Lucid Dreaming Isn't Sleep or Wakefulness— It’s a New State of Consciousness, Scienti sts Find

APR 25, 2025

And it gets even trippier.

1, After analyzing many previous studies on lucid dreaming, researchers =
 =

have defined it as a state that differs significantly from both REM slee=
p  =

and wakefulness.

2, The awareness of dreaming during a lucid dream is now thought to come=
  =

 from shifts in brain wave activity undergone by several parts of the  =

brain, including the right central lobe, parietal lobe and precuneus.

3, Lucid dreams were also found to have effects similar to psychedelics =
 =

like LSD.

Have you ever had a dream in which you realized you were dreaming?

When you become conscious of the fact that you are dreaming, you can tak=
e  =

advantage of that knowledge and manipulate the dream. If you want to do =
 =

something that is physically impossible in the real world, such as flyin=
g,  =

you can leap into the air and take flight. Someone who realizes they are=
  =

trapped in a nightmare can convince themselves to wake up.

The state known as lucid dreaming is an unquestionably surreal one, and =
it  =

just got even more so. A team of researchers=E2=80=94led by =C3=87a=C4=9F=
atay Demirel from  =

the Donders Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging at Radboud University  =

Medical Center, the Netherlands=E2=80=94has discovered that lucid dreami=
ng has now  =

been found to be a state of consciousness separate from both wakefulness=
  =

and REM sleep (the state usually associated with dreams), and is in fact=
  =

associated with its own unique type of brain activity. They published a =
 =

study on their findings in the Journal of Neuroscience.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a64563688/lucid-dreaming-consci=
ousness/

=E2=80=9CThis research opens the door to a deeper understanding of lucid=
 dreaming  =

as an intricate state of consciousness by pointing to the possibility th=
at  =

conscious experience can arise from within sleep itself,=E2=80=9D Demire=
l said in  =

a press release.

To identify what sets lucid dreaming apart from the rest of sleep, he an=
d  =

his team pulled previous studies=E2=80=94in which brain activity was mea=
sured with  =

EEG sensors=E2=80=94together into what is now the most extensive dataset=
 in this  =

field of sleep research. The researchers then compared brain activity  =

patterns for wakefulness, REM sleep, and lucid dreaming to find that tha=
t  =

the eerie self-awareness experienced in lucid dreams has a connection to=
  =

the electrical rhythms in neurons known as brain waves.

Perception and memory processing in the lucid dreaming state were found =
to  =

be different from non-lucid REM sleep. The consciousness of existing in =
a  =

dream was associated with with beta waves in the right central lobe (whi=
ch  =

controls spatial awareness and nonverbal memory) and parietal lobe (whic=
h  =

controls the sense of touch and spatial awareness). Beta waves are a typ=
e  =

of high-frequency electromagnetic activity in the brain involved in  =

conscious thought processes like solving problems or making decisions. O=
ur  =

consciousness is dominated by beta waves when we are awake.

This might explain why there is so much cognitive control in lucid dream=
s.  =

Dreamers deep in REM sleep have no sense of control over factors like  =

thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, but those in lucid dreaming states do=
.

Demirel also linked gamma waves with lucid dreaming. These are the faste=
st  =

brain waves, which become visible on an EEG at times when the brain is  =

especially alert and focusing on something. When lucid dreaming begins, =
 =

gamma waves increase in the right precuneus, which is involved in  =

self-referential thinking=E2=80=94thoughts about ourselves and our lives=
. When we  =

are awake, we often drift into this type of thinking when our minds wand=
er.

Maybe the most mind-bending thing about lucid dreams is that they are,  =

according to the study, similar in the brain to the effects of psychedel=
ic  =

drugs such as LSD and ayahuasca. These types of psychedelic experiences =
 =

are also associated with the precuneus, whose activity is modified when =
 =

waking imagery is seen despite having closed eyes (something usually onl=
y  =

experienced with psychedelics).

Interestingly, however, lucid dreams may even go a few experiential step=
s  =

past psychedelics. =E2=80=9CWhile psychedelics often lead to a dissoluti=
on of ego  =

and decreased self-referential processing [=E2=80=A6] lucid dreams may a=
ctually  =

harness elements of self-awareness and control,=E2=80=9D Demirel and his=
 team said  =

in the study.

So if you=E2=80=99re capable of lucid dreaming, you=E2=80=99re in for an=
 awesome trip.

### - smile, can imagine these 'questions' arising time and again as mor=
e  =

and more peeps become interested and intrigued by the possibility, the  =

current dreaming community comprised of maybe as many as 2+ million peop=
le  =

if the hits on some popular new videos are anything to go by, one dude  =

collecting 1.5 million hits in only 7 months for his eye-catching headli=
ne  =

connected with lucid dreaming (saw it and it's a pile of crap, but that =
 =

doesn't detract from all those hits from people with some kinda interest=
  =

in the subject...)

after 9 years of plugging it, however, it now looks like WILDs has becom=
e  =

firmly established and directly associated with lucid dreaming, and as  =

such is beginning to appear in most people's casual vocabulary when  =

discussing the subject, whereas when i first started out every group out=
  =

there was for dilds alone (and mostly still is) and no one even really  =

knew what WILDs were, and then only that they were too difficult to both=
er  =

with... but that's all now changed however, and thus many more videos ha=
ve  =

subsequently appeared describing WILDs and the various methods for  =

reaching it, so WILDs are defo here to stay :)

'The WILD Way To Lucid Dreaming' being the FIRST book on WILDs, and an  =

award winner to boot, am guessing everyone in the community is gonna be =
 =

reading it at some point then huh coz that kinda makes moi look like i  =

actually discovered them, this being mentioned in the book as being  =

LaBerge's discovery so as to allay any later confusion ;)

i know you can't see it yet thang, or just don't want to heh, but via  =

WILDs lucid dreaming is set to become a mainstream activity at some poin=
t,  =

especially after more than one person comes-up with a solution for  =

something that everyone's been puzzled by and announces that they obtain=
ed  =

that solution very simply during a WILD, then nearly all the heads will =
 =

turn and want to know how...

it's also getting interesting because lucid dreaming affords a peek into=
  =

the workings of awareness and mind in ways no other tool can, so one way=
  =

or another we's gonna find-out 'all' about it eventually, 'lucid dreamin=
g'  =

being actually only the tip of a huge but relatively unseen iceberg :)