In July 2020, the scientific journal Frontiers in Psychology published an article authored by Denholm J. Aspy from the University of Adelaide, Australia, in which the scientist summarizes many years of experience researching various methods of lucid dreaming induction.
Based on experience from previous studies, the author used five of the most popular induction techniques: reality testing (RT), sleep fragmentation (wake back to bed, WBTB), the mnemonic induction technique (MILD), senses initiated lucid dream technique (SSILD), and the combined techniques.
355 participants with an interest in lucid dreaming completed a pre-test questionnaire and then kept a sleep diary for one week before practicing one of the suggested induction techniques on week two of the experiment. All participants were instructed to set the alarm to five hours after falling asleep, place it in a location that required getting out of bed upon awakening, and then practice the technique assigned to them when the alarm went off.
The result of the international study, with participants hailing from a wide selection of countries, was the confirmation of the SSILD (16.5%) and MILD (16.9%) techniques as being most effective in comparison with other methods of induction. The WBTB technique was used in all cases.
The SSILD technique involves waking up after roughly five hours of sleep and then repeatedly switching attention between visual, auditory, and physical sensations before returning to sleep. The mnemonic technique (MILD) is based on repeating the statement “the next time I fall asleep, I will remember that I am dreaming” just before falling asleep.
It has also been shown that the overall frequency of retained dream memories has a positive effect on the frequency of lucid dreams. The reality check technique, on the other hand, was perceived by many participants as difficult to perform and required a longer time to master.
This is one of the largest studies of lucid dreaming techniques to date, and the results will be of great interest to all practitioners.
