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Electric Stimulation Could Help You Control Your Dreams
sciencehabit (1205606) writes "A new study suggests that mild current applied to the scalp while sleeping can help people become aware of, and even control, their dreams—a phenomenon called lucid dreaming. Researchers recruited 27 men and women to spend several nights in a German sleep lab. After the volunteers had plunged into REM sleep, a state in which people are unable to move and the most vividly recalled dreams occur, researchers applied electrical current to their skulls near the forehead and temples. This boosted neural activity in the frontotemporal cortex, a brain region associated with conscious self-awareness, which normally gets tamped down during REM. Researchers then woke the participants and asked them to detail any dreams they could remember. People who had received 40 Hz of current were lucid in more than 70% of their reported dreams. The researchers suggest that the technique could potentially be used to help people who suffer from chronic nightmares."
Torn between "Do androids dream of electric sheep" joke and a "we'll remember it for you wholesale" one.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you
That's the smell of your dreams fizzling away.
Spent All My Mod Points
... I was a teenager. Was really pretty cool. Especially being able to fly everywhere.
40 hz of current? Looks like the editor is the one asleep.
we don't need no stinkin' current. essentially: wake up then go back to sleep, with instructions for Mylie Cyrus or your choice of avatars.
Researchers then woke the participants and asked them to detail any dreams they could remember. People who had received 40 Hz of current
Of which 70% dreamt they were Ted Bundy at his execution. Another 10% thought they were they were Horace Pinker from Shocker. , and 5% thought they were Michael Clark Duncan in the Green Mile
I'm starting to suspect that what really happens is a bunch of junk floods our mind. Then in the instant before we wake up, we start making sense of those signals and remember dreaming.
"40 Hz of current"? current is not measured in Hz.
It's trivially easy to give 40 small shocks per second to the temples. Really, I'm tempted to try this for fun. But a small device that could both detect REM and then deliver the 40Hz stimulation would probably not need to cost more than $10. The theory seems sound, and it really could be awesome! I'd love to see a homebrew version.
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We applied the cortical electrodes, but were unable to get a neural response from either patient.
The thing about this stuff is that there is no way to empirically observe whether or not a sleeping person that is not yourself is having a lucid dream. Which means that all data is of the form "these subjects reported lucid dreaming," rather than, "these subjects had lucid dreams." The difference is that the electrical stimulation of the planning area of the cortex may be just giving the subjects a feeling of control rather than actual control of the dream. Or it may even be effecting the way they remember or report their dreams rather than effecting the dreams themselves.
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This has been known since the 1950s and utilized by the Global Powers during the Cold War and event today. Fool !
The researchers suggest that the technique could potentially be used to help people who suffer from chronic nightmares.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Got it.
There was an article on slashdot a while ago about how frequent gamers tend to not have nightmares because they're so used to staying calm and winning in frightening situations. I can personally say that that is extremely true. That seems safer and more long-term than this treatment.
So, 40Hz aside, how many were lucid if no current was applied? I mean being woke up in REM phase surely helps.
They only ever have one nightmare and when they report it to me it is time to train them to take control of their dreams and use simple techniques to "change channels", "teleport" or thrown balls of "white light" to erase unwanted details. later on when they are older we talk about much more subtle control and analysis of their dream experiences to ensure they are moving from being able to just defend themselves to being productive within the dream.
I thought current might be in amps or that an oscillation might be in Hz.
for lurid dreaming?
Mostly random stuff.
Wonder what effect a stun gun would have on my dreams?
You let me know the first time someone chooses to electrocute their own brain for fun and convenience; then we can all declare Darwin the biggest idiot to ever live.
later on when they are older we talk about much more subtle control and analysis of their dream experiences to ensure they are moving from being able to just defend themselves to being productive within the dream.
I do love those dreams in which I am being reproductive!
Should be:
Electric Stimulation Could Help Someone Else Control Your Dreams
Current is measured in amps. 40Hz describes the frequency.
"40 hz of current"
Is that like four cc's of amplification? 18 db of sugar? 16 mph of cotton?
Someone help me here, I'm drowning.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
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Another trick is to get used to squeeze your arm hard enough to feel pain very frequently, at least every 5 minutes. You need to be aware of doing it and make sure you feel the pain every time. If you do it while dreaming you will only feel somewhat numb no matter how hard you squeeze, and this is what you need to look for. I got lucid dreams several times using this method, but I stopped doing it because my sleep quality got much worse.
Firstly: the study says "synchronous oscillations around 25 and 40 Hz". Secondly: I wonder what voltage they're using...2 amps? Maybe 14,000 Ergs? Or how about 350 grams?
Twenty years ago when I was very interested in lucid dreaming I read about
a setup that would flash LEDs into your (closed) eyes when you went into
REM sleep to prod you into lucid dreaming.
Nothing new under the sun.
This technique seems similar to the machine they used in Total Recall to induce a mental vacation.
Maybe you should read a bit more about the topic.
This one first: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...
It's probably tDCS with 40hz pulsed direct current that was used and those who don't seem to figure it out are either dumb or playing dumb to look smart, either way they are lame.
It is called tDCS and it has already formed an amateur community, search in Reddit for example, many have bought their devices and many of them have made them themselves. If you are going to try this, then do your research and try to be safe. There are safety guidelines made by some guy here for example: :"Brain lesions occurred at a current density of 142.9 A/m2 for durations greater than 10 minutes."
http://speakwisdom.wordpress.c...
Also there was a study on rats which found that
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19403329
Exceeding recommended current will probably give you skin burns long before you reach anything brain damaging. Don't get me wrong though, I don't recommend you anything and I am not a doctor either.
I already dream in full color, and I shit you not, feel like I am able to use my senses - sound, sight, touch, smell, taste, etc, as if I were awake.
A while back, I had a dream where I found a shitload of cash - I recall in the dream saying "Let me put it in this draw,I'll get it later - and the person I was with saying "Yeah, but this is a dream, you'll look there and nothing will be there," to which I replied "Damn, you're right." I woke up after a few more things occurred in said dream, not as soon as I was aware I was dreaming. I was in control of my dream, aware I was dreaming, and this is just one example of things I go through almost every night.
Sometimes this is awesome, sometimes this is terrifying, sometimes it's neither extreme, just fun. To actually have more control
If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
This book is one of my favorites. Stephen LaBerge teaches techniques that work very well for me to become aware of dreaming.
He also teaches how to use the skill for problem solving and creativity.
One of the techniques for becoming aware is to ask yourself during the day if you are dreaming and look for dream signs, which makes you ask yourself that same question while dreaming and helps realize that you are dreaming, at which point you can do anything. I guess that is where the electric current comes in handy because you are not used to it during your waking hours so when you experience it, it makes you realize you must be asleep, which means you can be or do anything you could ever want.
One of the coolest things for me is to fly to new strange cities.
If you realize you are sleeping and in a lucid state and decide to just use it like a sandbox playgound and do immoral things knowing that it is just a dream and not real people or things... does that make you bad or immoral? I won't go into detail but I have experimented a few times but stopped because I felt it might affect who I am since nobody really understands how dreams really affect people. There are limits for instance I can not make changes to buildings or the people in the dream, etc but I have a lot of control in my dreams as far as what I personally do inside the dream. I can switch channels by blinking my eyes if I don't like a dream scene. I don't get control of my dreams as much as I used to as a kid but still get awareness and control inside my dreams a few times a month.
I see it like writing a book. Just because you think of something for a story it does not mean you would do that or would want to do that in real life. Just in case though I really didn't like the feeling of when I did these experiments doing bad or immoral things so I stopped that pretty quickly. I do wonder though if someone purposely and repeatedly tried to do the opposite of what they normally would do purposely do immoral things... would that affect them in real life over time.
What is the word for a phobia of sleepwalkers?
tDCS (transcracial direct-current stimulation) devices are remarkable in many ways, and a good - albeit basic - unit can be built with relatively few parts for less then $20, plus a good multimeter. However, if you know little to nothing about electronics - learn electronics first. If you screw it up, you can severely burn your scalp, cause blood vessels in your eyes to explode, and I am sure worse. To be safe, you can purchase a fairly sophisticated device from http://www.foc.us/ they sell it to boost reaction time in gaming, but it is all the same. Depending on where you place the electrodes you really can boost your brain power in many different ways, and the effects can be dramatic. You can also take better control of brain functioning, I have had severe, clinical (really really bad) anxiety disorder since I was just a kid. Strategic use of my device has nearly eliminated my anxiety and I rarely need a benzo anymore. As a self-described (slightly reckless) bio-hacker, I have been seriously considering shaving my head down to the scalp just to gain more convenient access to my brain without sponge electrodes.
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These seemingly safer types of tools have been around for years, why not compare to electrically shocking yourself in your sleep?
http://www.lucidity.com/novadr...
http://sleepwithremee.com/luci...
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Duane Dibbley ...
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