<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Lucid dreams feel just as real as waking life most of the time,” said </span><a href="http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/mind/how-to-have-a-lucid-dream/news-story/f49605c38a5051359dad20fa4e1bb1bf"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Aspy</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. “You move around and walk, all the senses are there.” </span></p><p><div data-conversation-spotlight=""></div></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Aspy’s research concerned </span><a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news95682.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">three induction techniques</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, none of which require any external equipment (except an alarm clock). </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The first is called reality testing. In reality testing, participants check their environment several times a day to confirm whether they are dreaming. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The “wake back to bed” technique involves waking up after five hours, staying awake for about five minutes, and then going back to sleep. This increases the chance of entering a REM sleep period, in which dreams are more likely to occur. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The final technique is called mnemonic induction of lucid dreams, or MILD. MILD involves waking up after five hours of sleep, and developing the intention to remember that you are dreaming before going back to sleep. This is achieved by repeating the phrase: “The next time I’m dreaming, I will remember that I’m dreaming.”</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The MILD technique works on what we call ‘prospective memory,’—that is, your ability to remember to do things in the future,” explained </span><a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news95682.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Aspy</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. “By repeating a phrase that you will remember you’re dreaming, it forms an intention in your mind that you will, in fact, remember that you are dreaming, leading to a lucid dream.” </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Those who tried the combination of MILD and reality testing had the </span><a href="http://www.iflscience.com/brain/a-technique-to-control-your-dreams-has-been-verified-for-the-first-time/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">greatest chance</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of having a lucid dream, at 53 percent. Those who tried reality testing alone, however, showed no benefit. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Does all this dream control make you, well, need a nap? According to Aspy, no. “Importantly, those who reported success using the MILD technique were significantly less sleep deprived the next day, indicating that lucid dreaming did not have any negative effect on sleep quality,” he </span><a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news95682.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">said</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Aspy hopes this research will have benefits that reach to the waking hours. “These results take us one step closer to developing highly effective lucid dream induction techniques that will allow us to study the many potential benefits of lucid dreaming, such as treatment for nightmares and improvement of physical skills and abilities through rehearsal in the lucid dream environment.” </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You can read the full study in the journal </span><a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037/drm0000059"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dreaming</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p>
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