Did you ever think of dreams as being a gateway to an alternate world that revolves solely around what you desire? Did you ever think of the possibility of controlling your dreams?
Lucid Dreams
Normally, we cannot differentiate between dreams and reality until we wake up. In such dreams, we cannot actively make decisions, nor can we control what we see. But lucid dreams are different. As concluded by Stephen LaBerge’s study, in a lucid dream, we are consciously aware of the fact that we are dreaming while dreaming. It’s as if we are ”fully awake” in our dream. And, because of this consciousness, it is possible to control or manipulate our dreams and create dream-worlds that revolve around our imagination. Suppose you’re having a dream, and you then suddenly realize that you’re dreaming. Then, with this newfound consciousness, you can have the ability to shape or narrate the rest of your dream. If you desire, you could create a world where you can experience flying around the world, or you could experience the immense strength that Hulk possesses by rampaging across the city. It’s as if we’re whisked into an alternate world with endless possibilities, with only our imagination being the limiting factor.
Picture Courtesy : Pixabay
In the following video, Stephen LaBerge (research associate at Stanford University) explains how people have lucid dreams.
video credit: Conscious Pictures
Lucid Dreams and Technology
There are several movies that have been inspired by the concept of lucid dreaming. Perhaps the most famous movie is Inception, where the main protagonist, Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), can manipulate and control others dreams. The widespread success of movies such as Inception have encouraged firms to develop products that contribute to the emerging market of dream technology. One such product is the Remee Sleep Mask. This mask lets people dream lucidly by simply wearing the mask while sleeping.
The following video introduces the Remee Sleep Mask, a product of Bitbanger Labs :
video credit : Bitbanger Labs
Applications of Lucid Dreaming
Melanie Schadlich and Daniel Erlacher conducted a study on the applications of lucid dreams. They came up with the following results: The most frequent application (81.4%) was having fun, followed by changing a bad dream or nightmare into a pleasant one (63.8%), solving problems (29.9%), getting creative ideas or insights (27.6%) and practicing skills (21.3%). Perhaps one of the promising applications of lucid dreams would be to nurture the mental health of people. By controlling dreams, you could deal with nightmarish situations in a creative and a pleasant manner. Thus, lucid dreams could be used to treat patients with post-traumatic stress disorders(PTSD) and anxiety disorders.
This is just one of the many potential applications. The idea of controlling your dreams has inspired many research experts and firms to dig deeper into this topic. There have been experiments conducted that show the possibilities of controlling others dreams to a certain degree. Thus, making Inception a reality may not seem so farfetched in the distant future.
picture courtesy: Daniel Koditschek