A lucid dream is a stage of your sleep where you’re conscious about your dream. But, why are people so eager to have it? They are because, in lucid dreams, they can control the events and enjoy what they cannot do in real life.
Some experience lucid dreams by accident while some can achieve them intentionally by following some techniques. An ideal sleep environment, like sleeping on an organic mattress, can also help you achieve lucid dreams.
However, if you want to take control of your dream, keep reading this article because it will explain everything about achieving lucid dreams.
When Does a Lucid Dream Occur?
Did you know that during sleep, you go through different stages of sleep?
Your sleep cycle moves through four major stages of sleep: wake, light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. The first three stages are considered NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement). REM (Rapid Eye Movement) is the final stage of your sleep cycle, where you begin to dream.
When you sleep light or deep, your brain rests. Your brain becomes active in the REM stage. At this stage, you may start dreaming, and lucid dreams may occur.
How Can You Experience Lucid Dreams?
To experience lucid dreaming, you can go through the following points.
Increasing REM Sleep
To experience lucid dreams you will need to spend more time in the REM stage since lucid dreams occur in this stage. The best way to increase your REM sleep is to achieve more amount of quality sleep each night.
When you sleep healthy and enough, your body can perform all four stages of sleep properly. Then, you can reach the final stage, REM sleep.
Unhealthy sleep habits mostly prevent an individual from getting lucid dreams. Their sleeping environment and bedding products also affect the quality of their sleep. When you sleep on an organic mattress, it offers you several advantages, like a medium firm base, allergen-free and aches-free nights, a non-toxic and chemical-free bed, etc., which are essential for a good night’s sleep.
Also, make sure to keep your bedroom cool, skip heavy meals and caffeine, install dim lights, and avoid addictive gadgets in bed to achieve a night of uninterrupted, intensive sleep.
Practicing Reality Testing
Since you are aware during a lucid dream, it becomes difficult to understand whether it is real or a dream. That is where you can rely on practicing a reality test.
You can use some popular techniques to distinguish a lucid dream from reality. For example,
- You can push your finger against a wall. If you are dreaming the finger may easily pass through the wall while the wall will stop your finger in reality.
- Try pinching your nose. If it is your dream, you will be able to breathe.
- If you have a tattoo, it will look different in your dream.
- You can see yourself in a mirror. If it is a dream, your reflection will look different.
- Try to read something twice. If it is a dream, the text will be changed the second time.
You can use these techniques to improve your chances of getting lucid dreams. Through these techniques, you can train yourself to question reality and to be more aware of your surroundings.
Starting a Dream Journal
Many use to keep a dream diary or a dream journal to increase their odds of having a lucid dream. The process is very simple. You just need to write down everything you will remember about your dream every morning.
The act of writing down your dream in the morning will help you remember them better. You may observe patterns in your dreams over time. This will help your brain to be more aware of dreaming.
You can keep a pen and a notebook beside your organic mattress. Also, you can use a notepad, or a note app on your phone.
Trying Induction Techniques
There are chances of developing lucid dreams by following some induction techniques.
- Wake-Initiated Lucid Dreaming (WILD): In this technique, you go directly into a dream state from being awake. You have to lie down and relax until you experience hypnagogic hallucinations. It is the state in which you fall asleep slowly and may have short dreams. This technique requires enough focus to enter yourself into the dream.
- Wake Back To Bed (WBTB): In this technique, you’ll need an alarm clock and set it for 5-6 hours after falling asleep. After a few more minutes of waking up when you’ll go back to sleep again, you can have a lucid dream.
- Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dream (MILD): In this technique, you need to tell yourself that the next time when you’ll dream, you’ll be aware of it. Thus, your brain will identify the signal and know that you’re dreaming.
The Bottom Line
Since dreams are related to our unconscious mind, lucid dreams can be a great way to connect to your true nature. Sometimes, lucid dreaming is fun as you can enjoy strange experiences by regulating the dream world with your imagination.
For example, you can fly like a bird or live someone else’s life in your lucid dream.
To achieve lucid dreams, the role of an organic mattress is significant. It offers optimal comfort to maintain your quality sleep. Besides sleeping on such a mattress, consider following the above-mentioned ways to enjoy the fun experience of your lucid dream world.