It Looks Like Lucid Dreaming Also Provides Benefits When You're Awake

Lucid dreaming — being aware that you're dreaming while it's happening — is pretty great. Suddenly it's not you getting attacked by the giant ant, it's you attacking the giant ant! Aside from the awesome aspect of being able to manipulate your dream, there's another benefit to having lucid dreams: You're a better person when you're awake.

In what's being touted as the first study of lucid dreaming and its connection to insight, Patrick Bourke and Hannah Shaw, two researchers from the University of Lincoln in England, tested their theory that awareness while dreaming might be tied to awareness while awake. People who lucid dream figure out that they're dreaming by recognizing an odd happening during the dream. For example, their hands could be green, or a TV could be on the ceiling. These are details that seem obvious, but are usually missed by the dreamer.

To see if their hypothesis was correct, the duo analyzed 20 people who reported that they had never had lucid dreams, 28 occasional lucid dreamers, and 20 frequent lucid dreamers. All participants filled out a problem solving task that involved pairing words with images. What Bourke and Shaw found was the the frequent lucid dreamers consistently solved more of the problems than the other two groups.

“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," Bourke told the University of Lincoln. "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."

Lucid dreamers aren't merely ahead in the mental game, they can be ahead in the game, literally. Dr. Ben Erlacher at the University of Bern found that lucid dreamers can be better athletes. In his study, published in the journal Sport Psychologist, Erlacher asked people who reported having lucid dreams to toss some coins into a cup 20 times before they went to bed. He also asked them to attempt to dream about the task once they were asleep. Afterward, when the participants awoke, they were asked to toss the coins again. Those who had dreamt about tossing the coins performed better than those who had not.

What does this all mean for the non lucid dreamer? Well, start lucid dreaming! Researchers have tried to induce it in subjects, most notably through tiny electrical shocks. "The electric current that induced lucid dreaming, which couldn't be felt by the sleeper, used a frequency of wave known as gamma," reported the Wall Street Journal. "Gamma activity has been related to abstract thinking and decision-making, as well as with lucid dreaming."

While we don't blame you if you don't want to be shocked while you sleep, lucid dreaming is clearly a beneficial aspect of being asleep. Besides, how else are you ever going to stop that damn giant ant?

[Image via Flickr - Gisela Giordino]