I'm going to be honest: I've never had a lucid dream. Although there are plenty of people who have and can tell you how fun it is, there are also many people—like me—who will never know what it's like. If you're not familiar with the term, lucid dreams are dreams in which you know that you're dreaming while still asleep. They occur when your brain enters what's called REM sleep, during which our bodies typically experience involuntary movements and rapid eye movement (REM). During this phase of sleep, we also tend to experience increased levels of dopamine—the neurotransmitter connected with pleasure and reward—as well as heightened activity in areas such as the prefrontal cortex that regulate attention and problem-solving skills. This combination gives rise to very vivid imagery: for example, some describe feeling as though they can fly or walk through walls because their brains have been fooled into thinking that these things are possible.
Everyone dreams.
Everyone dreams. You may not remember your dreams, but that doesn't mean they don't happen. Dreams are a normal part of sleep, and they're often a way to process the day's events or remember things from the past.
Dreams can be helpful--they might help us solve problems or make decisions in our waking lives. But sometimes, dreams can also be disturbing nightmares that occur when something traumatic happens.
There are several ways to remember your dreams.
There are several ways to remember your dreams.
- Keep a dream journal. This is the most traditional method, and one that many people find helpful. If you're going to do this, make sure that it's somewhere easy for you to access in the morning (like on your bedside table). You can write down any details from your dream or draw pictures of what happened in it--it doesn't matter what form the writing takes as long as it helps jog your memory when recalling later.
- Keep a dream diary: Instead of keeping track of each individual dream day by day, try writing down all of them at once in one place so that they're easier for you to reference later on when trying to recall specific details about certain dreams or nights' sleep overall!
Dreaming helps us process emotions and experiences during the day.
Dreaming is a way of processing emotions and experiences during the day. When we're awake, we can react to what's happening around us in real time, but when we're asleep, our brains take over and process things for us. This is why dreams often make little sense--they're helping us make sense out of all the things that happened during the day!
Dreams also allow us to deal with past events in new ways by putting them into context with other things going on in our lives at that moment. For example: if someone has had an argument with their friend earlier in the week and then dreams about them later Friday night (when they'll likely see them again), dreaming may help them resolve some issues between themselves so there won't be any tension when they meet up again later that weekend.
The content of your dreams is partially determined by your brain.
Your brain is the most important factor in determining the content of your dreams. It's like a filter, which takes all the information that you've been exposed to during your day and processes it into something meaningful and coherent. Your brain also acts as a storyteller by creating a narrative out of all these random experiences, often linking them together so they make sense in some way.
Your subconscious mind uses this filtered information as inspiration for new ideas or solutions when trying to solve problems or make decisions while dreaming--and sometimes even when we're awake! The more knowledge you have stored up in your memory bank (aka "long-term memory"), the better able you'll be at recalling details from past dreams or figuring out what they mean once they start popping up again later down the line...
Can you control your dreams?
You can't control your dreams, but that doesn't mean you can't try! As with most things in life, the more effort you put into something the better off you'll be. In this case, it means learning about dream control techniques and practicing them before going to bed. The internet is full of information on how to lucid dream; there are even apps for it now!
Conclusion
I hope you found some of these facts about dreaming interesting and maybe even inspiring. If you've ever had a lucid dream, or even if you just want to experiment with the concept, then I encourage you to give it a try! The most important thing is to not let fear keep us from exploring our own minds--and what better way than by traveling through them?