Lucid dreaming is associated with better subjective sleep quality, a higher sense of mental well-being, and lower feelings of loneliness, according to new research published in Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice. The findings suggest that while a small percentage of lucid dreams can be negative or have unpleasant aspects, lucid dreaming is generally a positive experience.
Lucid dreaming refers to the experience of being aware that you are dreaming while you are still in the dream state. In a lucid dream, the dreamer has the ability to exert some control over the dream narrative and may deliberately influence the events or actions that occur within the dream.
While there have been numerous studies highlighting the positive benefits of lucid dreaming, such as alleviating nightmares, improving motor skills, fostering creative problem-solving, and contributing to personal growth, concerns have been raised regarding its possible negative effects on sleep and mental well-being. The author of the new research, Tadas Stumbrys, conducted this particular study to investigate the potential adverse effects of lucid dreaming.
“I have been studying lucid dreaming for over a decade now, looking into its potentials, benefits,” explained Stumbrys, an assistant professor at Institute of Psychology at Vilnius University. “And every time I would give a talk on lucid dreaming, there would be always someone in the audience who would ask exactly the same question: ‘Are there any adverse effects of lucid dreaming?’ And the truth was that before conducting this research, there was not any systematic research on the potential side effects of it. This has prompted me to look into this topic.”
Stumbrys conducted an online survey with 489 participants from different countries, primarily the United States. The participants were asked to complete a questionnaire that included various measures and scales to assess their dream-related experiences, sleep quality, dissociation, and mental well-being.
The online questionnaire was distributed through social media platforms and online discussion forums related to lucid dreaming. The participants completed the survey anonymously, but they were asked to provide their email addresses to avoid multiple responses.
To understand the participants’ dream-related experiences, they were asked about the frequency of their dream recall and the frequency of specific dream phenomena like lucid dreams, nightmares, false awakenings, sleep paralysis, and out-of-body experiences. The participants were also asked about the emotional quality of their lucid dreams and whether they experienced them spontaneously or deliberately induced them using techniques.
To assess sleep quality, the participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, which asked about different aspects of their sleep, such as duration, disturbances, latency (time taken to fall asleep), efficiency, and subjective sleep quality.
Dissociation, which refers to a sense of detachment or disconnection from oneself or one’s surroundings, was measured using the Multiscale Dissociation Inventory. The participants rated the frequency of various dissociative experiences, such as disengagement, depersonalization (feeling detached from oneself), derealization (feeling the world is unreal), emotional constriction/numbing, memory disturbance, and identity dissociation.
To assess mental well-being, the participants completed the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale, which focused on positive aspects of mental health. They also answered questions about feelings of loneliness and social isolation using the UCLA Loneliness Scale.
Stumbrys found that the frequency of lucid dreams was positively associated with the frequency of other sleep-related experiences such as dream recall, nightmares, false awakenings, sleep paralysis, and out-of-body experiences.
Most of the lucid dreams reported by participants were emotionally positive experiences, with only about 10% considered to be emotionally negative. Stumbrys found that dream recall frequency, false awakening frequency, and out-of-body experience frequency were significant predictors of lucid dream frequency.
The frequency of lucid dreams was not associated with total sleep quality scores or with dissociation. When examining the aspects of sleep quality separately, higher lucid dream frequency was associated with more sleep disturbances but also a greater subjective sleep quality and lower dysfunction. Similarly, when examining the different facets of dissociation separately, lucid dream frequency was linked to higher levels of derealization but fewer memory disturbances.
In terms of mental well-being, the frequency of lucid dreams was positively associated with greater mental well-being and lower feelings of loneliness. The proportion of deliberately induced lucid dreams was also associated with higher mental well-being.
The results indicate “that lucid dreaming seems to be a relatively safe approach to engage with the dream plot while being asleep, without evident detrimental effects,” Stumbrys told PsyPost. “However, people should be mindful that there is some other research showing that too intense preoccupation with lucid dream induction techniques, some of which require sleep interruption, may result in certain detrimental effects. So while lucid dreaming itself appears to be safe, putting too much effort into achieving it may not be that good idea.”
Like all research, the study has some limitations that should be considered. First, the data was collected through an online survey, which may have introduced selection bias. The participants were self-selected and may not be representative of the general population (e.g. they may have had more positive experiences with lucid dreaming). Additionally, the relationships observed are correlational and do not allow for causal conclusions.
“This study was based only on self-report and is cross-sectional, therefore causal relationships cannot be established,” Stumbrys said. “Future research would benefit from a longitudinal study observing a group of lucid dreamers over a longer period of time and measuring changes in a broader set of variables.”
The study was titled: “Dispelling the Shadows of the Lucid Night: An Exploration of Potential Adverse Effects of Lucid Dreaming“.
