heiDOK (Heidelberg University)
January 1, 2010
Tadas Stumbrys, Michael Daniels
53 citations
Lucid dreams—where the dreamer knows they are dreaming—may aid creative problem solving more than logical tasks, and dream characters can offer plausible creative advice. In a pilot study, nine lucid dreamers and nine non-lucid dreamers attempted either a logical puzzle or a metaphor creation over ten nights. The results suggest lucid dreams are better suited for creative tasks, and dream characters may serve as a source of creative input. The study also identified methodological issues for future research.
Imagination Cognition and Personality
February 21, 2012
Daniel Erlacher, Tadas Stumbrys, Michael Schredl
36 citations
About 57% of German athletes have experienced a lucid dream at least once, 24% have one or more per month, and 9% of lucid dreamers have used the dream state to practice sport skills. Most of those athletes felt that such practice improved their waking performance. The prevalence of lucid dreaming among professional athletes is similar to the general population, but the proportion of lucid dreams relative to all dreams is nearly twice as high (14.5% vs. 7.5%). The findings suggest lucid dreaming offers a unique form of mental rehearsal for sports.
Frontiers in psychology
January 1, 2020
Daniel Erlacher, Tadas Stumbrys
24 citations
A combination of the wake-up-back-to-bed (WBTB) sleep protocol and the mnemonic technique MILD can effectively induce lucid dreams in people who are not selected for lucid dreaming ability. In a sleep laboratory experiment, participants were awakened after 6 hours, kept awake for 30 or 60 minutes to practice MILD or a control task, then returned to bed. Across three MILD conditions, 36% to 54% reported lucid dreams, and 14% to 27% produced PSG-verified eye signals. In contrast, only 9% reported lucid dreams after reading, and none occurred after playing a video game. The findings suggest that WBTB plus MILD is an effective induction method for laboratory research.
Frontiers in psychology
January 1, 2024
Garret Yount, Sitara Taddeo, Tadas Stumbrys et al.
1 citation
Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), a marker of autonomic nervous system activity, was measured in 20 participants with PTSD symptoms who attended a six-day workshop teaching dreamwork and lucidity techniques. Participants collected saliva immediately upon waking and 30 minutes later; healing lucid dreams were those where the dreamer attained lucidity and intended a healing experience. Among four participants with usable samples who experienced healing lucid dreams, statistical tests were not significant due to low power, though nonsignificant positive associations appeared between more healing lucid dreams and increased waking sAA slope. The results did not show a consistent effect, and larger samples with stricter saliva collection controls are needed.