Nirit Soffer-Dudek from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, asks this question in the article published in the Frontiers in Neuroscience journal. According to the researcher, techniques of deliberate lucid dreaming induction have become increasingly popular in recent years due to the frequent mention of the phenomenon in the media and popular culture. However, there is also a dark side to popularizing this phenomenon.
Why do people want to voluntarily induce lucid dreams? Partly because they are tempted to enter an altered state of consciousness without the use of substances and to perform actions that are impossible in real life. Many scientists believe that lucid dreams have a positive effect on the human psyche, helping us overcome fears and heal, as well as develop creativity and resistance to stress. However, there are few studies on this topic and their findings are ambiguous.
Soffer-Dudek, on the other hand, suggests that frequent deliberate induction can be harmful to the dreamer’s mental health: it leads to sleep disruption, and in some cases can even erase the boundaries between reality and fantasy. Critical awareness is usually absent during normal sleep because our brain suppresses cortical activity during sleep. In lucid dreams, however, we try to resist this suppression, which in the case of frequent attempts can also hypothetically lead to potential health risks.
Of particular risk is the popular sleep fragmentation technique – some studies have shown that the snooze alarm function disrupts wakefulness and sleep cycles and, in cases of abuse, leads to stress and depression. Whether the potential risks apply more or less to certain populations remains to be shown by further research.
The article was published in January 2020 in Frontiers in Neuroscience.
