Those who play video games and use other types of interactive electronic media are more likely to experience lucid and controllable dreams, according to research published in the scientific journal Dreaming in 2009.
Lucid dreams occur when the dreamer becomes aware that he or she is dreaming. Related to this dreaming phenomenon is control dreams, in which the dreamer can control the events of a dream.
The study, which was conducted by Jayne Gackenbach of the Grant MacEwan College, surveyed 890 college students using face-to-face and online questionnaires.
Gackenbach found an association between the use of video games during the day and lucid and control dreaming. As she explains in her study,
“engagement with technologically constructed realities, as found in today’s electronic media, offers experience with different realities that may be generalized to another daily alternative reality, nighttime dreams.”
Although other forms of electronic media also showed an association with lucid dreaming, the use of video games showed the strongest association.
Reference:
Gackenback, J. (2009). Electronic media and lucid-control dreams: Morning after reports. Dreaming, Vol 19, No 1: 1-6.
