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The Effect of Pornography on Erotic and Wet Dreams

Posted by Ryan Hurd on January 11, 2013 | 6 Comments

Does viewing pornography affect the dreaming minds of modern men? Given that the Internet is riddled with porn, and given that dreams so often reflect our thoughts, interests and concerns, it shouldn’t be a surprise that new research suggests why yes, yes it does.
Sexual content is one of the most common themes for dreams. But [...]

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6 Best Scientifically Tested Techniques for Lucid Dreaming

Posted by Ryan Hurd on September 18, 2012 | 10 Comments

Scientifically speaking, what are the best ways to go lucid in a dream?
This is the subject of a recent essay published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition. The authors, all German and Swiss researchers, looked at 35 studies of lucid dreaming induction, or techniques for gaining self-awareness and clarity in the dreamstate. Researchers rated the [...]

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Lucid Dreaming on the Brain

Posted by Ryan Hurd on July 31, 2012 | 13 Comments

A fascinating new study has just come out showing precisely the parts of the brain that are associated with meta-consciousness, or the ability to be conscious of ourselves. Michael Dresler and co-researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry used magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) to demonstrate how the brain during a lucid dream differs from [...]

Filed Under: Lucid Dreaming, New Dream Studies

10 Habits and Traits of Successful Lucid Dreamers

Posted by Ryan Hurd on February 29, 2012 | 8 Comments

I’ll just go ahead and say it: not everyone is cut out to be a lucid dreamer. I’m not meaning to be a downer, but it’s true. While there is so much hype about how achieving self-awareness in your dreams is a learnable skill—and it surely is—some people simply will be more successful than others.
The [...]

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Neuroscience of Lucid Dreaming

Posted by Ryan Hurd on January 6, 2011 | 8 Comments

Lucid dreaming research is growing up. At least, that is Allan Hobson’s take on the recent burst of scientific studies published on conscious dreaming. Once a myth of Carlos Castaneda, and then a topic guaranteed to instantly transport researchers to the margins of academia, lucid dreaming has become a hot topic for neuroscience and cognitive [...]

Filed Under: Lucid Dreaming, New Dream Studies

The Mystery of Hypnagogia

Posted by Ryan Hurd on December 10, 2010 | 17 Comments

Hypnagogia is the imagery, sounds and strange bodily feelings that are felt at “sleep onset.” This is a simplification though, as researchers have noted hypnagogic imagery in the lab at periods of quiet wakefulness as well as stage 1 sleep. Others have correlated hypnagogia with pre-sleep alpha waves and also REM intrusion into sleep onset. [...]