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Electric Stimulation Could Help You Control Your Dreams

Posted by samzenpus on from the lets-get-lucid dept.

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."

7 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. insert PKD joke here by waddgodd · · Score: 5, Funny

    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
  2. Re:Used to be able to dream lucidly when ... by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

    Someone once told me that if you dream of flying it really means sex.

    I asked her what it meant if you dreamed of sex.

    It would appear to mean you aren't getting any, and aren't going to - at least from her.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  3. Rekall by ArcadeMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Choose your ego trip:
    - Millionaire Playboy
    - Sports Hero
    - Industrial Tycoon
    - Secret Agent

    --
    Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
  4. Re:40 hz of current? by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 4, Funny

    Makes as much sense as megabytes of keyboards.

    --
    Mostly random stuff.
  5. Unfortunately... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 5, Funny

    The researchers suggest that the technique could potentially be used to help people who suffer from chronic nightmares.

    ... my recurring nightmare is that people attach electrodes to my head and zap me while I sleep.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  6. Re:Used to be able to dream lucidly when ... by AK+Marc · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I worked hard to develop my lucidity. How did you lose it? For me, it never left, and never needed to work to keep it.

    For me, it started with being able to "change channels". When I didn't like a dream, I'd pick a new one. I could also wake myself up. Working on that for a while, I got to where I could "tweak" dreams. add in things, take them away, play with them.

    --
    Learn to love Alaska
  7. Wait, what? by fyngyrz · · Score: 5, Funny

    "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.