Lucid Dreaming Paper

For many centuries, people would think of dreaming as curses or blessings that we can not fend off or operate. Lucid dreaming, a dream in which a dreamer is aware that he or she is dreaming; they may be able to control the dream by exert amount. In this dream stage, we perform superhuman features that would be impossible when we’re awake. While a person dreams, these wonderful things become a temporality reality. Researchers says that a average person dreams four to six times a night(insert). Many people dream every night without even realizing that their dreams can be controlled. Others might not give too much care about the dreams that they might experienced. Lucid dreaming can turn scary dreams into happy dreams, or happy dreams into more relaxed ones. This method of dreaming can provide the dreamer endless ways to control their subconscious which can provide enjoyable experiences.

Dreaming, although a substantial component of our nighttime lives, remains somewhat of an enigma due to the fact that it occurs while we are unconscious. The inaccessibility of the unconscious mind weakens full analysis and comprehension of dreaming which researchers have been attempting to accomplish. However, over the years many researchers have elucidated many mysteries about dreams, such as when we dream, why we dream, and what we dream about, in order to bring forth an understanding of dreams as well as identify

The humankind throughout history has tried to learn and figure out the meaning of dreaming. The interpretations and true meanings of dreams has expanded and has varied over centuries and cultures. Many of the earlier studies were based on culture’s and the interpretation of dreams, but also used as a form of prophecy, inspiration, and guidance. Many people still believe this such, people today beliefs and theories have opened up to a more vast interpretation, they are made up of; dreams are rare brain activity, dreams allow people to reflect on themselves, or that dreams are too massive to be correctly interpret. Although, not a single theory has been proven to this day, science as of why dreams occur is still a mystery.

Methods: The participants, all males age 23-32, slept in a dark, quiet lab while their brain waves and eye movements were recorded. They were not aloud to sleep at all during the day when they were not in the lab because they might dream. To establish a base for the experiment, participants in the study were allowed to sleep normally for a few nights. The next few nights the participants were fully awaken every time that they started to dream. The next section was the recovery phase where they could sleep normally followed by more nights where they would be woken between

Dr. Ishaad Ebrahim is an MD, MRCPsych, and Neuropsychiatric Specialist in Sleep Disorders at the Constanta Sleep Centre. An MD is any type of medical doctor. An MRCPsych is a “Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.” A neuropsychologist specialist essentially has a scientific aspect and a medical aspect. Dr. Ebrahim believes that almost anyone is capable of having a nightmare during the REM stage of sleep. He said, “If we consider only attack dreams, which are one of the most common nightmare themes, the lifetime prevalence varies from 67% to 90%. Pursuit, a closely related, highly disturbing theme, has a lifetime prevalence of 92% among women and 85% among men.”

They used twenty-eight female and male participants, some with frequent others with less frequent nightmares. All participants were screened for any mental or psychological disorders. In the study, participants would have a nap, complete a task, and fill out questions on the state of their dreams and experiences. The participants would also nap for longer and then be awakened right before they entered into REM sleep. Then the participant would once again answer questions and write about their dream experiences. The questionnaire contained questioned related to the state of their dream, stress levels, nightmare frequency, etc. The participants also slept in rooms with continuous surveillance and with a polysomnography. The participants were tested on their dream and daydreaming conditions with similar procedures that were previously

As a lead in to psychoanalysis, as part of my journal I kept a daily dream log for a week (Appendix A, p. i). Although enjoyable, I did find myself questioning the validity and lack of scientific support. There seems to be too much room for different interpretations or misinterpretations. This

Use two approaches to explain the following case study of the sleep disorders experienced by Mrs A.

The tests were based on emotions and different activities, like sleep paralysis, snakes, and terrorism. The results were very similar, but Liberal women had a higher percentage on most of the dreams. Liberals remembered sexual experiences better and are more open to talk about them, conservatives remembered the nightmares. Conservative men had more lucid dreams which is when you are dreaming and you know you are dreaming. Researchers interpreted that because most men will tell themselves that their nightmare was just a dream.

     An individual’s unconscious mind combines bits and pieces of information and places them together. Dreams are almost always visual. “Forty to fifty percent of dreams have some form of communication present in them and a very small percentage of dreams give the dreamer the ability to use his or her five senses”(Encarta). Dreams allow one to take a closer look into their mind in a quest for self-discovery. In ancient Greece dreams were believed to be messages from the gods. Hippocrates and Aristotle believed that dreams contained physiological information that may be cause of future illnesses. Dreams can be used to solve a number of different types of problems. In The Interpretation of Dreams, by Sigmund Freud he states “As regards the dream, all the troubles of waking life are transferred by it to the sleeping

There will be numerous possible ethical issues that can arise while doing this research on dreams; however, the research will be done in a way to ensure that these issues are avoided or resolved. One issue will be confidentiality, which will be assassinated with the possibility of sharing information about a person’s dreams with others. To ensure the issue of confidentiality is avoided there will be no information asked or given on an individual’s gender or name; instead, there will only be questions given and information given about age ranges (not even an exact number). As well, the special, at-risk, populations will have to be dealt with accordingly, before they engage in any type of survey there will be a necessary consent form for their

Dreams are generally linked with rapid eye movement sleep, or REM sleep, which is a phase that happens near the end of a sleep cycle. REM sleep is characterized by the random movement of the eyes and heightened body and brain activity. One study proposed that there is a definitive link between dreams and emotions, where the reduction of REM sleep causes a reduction in the ability to comprehend the multifaceted emotions in everyday life (Gujar, 2011, p.117). This phase of the sleep cycle has the highest inclination of vivid dreams and studies of MRIs of the brain during REM sleep show that the amygdala and hippocampus play a key role (Gennaro, 2011, p.1458). The amygdale processes the memory of emotional reactions and the hippocampus stores information from short-term to long-term memory. These findings reveal the core mechanism and perhaps the reason that humans dream. Dreams seem to aid in processing emotions by linking them to a variety of memories. The experiences within dreams may not be real, but the emotions that accompany the images and events during REM sleep are unquestionably genuine. Without processing these emotions, the emotions build up and personal anxiety increases. With less REM sleep, people tend to be more agitated and mental disorders are more easily developed

In Module 9 on the topic of Sleep and Dreams, was an interesting topic that was discussed in class as many people normally question why and how we dream. There isn’t a specific reason in how dreams are functioned but there are different interpretations and stereotypes that people think have meanings and others that don’t.

that one is dreaming and that the dream is coming from the self. The notion that

Anxiety and depression have a substantial impact on recalling dreams. Consequently, when a person is anxious or depressed they tend to wake up more often throughout the night (Caceres). Waking up in the middle of a dream makes it easier to remember. If a dream has finished while you are sleeping, there is a much greater chance of not remembering it because your brain has drifted from the REM period to another stage in the sleep cycle. This can be explained with the instance of waking up during a nightmare and remembering exactly what was happening. When the waking is done naturally the body is able to recall dreams; however, when waking is unnatural it results in the opposite effect. For this reason, recalling our previous thoughts is often difficult to do with the assistance of alarm clocks, or other devices, because of their abruptness (Edwards, 2). The shocking noise can interrupt a person’s sleep pattern so suddenly, creating a blank mind when trying to reflect on a dream. The brain controls dreams and impacts how well and what we remember each morning. While the influence of outside factors can also trick the mind. Except health is not the only factor which affects