Dream & Sleep Research | dream studies portal

The Doppelgänger: facing the otherworldly mirror

Posted by Ryan Hurd on November 9, 2011 | 4 Comments

At night, the veil is thin. The spirits are marching. Cold air blankets their arrival. Through the mists, a figure emerges. He is a stranger, cloaked in dark spun wool, his face obscured. He stands next to your bed and you strain for recognition.
The light shifts, shadows warble, and then you see his face.

Filed Under: Nightmares & Dream Terrors, Theories of Dreaming

Is lucid dreaming unnatural?

Posted by Ryan Hurd on July 11, 2011 | 5 Comments

This is the second article in a series that starts with the question: Is lucid dreaming safe? One of most frequent arguments against lucid dreaming is the notion that lucidity disturbs the process—and the function—of dreaming.
It’s a strange critique, because the function of dreaming remains unknown. But for many clinical practitioners, dreams are thought to [...]

Filed Under: Lucid Dreaming, Theories of Dreaming

Do dreams have meaning? A quick tour of the dreaming brain

Posted by Ryan Hurd on March 31, 2011 | 7 Comments

Sigmund Freud is considered the father of dream science, even though most of his dream theory is largely discredited today. But from the get-go Freud assumed that dreaming was an expression of the mind-brain system, a premise still widely accepted by scientists, psychologists and philosophers today. Still, in popular culture, we still hear the question [...]

Filed Under: Dream Interpretation, Theories of Dreaming

Archaeodreaming: lucid dreaming as a tool for exploring sacred sites

Posted by Ryan Hurd on January 20, 2011 | 7 Comments

In the late 1990s, I trained as a field archaeologist. For the better part of a decade, I was part of a merry crew that roamed the forests and mountains of the US, surveying for archaeological sites and excavating them. My work took me from the swamps of South Carolina to the high deserts of [...]

Filed Under: Dream & Sleep Research, Lucid Dreaming

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 | 15 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. [...]