Lucid dreaming techniques and tips have been shared online by many practitioners of lucid dreaming and have been the subject of a small number of research studies.
To date, there is no known, reliable way to induce lucid dreaming consistently. However, some techniques and supplements can be used to increase the likelihood of experiencing lucidity in your dream state.
Many people believe in the powers of lucid dreams to help them solve difficult problems, increase self-knowledge, improve health and enjoy life more. It is also used for visualization purposes, wish fulfilment and to explore memories of past events
What tips and techniques are recommended for inducing a lucid dreaming state when you fall asleep? Here is a guide for beginner’s on some of the strategies used for controlling your dreams.



- Increases acetylcholine activity for vivid dreams
- Promotes REM sleep stage
- Improves memory of dreams
Understanding Lucid Dreaming
Lucid dreaming happens when the person having the dream knows he or she is dreaming. Without fully awakening, the dreamer is often able to influence the happenings within the dream.
With practice, a lucid dreamer can manage and use her dreams to gain insight and understanding not seemingly possible during waking times.
Research on lucid dreaming from past decades has yielded little useful knowledge in this topic. However, some results show potentials for using lucid dreaming as a therapy for combating various conditions associated with declined cognition and/or psychosis.
Researching how to attain a lucid dreaming stat may help scientists to better understand altered states of consciousness, mental illness, psychosis, recurring nightmares, depression and PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).
Lucid Dreaming Techniques
If a dreamer does not know she is dreaming, then she has no conscious capacity to influence the dream’s happenings.
Scary or otherwise “bad” dreams, when uncontrolled, can leave the dreamer feeling frightened, weak or upset upon waking.
Conversely, controlled positive dreams can be very fulfilling and result in improved mood, inspiration, ambition and general feelings of well-being.
Most of the lucid dreaming techniques studies in research involve cognitive training. Strategies for training the brain during wakefulness may be helpful for recognizing when a dream is occurring. Knowledge of the dream is the first key to controlling the dream’s content.
Other methods tested for inducing lucid dreaming include taking natural supplements, certain drug therapies, and utilizing external stimuli, like flashing lights or binaural beats for instance.
In one analysis conducted by Swiss and German scientists and reported in the Journal of Consciousness and Cognition, data from 35 separate lucid dreaming studies were scrutinized.
The analysis was intended to rate the effectiveness of certain lucid dream inducers, and the quality of methodologies employed in the studies.
How to Induce Lucidity in Dreams
Some of these lucid dream inducers included mnemonically induced lucid dreaming (MILD), reality testing (reflection), reality testing plus intentionality (Tholey’s combined technique), NovaDreamer lucid dreaming masks and WBTB (wake, back to bed) strategies.
Results showed that no lucid dreaming techniques studied were able to induce lucid dreaming with any significant degree of consistency. This analysis also concluded that many of the studies scrutinized were of low methodological quality.
One double-blind, placebo-controlled study concluded that oral administration of 8 mg of galantamine causes a 580% increase in the likelihood for lucid dreaming to occur.
Galantamine is a substance used for Alzheimer’s disease, memory impairment and certain other conditions, especially when caused by vascular dysfunction.
Galantamine works by increasing levels of a key neurotransmitter linked to dream activity, acetylcholine. It may help users experience more vivid dreams and increase the chances of remembering a dream the next morning.
Lucid Dreaming Tips
The following tips may help to increase success if you are a beginner trying to lucid dream tonight.
Note that although various potential lucid dream inducers exist, the only inducer required is the brain.
Lucid dreams have been occurring naturally, since the dawn of mankind – with no mechanical, strategical or pharmaceutical inducers needed.
Tip 1: Lucid Dream Supplements
Many people wishing to experience lucid dreaming opt to use supplements.
Lucid dream pills are available and work by increasing levels of acetylcholine; a neurotransmitter in the brain. Acetylcholine is largely responsible for modulating REM (rapid eye movement) sleep phases.
Lucid dreaming is believed to occur during REM sleep. Higher levels of acetylcholine are associated with broadened REM cycle times. By lengthening REM periods of sleep via a quality acetylcholine-enhancing supplement, lucid dreaming may be made more likely.
Tip 2: Using Sleep Aids
It may be possible to increase the likelihood of lucid dreaming by boosting levels of melatonin, the body’s natural sleep aid.
Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the brain’s pineal gland. Melatonin inhibits the formation of melanin. It is responsible for regulating reproductive cycles – and sleep-wake cycles.
High melatonin levels at night are associated with improved sleep quality. Levels of melatonin then fall during daylight, which enables feelings of alertness in waking hours.
Elevated melatonin levels may improve the ability to fall asleep after a long day and vividness of dreams. It may also increase the chances for naturally inducing lucid dreaming.
Tip 3: Mindfulness
You may increase your chances of lucid dreaming by actively training your mind during waking periods. Be attentive to the details of your days. Get in touch with the finer points of mundane activities, objects and concepts.
By reflecting more on your immediate, tangible environment, you can enhance your capacities to recognize when you are in a dream state.
Tip 4: Journals
Many lucid dreamers claim that it is very helpful to keep a journal on the bedstand. Upon waking, write down the details of your dreams you can remember.
Do this before stirring or speaking. Lay still and collect your memories, thoughts and feelings of the past night’s dreams.
In this way, you train yourself to become more in-tune with your dream states, enhancing your chances for at-will lucid dreaming.
Conclusions
There are various other lucid dreaming techniques and tips to consider. By practicing regularly and employing these methods, you can learn how to enter states of lucidity during sleep at will.
The realm of lucid dreaming is still quite undefined. Research continues to explore its mysteries and potentials for improving health and life quality.
- Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, et al., editors. Neuroscience. 2nd edition. Sunderland (MA): Sinauer Associates; 2001.
- Voss U1, Frenzel C, Koppehele-Gossel J, Hobson A. Lucid dreaming: an age-dependent brain dissociation. J Sleep Res. 2012 Dec;21(6):634-42. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2012.01022.x. Epub 2012 May 29.
- Mota-Rolim SA1, Araujo JF. Neurobiology and clinical implications of lucid dreaming. Med Hypotheses. 2013 Nov;81(5):751-6. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2013.04.049. Epub 2013 Jul 6.
- Stumbrys T, Erlacher D, Johnson M, Schredl M The phenomenology of lucid dreaming: an online survey. Am J Psychol. 2014 Summer;127(2):191-204.
- Aurora RN1, Zak RS, Auerbach SH, Casey KR, Chowdhuri S, Karippot A, Maganti RK, Ramar K, Kristo DA, Bista SR, Lamm CI, Morgenthaler TI; Standards of Practice Committee; American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Best practice guide for the treatment of nightmare disorder in adults. J Clin Sleep Med. 2010 Aug 15;6(4):389-401.
- Vadim S. Rotenberg* Lucid dreams: their advantage and disadvantage in the frame of search activity concept Front Psychol. 2015; 6: 1472.
- Stumbrys T1, Erlacher D, Schädlich M, Schredl M Induction of lucid dreams: a systematic review of evidence. Conscious Cogn. 2012 Sep;21(3):1456-75. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2012.07.003. Epub 2012 Jul 28.
Article last updated on: July 5th, 2018 by Nootriment