How to Lucid Dream

Co-authored by Alex Dimitriu, MD

Dream lucidity is the awareness that you are dreaming. This awareness can range from a faint recognition of the fact to a momentous broadening of perspective. Lucid dreams usually occur while a person is in the middle of a normal dream and suddenly realizes that they are dreaming. This is called a dream-initiated lucid dream. A wake-initiated lucid dream occurs when you go from a normal waking state directly into a dream state, with no apparent lapse in consciousness. In either case, the dreams tend to be more bizarre and emotional than regular dreams. Most importantly, you will have at least some ability to control your "dream self" and the surrounding dream.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Using Dream Awareness Techniques

1
Keep a dream journal. Keep it close by your bed at night, and write down your dream immediately after waking, or the emotions and sensations you experience right when you wake up. This will train you to remember more of your dreams, which is important for lucid dreaming.^{[1]
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Research source} Plus, there's not much point in controlling your dreams if you forget the experience before the morning.
- Alternatively, keep a recording device by your bed.
- You might remember more of your dreams if you stay still for a few minutes and concentrate on the memory before you start writing.^{[2]
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- It's normal if you don't remember your dreams right away.^{[3]
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  Expert Source
  
  Alex Dimitriu, MD
  Sleep Medicine & Psychiatry Professional
  Expert Interview. 16 October 2019.}
2
Use reality checks frequently. Every few hours during the day, ask yourself "Am I dreaming?" and perform one of the following reality checks. Look around for a familiar object you recognize to see if it's in the correct place.^{[4]
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Expert Source

Alex Dimitriu, MD
Sleep Medicine & Psychiatry Professional
Expert Interview. 16 October 2019.} With enough practice, you'll start following the habit in your dreams as well, cluing you in to the fact that you're dreaming.
- Pinch your nose, close your mouth and test whether you can still breathe.
- Simply look at your hands and feet. These are often distorted in dreams when you inspect them closely.
- Read a page of text or the time on a clock, look away, then look back again. In dreams, the text or time will be blurry or nonsensical or will be different each time you look.^{[5]
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- Attempt to push your index finger straight through the opposite palm. Really expect it to go through, asking yourself whether you're dreaming or not both before and after attempting. During a dream, your finger would pass straight through your opposite palm, and asking yourself the question twice will increase your chances of realizing this is not normal.
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3
Repeat "I will be aware that I'm dreaming," each time you fall asleep. Each night as you fall asleep, repeat to yourself "I will know I'm dreaming" or a similar phrase until you drift out of consciousness. This technique is known as Mnemonic Induction to Lucid Dreaming, or MILD.^{[6]
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Research source} Mnemonic induction just means "using memory aids," or in this case using a rote phrase to turn the awareness of your dreaming into an automatic habit.
- Some people like to combine this step with a reality check by staring at their hands for a few minutes before they go to sleep.
4
Learn to recognize your personal dream signs. Read through your journal regularly and look for recurring "dream signs." These are recurring situations or events that you may notice in your dreams. Become familiar with these, and you may recognize them while you dream, and therefore notice that you're dreaming.
- You probably know some of these already. Common dream events include losing your teeth, being chased by something large, or going into public without clothes on.
5
Drift back to sleep when awakened from a dream. When you wake up and remember your dream, write it down in your dream journal, then close your eyes and focus on the dream. Imagine that you were in the dream, noticed a dream sign or reality check, and realized it was a dream. Hold on to this thought as you drift back to sleep, and you may enter a lucid dream.^{[7]
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- Note that most lucid dreams occur while the person is fully asleep, usually because they notice a bizarre event and realize they're in a dream. This is just an alternate trigger that starts off about 25% of lucid dreams.^{[8]
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6
Consider purchasing a light alarm. Set it for 4.5, 6, or 7 hours after you fall asleep, or set it to go off every hour if possible. While sound, touch, or other stimuli during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep can also make a dreamer aware of the fact they're dreaming, one study shows that light cues are most effective.^{[9]
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Research source
LaBerge, Stephen Levitan, Lynne. <i>Validity established of DreamLight cues for eliciting lucid dreaming</i>. In <i>Dreaming</i>, Vol 5(3), Sep 1995, pp.159-168.}
- You don't want to actually wake yourself up (unless you try the Wake Back to Bed method below). Keep the light alarm more than arm's reach away from your bed, and/or cover it with a sheet to dim the light.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Using the Wake Back to Bed Method

1
Know when lucid dreams most commonly occur. Lucid dreams, and vivid dreams in general, almost always occur during the REM stage of sleep. The first REM phase typically occurs ninety minutes after you first fall asleep, with additional phases roughly every ninety minutes afterward. The goal of this method is to wake up during a REM phase, then fall back asleep and continue the dream aware that you are dreaming.
- You won't be able to time your phases exactly unless you visit a sleep lab or have a very dedicated night owl watching your eyelids all night. More realistically, just keep repeating the method below until you catch yourself in the REM phase.
2
Encourage your body to get more REM sleep. There are many ways to increase the amount of REM sleep you get, as described in the linked article. One of the most effective, and the one that causes REM sleep to appear at regular times, is to stick to a daily sleep schedule and to sleep long enough that you wake up well-rested.
- This can be difficult to balance with the step below, which interrupts your sleep in the middle of the night. If you have trouble falling back asleep, try a different method instead, or limit your attempts to once or twice a week.
3
Wake up in the middle of the night. Set one alarm to go off either 4.5, 6, or 7 hours after the time you fall asleep.^{[10]
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Research source} You're more likely to be in REM sleep during these times, although it's difficult to predict in advance. The six or seven hour times are the most likely to work, because later REM phases last longer, and are more likely to contain vivid or lucid dreams.^{[11]
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4
Stay awake for a while. Write down your dream if you were having one, make yourself a snack, or just get up and walk around for a while. Your goal is to get your conscious mind active and alert, while your body is still full of sleep hormones.
- One study shows that staying awake for somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes gives the highest chance of a lucid dream.^{[13]
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5
Concentrate on the dream and fall asleep again. Close your eyes and fall asleep again. If you remember the dream you were having, recall it and fall back asleep, imagining yourself continuing the dream. Even if this takes quite a while to happen, you've got a decent chance at a lucid dream.
6
Try other concentration techniques. If your mind wanders while trying to "catch" the dream, or if you don't remember the dream at all, instead try focusing on the movement of your fingers. Use a pattern of small movements, such as "index finger up, middle finger down, middle finger up, index finger down." Repeat this rhythmic movement until you fall asleep.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Using Additional Techniques

1
Meditate. Before going to sleep, meditate in a quiet, dark room. Taking a meditation training course may give better results, but to start out, just pay attention to your breathing, or imagine ascending or descending stairs. The goal is to stop thinking and enter a quiet, comfortable state, and from there slip into a lucid dream.
- Keep in mind that "Wake Induced" lucid dreams are rarer and more difficult than dreams that become lucid after you're already asleep.
- There are many meditation guide videos online specifically designed to help you lucid dream.
2
Prolong a lucid dream as it starts to fade. One common experience among first-time lucid dreamers is waking up due to the excitement of having a lucid dream! Usually, you'll get some warning beforehand as the dream feels "unstable" or you begin to notice sensations from the real world. These techniques can help you keep the lucid dream going:^{[14]
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- Spin your dream body around or fall backward. Some people report that this helps, although the reason is unknown.
- In the dream, rub your hands together. This can distract you from the sensations of your actual body.
- Continue doing whatever you were doing before the dream became unstable, asserting that you are still in the dream. This is much less effective than the techniques above.
3
Listen to binaural beats. If you send a different sound frequency to each ear, your brain will interpret the two sound waves' overlapping pattern as an audio beat even though no beat is included in the sound. This definitely changes the brain's electrical activity, but so far scientists are unsure whether this can actually stimulate lucid dreaming. There are many websites out there with collections of binaural beats, so it's easy to try it out if you can sleep with earbuds in. Most would-be lucid dreamers use beats that mimic Theta brain waves, which occur in REM sleep, but some swear by Gamma or Alpha beats instead, or a progression through several types.
- Binaural beats can come with soothing background music, or just the beat itself.
4
Play video games. Gamers report a much higher rate of lucid dreaming than the general population.^{[15]
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Research source} While more studies need to be done, it's possible even a couple of hours a week could increase your chances of a lucid dream. The type of game played does not appear to make a difference.^{[16]
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5
Consider taking galantamine. Galantamine, a drug synthesized from the snowdrop plant, may be the most effective drug for inducing lucid dreaming. Take 4 to 8 mg in the middle of the night for best results; taking it before bed can worsen sleep quality and cause unpleasant dreams.^{[17]
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Research source} Due to this possibility and the unpleasant side effects listed below, galantamine is only recommended as an occasional supplement.
- Talk to a doctor first if you have any medical issues. Galantamine can worsen existing conditions such as asthma or heart problems.
- This drug also increases the chance of sleep paralysis, a harmless but often terrifying experience of being awake for several minutes without being able to move your muscles.
6
Consider the occasional vitamin B supplement. Vitamin B5 or Vitamin B6 supplements can increase dream vividness, weirdness, and emotional intensity, which can lead to lucid dreaming.^{[18]
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Trustworthy Source
PubMed Central
Journal archive from the U.S. National Institutes of Health
Go to source} However, you may need to take a dose of 100 mg for this effect to be noticeable. This dose is much higher than recommended for daily intake, and if you take it regularly over a long period of time, it can lead to unwanted side effects.^{[19]
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Trustworthy Source
Mayo Clinic
Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals
Go to source} Use this only for a special lucid dreaming occasion, and at your own risk.
- Check with your doctor first if you are taking any medications, or if you have a disorder involving bleeding, the stomach, the intestines, or the heart.
- This drug sometimes causes people to wake up in the night, so it may be counterproductive if you're a light sleeper.

Expert Q&A
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Question

How do you trigger a lucid dream?

Alex Dimitriu, MD
Sleep Medicine & Psychiatry Professional
Alex Dimitriu, MD is the Owner of Menlo Park Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine, a clinic based in the San Francisco Bay Area with expertise in psychiatry, sleep, and transformational therapy. Alex earned his Doctor of Medicine from Stony Brook University in 2005 and graduated from the Stanford University School of Medicine's Sleep Medicine Residency Program in 2010. Professionally, Alex has dual board certification in psychiatry and sleep medicine.

Alex Dimitriu, MD

Sleep Medicine & Psychiatry Professional

Expert Answer

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One way is to practice reality checks frequently while you're awake. Every few hours during the day ask yourself, "Am I dreaming?" Eventually, you'll remember to ask this during a dream and you'll realize you're dreaming.
Question

What will help me lucid dream?

Alex Dimitriu, MD
Sleep Medicine & Psychiatry Professional
Alex Dimitriu, MD is the Owner of Menlo Park Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine, a clinic based in the San Francisco Bay Area with expertise in psychiatry, sleep, and transformational therapy. Alex earned his Doctor of Medicine from Stony Brook University in 2005 and graduated from the Stanford University School of Medicine's Sleep Medicine Residency Program in 2010. Professionally, Alex has dual board certification in psychiatry and sleep medicine.

Alex Dimitriu, MD

Sleep Medicine & Psychiatry Professional

Expert Answer

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Consider purchasing a light alarm. A light-based instead of a sound-based alarm will help increase your chances of lucid dreaming.

Warnings

Lucid dreaming can cause sleep paralysis, in which you remain conscious and aware of your surroundings during the transition from sleep to wakefulness, but are not able to move your muscles. This is harmless, but often terrifying, especially as it can be accompanied by hallucinations of a strange presence in the room. Some muscles are often less affected than others, so concentrate on wiggling your toes or swallowing and stay calm until the hallucinations stop.

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If you get very excited during your lucid dream, you might wake up suddenly. To try to return, shut your eyes and concentrate on your dream. If you are caught partway through waking up, but still "in" your dream self, spin around or rub your hands, which allows you to regain the dream.

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