Consciousness and cognition
August 1, 2020
Abigail Stocks, Michelle Carr, Remington Mallett et al.
33 citations
Higher levels of lucidity during dreaming are associated with more positive dream content and a more positive mood the following day. Twenty participants completed a week-long online dream diary after practicing lucid dream induction techniques. The study found no link between lucidity and subjective sleep quality. The findings suggest that cultivating lucid dreams may help improve waking mood, though longer-term studies are needed.
Behavioral sleep medicine
January 1, 2025
Michelle Carr, Westley Youngren, Martin Seehuus et al.
6 citations
In a representative sample of 1,332 people, lucid dreaming was linked to poor sleep quality, stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. However, when nightmares were accounted for, nightmares alone explained the associations with poor sleep, anxiety, and stress. Both nightmares and the combination of nightmares with lucid dreaming were associated with increased depressive symptoms.
Frontiers in Sleep
June 24, 2026
Adam Haar Horowitz, Karen Konkoly, Michelle Carr et al.
A pilot study tested whether targeted dream incubation (TDI) at sleep onset can direct dream content into subsequent REM sleep. Eleven participants received verbal prompts about a tree and were awakened serially at sleep onset, then during a daytime nap. All 11 successfully incubated the target theme at sleep onset. Of the eight who entered REM sleep, four (50%) incorporated the tree into their first REM dream, and five (63%) did so in later REM dreams. Results suggest TDI may influence REM dream content, offering a method to explore how dream generation and function may be continuous or differ across sleep stages.