Is the frequency of lucid dreams, nightmares, and sleep paralysis related to deficiencies in reality testing and the dreamer’s paranormal experiences or beliefs? Scientists from Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, tried to answer this unusual question.
The study involved 455 UK respondents who had previously experienced lucid dreaming. The respondents filled out reports in which they assessed the above factors.
Forms of paranormal experiences such as telepathy, foresight, apprehension, psychic abilities, mediumship, and spiritism are associated with an open and intuitive approach to experience, just like lucid dreaming. The authors of the study took the above claim one step further, suggesting that a tendency towards the subjective paranormal, coupled with a lack of reality checks, can lead to at least one altered state of consciousness.
The key symptoms of sleep paralysis are often auditory and visual hallucinations, which can take the form of supernatural experiences that terrify the sleeper. One of the factors behind this fear during sleep paralysis is often the presence of an otherworldly character: an intruder (the feeling of an evil presence) or an incubus (the feeling of pressure on the chest, suffocation, and physical pain).
As with lucid dreaming, research shows that personality factors influence the onset of pleasant sleep paralysis or, conversely, paralysis with severe hallucinations. In addition, the person’s imaginative capacity plays an important role in both lucid dreaming and sleep paralysis.
Ideas or experiences of the paranormal was found to have a positive but minor effect on lucid dreaming, nightmares, and sleep paralysis. The reality check factor during auditory or visual hallucinations, however, had a great influence on the experience of lucid dreaming. The research thus shows the importance of being aware of lucid dreaming in order to recognize the phenomenon.
The study was published in March 2020 in Frontiers in Psychology magazine.
