Lucid Dreaming Research Paper

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Lucid dreaming is being aware one’s self during a dream and controlling it, and has been known since ancient times. The first and earliest findings of lucid dreaming are found in ancient Greek writings. The philosopher Aristotle wrote, “Often when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.” Among early Buddhists, dreamer's ability to be aware that he or she is dreaming was common and so was the practice of dream yoga. In 1867, the French sinologist Marquis d'Hervey de Saint Denys anonymously published Dreams and the Ways to Direct Them: Practical Observations which describes his own experiences of lucid dreaming, and proposes that it is possible for anyone to learn to lucid dream. Then, in 1913, Dutch psychiatrist and …show more content…
Lucid dreamers safely overcome fears and phobias. People afraid of heights can safely, say, jump out of an airplane and can slow down time, control the fall, and float gently to the ground. Having done this, lucid dreamers have reported feeling much better about their fear of heights in the waking world. Dealing with a worst case scenario in a positive way creates new neural patterns in your unconscious mind to help overcome the fear for good. Lucid dreamers can process grief by reuniting with lost loved ones as well. Lucid dreams with lost loved ones may offer a psychological therapy for the surviving individual. They offer the dreamer that closure they need to overcome their grief and move on with their lives. Lucid dreaming can also dramatically improve one’s memory. Dreams solidify what is called episodic memory, while deep sleep solidifies semantic memory. Episodic memory is the memory one needs to learn new skills and perfect the ones they have already. Lucid dreaming and lucid sleep allows you to solidify everything you learned during the day, as well as consciously choosing what other things you want to solidify in your