Have you ever had a dream and realized that you were asleep? If so, you had a lucid dream. A lucid dream is defined as any dream in which the dreamer is aware that he is asleep. Although it’s rare, I think most people have had one once or twice in their lives, it’s a truly liberating experience to be able to live as a superhero even for just a few moments. But what is the difference between a lucid dream and a normal one? How did this happen?

There are three ways to enter a lucid dream: the first and most common is to go from a normal dream to a lucid dream by realizing that you are asleep, to suddenly go from conscious to dream, or, most interestingly, to force yourself into one. himself to become lucid during his dream. next sleep period.

While most cases of lucid dreaming are brief by their very nature, most people will wake up realizing they are dreaming, cases of people being able to force themselves into and out of lucid dreaming have been established in studies dating from 1959.

But what physically causes these lucid dreams? Why do I only remember parts of my dreams so rarely and why do I wake up when I have them? Studies have shown that lucid dreaming is related to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, this is the part of the brain that is usually inactive when you sleep but becomes active during a lucid dream. Why do you wake up? When the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is activated, it often jolts the sleeper out of consciousness, however, evidence has shown that partial activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex can enable prolonged lucid dreaming, literally walking the line between dreams and dreams! reality!

All of this may seem like a lot of wasted time, but researchers are hard at work finding applications for these new discoveries, for example, helping chronic nightmare sufferers who could benefit from the knowledge that “it doesn’t really happen.”