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What Are Lucid Dreams, and Are There Any Real Dangers To Them?

Discover what causes lucid dreams and whether they pose any potential dangers. New research suggests that lucid dreaming is generally a positive experience — and could even benefit your mental health.

ByConor Feehly
Credit: Khrystyna Hurelych/Shutterstock

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Lucid dreams — where people become aware that they're in a dream, and can actively alter or adapt it — are weird and wild, especially for the dreamer.

Want to talk to animals? Go right ahead. Turn that recurring nightmare of falling in an endless void into a power fantasy of soaring through the air like Superman? No problem. In a lucid dream, in theory, if you can imagine it, you can do it. What's more, the phenomenon has recently become fertile ground for psychological research.

Yes, there is scientific evidence that lucid dreaming is a real phenomenon. In 2021, an international group of researchers were able to establish real-time dialogue between lucid dreamers and the experimenters. Participants were able to answer yes-no questions and simple math problems, while dreaming, by intentionally moving their eyes and facial muscles.

Clearly, the prospect of controlling the action in a dream holds enormous ...

  • Conor Feehly

    Conor Feehly is New Zealand-based science writer who covers a wide range of topics, including astronomy and neuroscience, with an eye for research at the intersection of science and philosophy. He received a masters in science communication degree from the University of Otago. Conor is a regular contributor to Discover Magazine, with his work also appearing in New Scientist, Nautilus Magazine, Live Science, and New Humanist among others.

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