possible while the person was still dreaming that the dreamer could do simple math, answer yes-no questions, and differentiate between sensory stimuli. This is what the researchers called Interactive Dreaming.
Taking this further, the dreamer could even engage in real time communications with the dreamer!
As the researchers explore this further, they think this approach could be used to help a person solve problems during sleep or even offer people who suffer nightmares with a novel way to cope. Pretty exciting way of understanding and using our dreams!
(Reported Northwestern, Fall 2021)
No comments:
Post a Comment