Most laboratory experiments, in general, are conducted on men. This is due to natural causes: women’s menstrual cycles and pregnancies complicate the process and increase costs. A group of scientists from Italy and Spain, led by P.J. Lopez-Soto, F. Fabbian and R. Manfredini, decided to fill the gap and analyze gender differences in the field of dreams, including lucid dreams.
The researchers found that the difference was quite significant, for example, in the content of dreams: men talk about more aggressive topics, while women are more likely to raise family themes, even though they often experience nightmares. It is also interesting that men usually dream in the third person, while women dream in the first person.
As for lucid dreams, which together with out-of-body experiences can be categorized within the concept of “phase states,” the female experience in this area is characterized by more realistic dreams and logical thoughts, but the LD can also be subconscious and less coherent. Men tend to have better control over what is happening.
Another conclusion the researchers came to is that lucid dreams are connected with creativity, as shown by the example of patients with narcolepsy. A person with this disorder, upon falling asleep immediately enters the phase of rapid eye movement. People with narcolepsy received higher scores for all creative tasks, which suggests that the REM phase plays an important role in the development of our creative potential.
Does your experience of lucid dreaming confirm the scientists’ conclusions?
The article was published in the European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences in 2021.
