How does lucid dreaming look?

In short, a lucid dream is a type of dream where the person is aware they are dreaming. The dreamer often has full memory of the event(s) and control over the dream narrative. Moreover, research has shown that lucid dreamers also have the ability to communicate in real-time with the awake world. But while lucid dreamers may have control over their dream, Daniel Love, aka The Lucid Guide, tells Sleepopolis “dream control itself is not a defining characteristic of lucid dreaming.”

He explains that a dream can only be characterized as lucid when (and if) the dreamer

Lucid dreaming is rare. Studies show that only about 50 percent of the population have ever experienced a lucid dream, approximately 20 percent do so monthly, and even fewer (about 1 percent) lucid dream several times a week.

According to Love, many people have spontaneous lucid dreams throughout their lives. He notes that it’s a common occurrence in children and teens, and “the quality of lucidity can range from a vague sense that one is dreaming (which technically isn’t a true lucid dream, but is related) all the way up to feeling as if one has “woken up” in an entirely different universe.”

Lucid dreaming can occur naturally and spontaneously, and there is evidence to suggest that lucid dreams are linked to sleep disorders — specifically narcolepsy — as well.

Dream scholar and Lecturer on Psychology in Harvard’s Department of Psychiatry, Deirdre Leigh Barrett, Ph.D., says, “Most people who have lucid dreams find them [to be] a fascinating state of consciousness.” She tells Sleepololis that people who have them readily and regularly often use them to explore questions and lessen anxiety dreams, in addition to many other interesting applications.

The reasons people explore lucid dreaming vary. Love says that while many engage in the practice as a matter of “curiosity, self-discovery, philosophy, and spirituality, surprisingly few are drawn by escapism.” Love suspects that fun is not usually a factor, as a lot of work goes into learning how to lucid dream, and that rarely aligns with the personality types that aim to use it as a distraction. Love adds that “learning how to lucid dream requires a closer relationship with one’s mind and reality, so in many ways, it is the polar opposite of escapism.”

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of reality shifting emerged among post-millennials and took social media by storm. Essentially, reality shifters believe they can alter their current reality by intentionally shifting their awareness and consciousness. More specifically, shifters believe they transcend to alternate universes and realities through focused visualization.

And while reality shifting can be confused with lucid dreaming, Love says unequivocally that lucid dreaming and shifting are “not at all” the same. “Lucid dreaming is a scientifically verified state of consciousness,” says Love. “It is founded upon known and established scientific and psychological principles.” Reality shifting, on the other hand, is a very recent new-age belief system that grew in popularity on TikTok and doesn’t have scientific backing.

Though it may not be possible to understand exactly why lucid dreams occur, some research reveals that dreams of this type may be associated with times of stress and anxiety. Psychopathologies, such as depression and OCD, may also play a role. And although research on the subject is a bit dated, one study showed that people with a propensity for lucid dreaming might be more likely to score highly on self-assessments of creativity and to see themselves as capable of influencing events, also known as possessing an internal locus of control.

Lucid dreams were the subject of much speculation and debate until 1975, when sleep studies began to prove their existence. One of the most notable studies came from British psychologist and sleep researcher Keith Hearn, who blew the mystery of lucid dreaming wide open by connecting the dots between lucid dreaming and REM sleep.

Through a series of sleep studies, Hearn realized that, like other types of dreams, lucid dreaming tends to occur during REM sleep. And, perhaps, more importantly, while most of the body’s muscles are paralyzed during REM sleep, the eyes are not.

On the morning of April 12, 1975, Hearn made history when one of his test subjects communicated with the researcher by making a sequence of left-right eye movements as they became lucid during a dream state.

It’s been four decades since Hearn’s pioneering research, and while science has helped us decode a few more mysteries about lucid dreaming, much of what we know on the subject still stands.

Barrett tells us, “Most lucid dreams happen during rapid eye movement sleep, but some of them occur at sleep onset in Stage 1 nonREM and probably very rarely in other stages of sleep.”

Later studies showed that lucid dreaming often occurs during moments of particularly high arousal or change in brain wave activity in the outer layer of the brain. Recognition of dreaming may occur specifically in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, where working memory, planning, and abstract reasoning occur.

While gamma wave activity is thought to trigger lucid dreaming, Barrett says, “the two have gotten over-associated,” and the hype isn’t warranted — the prefrontal cortex is the star of the show with lucid dreaming. “What is much more distinctive to lucidity is what parts of the brain are more active than typical during REM sleep,’ she says. “These are parts of the prefrontal cortex — an area associated with reality testing, self-awareness, and abstract thought.”

This type of brain activity during the REM sleep stage begs the question: How does lucid dreaming affect the dreamer’s sleep quality?

According to Barrett, lucid dreaming doesn’t have a detrimental effect on sleep quality. “For the vast majority of people, lucid dreams only occupy a few minutes of sleep on some nights,” she says, adding that “while the state is atypical for dreaming sleep, it’s not taking up enough sleep time to affect the physiological benefits of sleep.”

And research shows much the same. In 2020, 149 participants were asked to keep a dream diary for the duration of a five-week lucid dream induction study. Ultimately, researchers found that lucid dreaming had no negative effect “on the feeling of being refreshed in the morning compared to nights with the recall of a non-lucid dream.” As a matter of fact, the study found that participants reported feeling more refreshed after a night with a lucid dream.

False awakening and lucid dreaming are often confused, but the two are different. A false awakening occurs when the dreamer believes they have woken up but is, in fact, still asleep. Typically, the dreamer will feel as though they are awake and going about their business, getting out of bed, brushing their teeth, etc. False awakenings typically occur in the transition out of REM sleep.

With a lucid dream, the dreamer is aware they are dreaming. And while they are paralyzed in REM sleep, they may not feel that way. Moreover, as we mentioned above, lucid dreamers may be able to control the goings-on in their dream. And finally, with the understanding that they are having a dream, lucid dreamers may be able to intentionally wake up.

It may be worth noting that in 1991, Barrett studied the dreams of 200 subjects and discovered that false awakenings were more likely to occur before, during, or after a lucid dream. Barrett also found that because a false awakening is a dream and not bound by narrative limits, more than one false awakening may occur within a false awakening dream. This is called a double dream or a dream within a dream.

There is some evidence to suggest that lucid dreaming may be beneficial as a type of therapy for nightmares, and new research shows that lucid dreaming can significantly decrease the symptoms of depression and anxiety.

In 2022, researchers out of Northwestern University’s Department of Psychology ran a content analysis on posts from a public lucid dreaming internet forum in an attempt to offer some more definitive answers on the subject. Ultimately, researchers found that lucid dreaming could also be used for creative inspiration, personal growth, and alleviating insomnia symptoms.

Moreover, the team identified some of the positive and negative effects of lucid dreaming.

For anyone who wants to try lucid dreaming, Daniel Love walks us through the process.

Love notes that quality sleep is key to lucid dreaming. “The majority of REM (dreaming) sleep occurs in the final hours of the night, so it’s important to get a healthy amount of sleep,” he says. “Without it, learning how to lucid dream will be incredibly difficult.”

“Keeping a dream journal is an absolutely vital and non-optional step when learning how to lucid dream,” says Love. He adds, “In essence, lucid dreaming is learning how to “spot the difference” between waking life and dreams, and of course, that’s going to be nearly impossible if you do not become familiar with the ‘personality’ of your dream world.”

Ideally, dreamers should record every single important detail, including elements of the dream, experiences, emotions, and thoughts.

Love says, “Would-be lucid dreamers must learn to regularly question their state — seriously asking themselves ‘Could this be a dream?’”

The dreamer should do this whenever waking life events resemble dreams, even if only slightly. This could mean questioning odd events, strong emotions, and coincidences. “By building this habit, eventually, it will transfer into the dream world. At some point, you’ll ask the question within a dream and finally realize you’re dreaming!”

“When things occur that are dreamlike, you can (and should) also perform certain tests to establish if you are dreaming,” says Love. “The easiest “reality test” is to pinch your nose and attempt to breathe through it. During waking life, you obviously won’t be unable to breathe. However, during a dream, you’ll have the uncanny experience of breathing through a pinched nose. A sure sign you are dreaming!

“Lucid dreaming takes time and patience, so don’t give up if you don’t have a lucid dream the first night of trying,” says Love. “Remember, this is a skill that takes roughly the same amount of time as learning a language. You’ll get more proficient the more time and energy is invested.”  Love also recommends making sure you’re learning from reputable sources.

“There are many techniques that aim to induce lucid dreams,” says Love, “However, it is best not to assume that there is a ‘right’ or ‘perfect’ technique.” Love compares choosing a lucid dreaming technique to choosing your clothing. “In much the same way that no one piece of clothing is ‘perfect,’ no one lucid dreaming technique is perfect,” he says. “With clothing, one needs to dress according to the weather and events; lucid dreaming techniques are much like this; sleep is full of variables, and we must adapt the techniques we use to fit the circumstances.”

The MILD technique is where the dreamer memorizes the dream they woke from, then imagines becoming lucidly aware within it. They fall back to sleep, telling themselves that in their next dream, they’ll realize they are dreaming.

The reality testing method “involves performing an action and observing if the results are consistent with results expected when awake,” says Barrett. “By practicing these tests during waking life, one may eventually decide to perform such a test while dreaming, which may fail and let the dreamer realize they are dreaming. They must be ones that vary in waking life vs. dreams for that individual.”

In “Inception,” Cobb used a spinning top — if he was awake, the top would stop rotating at some point, whereas it continued to spin infinitely when he was dreaming. If a top doesn’t do it for you, Barrett says that the following tests are common ones that work for many people:

While lucid dreaming may sound like something only Hollywood or Stephen King could cook up, it’s a very real experience for many, based on real science and psychology. Largely a mechanism of activity in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, lucid dreaming occurs when the dreamer is aware they are dreaming while still in a dream state. While some people may experience spontaneous lucid dreaming, others can learn to do it; it just takes time, practice, and patience.

Lucid dreams are when you know that you're dreaming while you're asleep. You're aware that the events flashing through your brain aren't really happening. But the dream feels vivid and real. You may even be able to control how the action unfolds, as if you're directing a movie in your sleep.

Lucid dreaming techniques train your mind to notice your own consciousness. They’re also designed to help you regain or maintain consciousness as you enter REM sleep.

A wake-initiated lucid dream (WILD) happens when you directly enter a dream from waking life. It’s said WILD helps your mind stays conscious while your body goes to sleep.

You’ll need to lay down and relax until you experience a hypnagogic hallucination, or a hallucination that occurs when you’re just about to fall asleep. WILD is simple, but it’s difficult to learn.

Practicing the other lucid dreaming induction techniques will increase your chances of WILD.

Reality testing, or reality checking, is a form of mental training. It increases metacognition by training your mind to notice your own awareness.

Your level of metacognition is similar in your waking and dreaming states. So, higher metacognition when you’re awake could lead to higher metacognition when you’re dreaming.

This may be related to the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which plays a role in both reality testing and lucid dreaming. To enhance your metacognition, you can do reality tests while you’re awake.

To try reality testing, follow these steps several times a day:

You can set an alarm every 2 to 3 hours to remind yourself to do a reality check.

Here are common reality checks that people use to lucid dream:

It’s recommended to pick one reality check and do it multiple times a day. This will train your mind to repeat the reality checks while dreaming, which can induce lucid dreaming.

Wake back to bed (WBTB) involves entering REM sleep while you’re still conscious.

There are many versions of WBTB, but consider this technique:

When you go back to sleep, you’ll be more likely to lucid dream. While you’re awake, choose any activity that requires full alertness.

Research suggests the chances of lucid dreaming depends on the level of alertness and not the specific activity.

In 1980, LaBerge created a technique called Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD). It was one of the first methods that used scientific research to induce lucid dreams.

MILD is based on a behavior called prospective memory, which involves setting an intention to do something later.

In MILD, you make the intention to remember that you’re dreaming.

Here’s how to use the MILD technique:

You can also practice MILD after waking up in the middle of a dream. This is usually recommended, as the dream will be fresher in your mind.

Because this type of sleep is associated with awareness and the reflection of this awareness, it is often associated with what is known as metacognition. Metacognition involves the awareness and understanding of your own thought processes.

Research suggests that lucid dreaming and metacognitive functions share similar neural systems. This means that people with heightened abilities to monitor their own thoughts may be more likely to experience lucid dreams.

You can do a few things to help increase your chances of experiencing a lucid dream:

Awareness of dream states during a dream played a role in Eastern religious traditions including Buddhism. The first written record of a lucid dream was described by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. In his work On Dreams, he described reaching a state of awareness of his dreaming state.

While the phenomenon was first observed and described thousands of years ago, it was not until the nineteenth century that scientists began to take a more formal look at lucid dreaming. Not until the last few decades have researchers utilized objective scientific methods to actually study what happens during a lucid dream.

Research during the 1960s and 1970s led to the discovery that lucid dreams were associated with REM sleep and the creation of the electrooculogram (EOG) that could be used to detect a pre-determined set of eye movements in order to signal awareness.

The development of technology such as the electroencephalogram (EEG) and other tools that allow researchers to look more closely at what is happening inside the brain during sleep has led to increased research on changes in brain activity during lucid dreaming.

During most non-lucid dreams, people are not aware of the fact that they are dreaming. A common characteristic of these dreams is that even when truly strange things happen within the dream, it seems real. It is only after people wake that they realize that it was only a dream.

When having a lucid dream, however, there is a recognition that what is happening is not real and that it is taking place within a dream. This often allows the dreamer to exert some degree of control over what is happening.

How do you know if you have had a lucid dream? Some signs that you might have had this experience in the past:

How many people have lucid dreams? How frequently do they experience them? Research suggests that the spontaneous experience of lucid dreaming tends to be fairly infrequent, but many people report having them at least once. Experiencing lucid dreams on a frequent basis, however, appears to be fairly uncommon.

Because lucid dreaming is such a vivid experience, it appeals to those who want to explore their inner dream world with greater awareness. The idea of lucid dreaming is so intriguing to people because, as some researchers suggest, it is “the ultimate form of immersive experience.”

“[Lucid dreaming] offers a (free) unique and fantastic world in which everything may become possible or controllable and feels real without putting the dreamer at risk,” suggest researchers in an article published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. This combination of fantastic sensory and emotional experiences, they suggest, is what makes lucid dreaming so highly desirable.

Aside from the novelty of the experience, could lucid dreaming have any practical applications? While this is an area where further research is needed, it may have some possible uses. Some potential benefits are listed below.

Because lucid dreaming allows the dreamer to invent or create anything within the dream, it could be an exciting way to explore creatively and safely within the confines of a dream.

Because the dreamer has some degree of control over the characters, scenery, and events of the dream, it could be a way to experience and explore things that a person might not be able to do in everyday life.

Some researchers believe that lucid dreaming might have some therapeutic effects, particularly for addressing nightmares. Bad dreams can interrupt sleep and can play a role in reducing the quantity and quality of sleep.

Lucid dreaming could allow people to take control of their dreams and either prevent nightmares from happening or redirect the events of the dream toward something more pleasant or relaxing.

Some suggest that lucid dreams might be useful for reducing symptoms of anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Because the dream allows people to explore situations with a degree of control, they could do things like practice doing things that normally give them anxiety or learning to relax in situations that would normally cause them stress if they were to experience it in the real world.

Such findings suggest that lucid dreaming may have a number of different uses. Further research is needed to explore whether people can learn to lucid dream and the possible effects that the dream state may actually have.

Lucid dreaming can be difficult to study. Because it is uncommon, it is difficult to find participants who are able to experience this type of dreaming in a lab setting.

How exactly do researchers study lucid dreaming? During REM sleep, people who are experiencing a lucid dream maintain the same brain activity and muscle paralysis that are hallmarks of REM sleep. However, they are able to communicate their experience of lucid dreaming through predetermined eye movements that can be detected and monitored.

While researchers continue to find new ways to investigate the phenomenon, they still aren’t sure exactly why people have lucid dreams. Research has shown, however, some ways that lucid dreaming may be unique from normal dreaming.

Other studies have found that certain areas of the prefrontal cortex appear to exhibit increased activity during lucid dreaming compared to standard REM sleep. The prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain associated with higher-level cognitive tasks such as decision making and memory recall.

The research shows that the anterior prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain associated with higher levels of self-reflection, is larger in people who report having frequent lucid dreams. The researchers suggest that people who are more likely to engage in such self-reflection during normal waking life are also more readily able to take control of their dreams.

There are a number of factors that can play a role in whether or not you experience lucid dreaming. While lucid dreaming may have some mental health benefits, some evidence suggests that it may also have some downsides. Some things to remember:

So, although you can do things that make spontaneously experiencing a lucid dream more likely, it is impossible to guarantee that you will be able to induce the experience.

In short, a lucid dream is a type of dream where the person is aware they are dreaming. The dreamer often has full memory of the event(s) and control over the dream narrative. Moreover, research has shown that lucid dreamers also have the ability to communicate in real-time with the awake world. But while lucid dreamers may have control over their dream, Daniel Love, aka The Lucid Guide, tells Sleepopolis “dream control itself is not a defining characteristic of lucid dreaming.”

He explains that a dream can only be characterized as lucid when (and if) the dreamer

Lucid dreaming is rare. Studies show that only about 50 percent of the population have ever experienced a lucid dream, approximately 20 percent do so monthly, and even fewer (about 1 percent) lucid dream several times a week.

According to Love, many people have spontaneous lucid dreams throughout their lives. He notes that it’s a common occurrence in children and teens, and “the quality of lucidity can range from a vague sense that one is dreaming (which technically isn’t a true lucid dream, but is related) all the way up to feeling as if one has “woken up” in an entirely different universe.”

Lucid dreaming can occur naturally and spontaneously, and there is evidence to suggest that lucid dreams are linked to sleep disorders — specifically narcolepsy — as well.

Dream scholar and Lecturer on Psychology in Harvard’s Department of Psychiatry, Deirdre Leigh Barrett, Ph.D., says, “Most people who have lucid dreams find them [to be] a fascinating state of consciousness.” She tells Sleepololis that people who have them readily and regularly often use them to explore questions and lessen anxiety dreams, in addition to many other interesting applications.

The reasons people explore lucid dreaming vary. Love says that while many engage in the practice as a matter of “curiosity, self-discovery, philosophy, and spirituality, surprisingly few are drawn by escapism.” Love suspects that fun is not usually a factor, as a lot of work goes into learning how to lucid dream, and that rarely aligns with the personality types that aim to use it as a distraction. Love adds that “learning how to lucid dream requires a closer relationship with one’s mind and reality, so in many ways, it is the polar opposite of escapism.”

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of reality shifting emerged among post-millennials and took social media by storm. Essentially, reality shifters believe they can alter their current reality by intentionally shifting their awareness and consciousness. More specifically, shifters believe they transcend to alternate universes and realities through focused visualization.

And while reality shifting can be confused with lucid dreaming, Love says unequivocally that lucid dreaming and shifting are “not at all” the same. “Lucid dreaming is a scientifically verified state of consciousness,” says Love. “It is founded upon known and established scientific and psychological principles.” Reality shifting, on the other hand, is a very recent new-age belief system that grew in popularity on TikTok and doesn’t have scientific backing.

Though it may not be possible to understand exactly why lucid dreams occur, some research reveals that dreams of this type may be associated with times of stress and anxiety. Psychopathologies, such as depression and OCD, may also play a role. And although research on the subject is a bit dated, one study showed that people with a propensity for lucid dreaming might be more likely to score highly on self-assessments of creativity and to see themselves as capable of influencing events, also known as possessing an internal locus of control.

Lucid dreams were the subject of much speculation and debate until 1975, when sleep studies began to prove their existence. One of the most notable studies came from British psychologist and sleep researcher Keith Hearn, who blew the mystery of lucid dreaming wide open by connecting the dots between lucid dreaming and REM sleep.

Through a series of sleep studies, Hearn realized that, like other types of dreams, lucid dreaming tends to occur during REM sleep. And, perhaps, more importantly, while most of the body’s muscles are paralyzed during REM sleep, the eyes are not.

On the morning of April 12, 1975, Hearn made history when one of his test subjects communicated with the researcher by making a sequence of left-right eye movements as they became lucid during a dream state.

It’s been four decades since Hearn’s pioneering research, and while science has helped us decode a few more mysteries about lucid dreaming, much of what we know on the subject still stands.

Barrett tells us, “Most lucid dreams happen during rapid eye movement sleep, but some of them occur at sleep onset in Stage 1 nonREM and probably very rarely in other stages of sleep.”

Later studies showed that lucid dreaming often occurs during moments of particularly high arousal or change in brain wave activity in the outer layer of the brain. Recognition of dreaming may occur specifically in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, where working memory, planning, and abstract reasoning occur.

While gamma wave activity is thought to trigger lucid dreaming, Barrett says, “the two have gotten over-associated,” and the hype isn’t warranted — the prefrontal cortex is the star of the show with lucid dreaming. “What is much more distinctive to lucidity is what parts of the brain are more active than typical during REM sleep,’ she says. “These are parts of the prefrontal cortex — an area associated with reality testing, self-awareness, and abstract thought.”

This type of brain activity during the REM sleep stage begs the question: How does lucid dreaming affect the dreamer’s sleep quality?

According to Barrett, lucid dreaming doesn’t have a detrimental effect on sleep quality. “For the vast majority of people, lucid dreams only occupy a few minutes of sleep on some nights,” she says, adding that “while the state is atypical for dreaming sleep, it’s not taking up enough sleep time to affect the physiological benefits of sleep.”

And research shows much the same. In 2020, 149 participants were asked to keep a dream diary for the duration of a five-week lucid dream induction study. Ultimately, researchers found that lucid dreaming had no negative effect “on the feeling of being refreshed in the morning compared to nights with the recall of a non-lucid dream.” As a matter of fact, the study found that participants reported feeling more refreshed after a night with a lucid dream.

False awakening and lucid dreaming are often confused, but the two are different. A false awakening occurs when the dreamer believes they have woken up but is, in fact, still asleep. Typically, the dreamer will feel as though they are awake and going about their business, getting out of bed, brushing their teeth, etc. False awakenings typically occur in the transition out of REM sleep.

With a lucid dream, the dreamer is aware they are dreaming. And while they are paralyzed in REM sleep, they may not feel that way. Moreover, as we mentioned above, lucid dreamers may be able to control the goings-on in their dream. And finally, with the understanding that they are having a dream, lucid dreamers may be able to intentionally wake up.

It may be worth noting that in 1991, Barrett studied the dreams of 200 subjects and discovered that false awakenings were more likely to occur before, during, or after a lucid dream. Barrett also found that because a false awakening is a dream and not bound by narrative limits, more than one false awakening may occur within a false awakening dream. This is called a double dream or a dream within a dream.

There is some evidence to suggest that lucid dreaming may be beneficial as a type of therapy for nightmares, and new research shows that lucid dreaming can significantly decrease the symptoms of depression and anxiety.

In 2022, researchers out of Northwestern University’s Department of Psychology ran a content analysis on posts from a public lucid dreaming internet forum in an attempt to offer some more definitive answers on the subject. Ultimately, researchers found that lucid dreaming could also be used for creative inspiration, personal growth, and alleviating insomnia symptoms.

Moreover, the team identified some of the positive and negative effects of lucid dreaming.

For anyone who wants to try lucid dreaming, Daniel Love walks us through the process.

Love notes that quality sleep is key to lucid dreaming. “The majority of REM (dreaming) sleep occurs in the final hours of the night, so it’s important to get a healthy amount of sleep,” he says. “Without it, learning how to lucid dream will be incredibly difficult.”

“Keeping a dream journal is an absolutely vital and non-optional step when learning how to lucid dream,” says Love. He adds, “In essence, lucid dreaming is learning how to “spot the difference” between waking life and dreams, and of course, that’s going to be nearly impossible if you do not become familiar with the ‘personality’ of your dream world.”

Ideally, dreamers should record every single important detail, including elements of the dream, experiences, emotions, and thoughts.

Love says, “Would-be lucid dreamers must learn to regularly question their state — seriously asking themselves ‘Could this be a dream?’”

The dreamer should do this whenever waking life events resemble dreams, even if only slightly. This could mean questioning odd events, strong emotions, and coincidences. “By building this habit, eventually, it will transfer into the dream world. At some point, you’ll ask the question within a dream and finally realize you’re dreaming!”

“When things occur that are dreamlike, you can (and should) also perform certain tests to establish if you are dreaming,” says Love. “The easiest “reality test” is to pinch your nose and attempt to breathe through it. During waking life, you obviously won’t be unable to breathe. However, during a dream, you’ll have the uncanny experience of breathing through a pinched nose. A sure sign you are dreaming!

“Lucid dreaming takes time and patience, so don’t give up if you don’t have a lucid dream the first night of trying,” says Love. “Remember, this is a skill that takes roughly the same amount of time as learning a language. You’ll get more proficient the more time and energy is invested.”  Love also recommends making sure you’re learning from reputable sources.

“There are many techniques that aim to induce lucid dreams,” says Love, “However, it is best not to assume that there is a ‘right’ or ‘perfect’ technique.” Love compares choosing a lucid dreaming technique to choosing your clothing. “In much the same way that no one piece of clothing is ‘perfect,’ no one lucid dreaming technique is perfect,” he says. “With clothing, one needs to dress according to the weather and events; lucid dreaming techniques are much like this; sleep is full of variables, and we must adapt the techniques we use to fit the circumstances.”

The MILD technique is where the dreamer memorizes the dream they woke from, then imagines becoming lucidly aware within it. They fall back to sleep, telling themselves that in their next dream, they’ll realize they are dreaming.

The reality testing method “involves performing an action and observing if the results are consistent with results expected when awake,” says Barrett. “By practicing these tests during waking life, one may eventually decide to perform such a test while dreaming, which may fail and let the dreamer realize they are dreaming. They must be ones that vary in waking life vs. dreams for that individual.”

In “Inception,” Cobb used a spinning top — if he was awake, the top would stop rotating at some point, whereas it continued to spin infinitely when he was dreaming. If a top doesn’t do it for you, Barrett says that the following tests are common ones that work for many people: