• Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
    • Lucid Dreaming FAQ

      Check our collection of Frequently Asked Questions about Lucid Dreaming, including: Is Lucid Dreaming Scientific? Are Lucid Dreams Safe? Who Can Lucid Dream? What is the Easiest Way to Lucid Dream? What Things do I Need if I Want to Lucid Dream? And many more...

      What is Lucid Dreaming?(Back to Top)A lucid dream is a dream in which you know you are dreaming while you are still in the dream. This realization gives you awareness/consciousness/clarity in the dream.The word "lucid" means to have clear thoughts and understanding. However, a lucid dream is not just any dream where you have clarity; the official definition of lucid dream means the dreamer must realize he/she is dreaming.A lucid dream can have varying levels of clarity; A lucid dream with high clarity is much more likely to be under a higher level of your control, whereas less clarity in the dream would allow for less control.Lucid dreaming is something which has been practiced for many centuries. For all that time, not much was known about it scientifically. However, lucid dreaming was popularized and researched by Dr. Stephen LaBerge relatively recently and because of that, we now know much about the science of lucid dreams and how we can achieve lucidity.What is Dream Control? (Back to Top)Dream Control is often what people think of when they want to do cool stuff in a dream as if it was real life. For example; flying, telekinesis, super strength, teleportation, visiting other planets, and the list goes on as far as your mind can handle. The limits of dream control are only held by your own imagination. As far as anyone is concerned, there are no limits.However, the definition of dream control is not as simple as some may think.Dream Control is not the definition of Lucid Dreaming, nor the other way round. You can have a lucid dream and have little to no control. You can also have some sort of control without being lucid.To control is to consciously/intentionally do something. So dream control is therefore doing something in a dream with some form of conscious effort or intent.Lucid Dream Without ControlIn a lucid dream, you can have such low clarity/understanding that you end up not really taking action in your dream. Some people also like to deliberately let the dream control itself, almost as a form of entertainment.Dream Control Without Being LucidThis is where a lot of confusion lies, and some things are debatable because of differences in definitions from person-to-person. However, we can say that if you have an intention in a dream while aware of the reasoning, then what you do can be called control. The main scenario for such a thing would be the dreamer realizing his/her god-like powers.That control comes from being aware of who you are in the dream, even though not realizing it is a dream. Whereas dream control in a lucid dream comes from being aware of where you are and who you are. This means that no matter what, being lucid is the best thing because you have the most potential for awareness and clarity, allowing better control to be taken.Controlling a Dream From Outside the DreamThere is something known as "Dream Incubation"; this is where you decide what you will dream about before going to sleep. The fact that you are consciously and intentionally deciding what will happen suggests that this is indeed dream control. However, your actions are not controlled while in the dream unless you gain awareness.If you are able to decide what happens in the dream, then you would want to decide that you will realize it is a dream, somehow. There are many different ways to do this.Why Lucid Dream? (Back to Top)There are many different possible reasons for someone to want to lucid dream. Some of those reasons are along the lines of just having some sort of fun. Other reasons are more serious or practical.When someone has full control over a lucid dream, they can literally do anything imaginable. That is the reason that there are so many uses for lucid dreaming. If anything can be done, then the chances of someone finding a use are very high.Having fun is the first thought for most lucid dreamers. You have this world of your own full of infinite possibilities. It's the playground of a God. Imagine the fun you can have where you are God.Some people have small-scale fun, and some people take their full power. You could drive your fantasy car, heck you could run as fast as a car, or as fast as lightning. You could fly a fighter jet or even fly like Superman. You could try telekinesis, heat vision, teleportation and all these powers you'd see in comic books and films.On the other hand, you could think a bit more outside the box. You could fly out to a planet, or even create a planet. You could create a whole universe and rule it like a God if you wanted to. Why not try a game of snooker with Zeus, the snooker balls being moons, planets or stars.I've not even scratched the surface. There is an incredible amount of different things you can do. Be creative if you want, or try some of the common stuff that everyone does.Escaping reality or relieving stress are other excellent uses of lucid dreaming. If the pressure of the real world is getting to you, lucid dreaming allows you to create a perfect fantasy world where you can do what you want. The trick is to allow yourself to have fun/relaxation, but to not get too attached to the world you create. The last thing you want is for it to become more important than what you have to do in real life. However, if you become a good enough lucid dreamer, you can simply go back to that world when you're feeling the pressure, as a means of stress relief.Like playing a super-realistic video game is another fun way to embrace lucid dreaming. The one problem is that when you connect the idea of video games to lucid dreaming, it can often cheapen the experience by making it feel like you are just playing a game, rather than being inside the game.However if you have good control, you can have an incredible amount of fun either playing inside the games you already know and play in real life, or you can take the concept of playing games and put it in the dream. What I mean by that is, you can go on amazing adventures, make story-lines and play it through.Getting rid of Nightmares is a very practical use of lucid dreaming. If you haven't had a nightmare, you won't understand the amount of fear involved in such a dream. It is an incredibly horrible feeling, which is why they are best to be battled against. If you are in a nightmare and you are able to then realize it is a dream, you are then able to either control the dream to stop the bad things from happening in the dream or you can wake yourself up.Funnily enough, people who have recurring nightmares have an advantage when it comes to inducing a lucid dream. These people have a very clear dream sign. If they ever have fear of something, they should Reality Check. This would mean that when the time comes that they are in a nightmare, they will do a Reality Check, because they are used to doing it in fearful situations.The same concept applies to people who have the same nightmare over and over. If there is something in the dream that can be used as a dream sign in real life, such as seeing a particular person or place, etc.Being artistic and creative works out well for a lot of people in lucid dreams. If you are an artist of whatever kind, you can surely think of a way to put it to practice in a lucid dream. Many people say that artistic and creative abilities are enhanced in dreams because of the difference in brain activity in REM sleep.Ideas can also come to you in a lucid dream. In the real world, people go to places and do things that inspire them. In dreams, things happen which trigger ideas randomly. These random ideas come from the person's deep mind. A part of their mind that isn't normally accessed when awake. So take the best of both worlds; you can use the easily accessed part of your mind, consciously. Fish for ideas. You may be surprised what you can find when you look around a place which is half controlled by your deep mind.Practice of a skill from real life can be done in a lucid dream. When you do something in a dream, the brain activity is the same as doing it in real life. This means that when you do it in a dream, it is a very legit form of practice. Which means you can practice things you might not want to practice in real life at first. This can range from things like speaking to people/public to things more down the line of sport or art.This also helps prepare yourself mentally for the challenges you are up against. Practice always makes people more confident about doing something.Is Lucid Dreaming Scientific? (Back to Top)Lucid dreaming is in fact scientific and not completely a mysterious phenomenon; the reason it is still phenomenon like is because there are many things we have yet to learn about lucid dreaming, sleep and the brain as a whole.Certain psychologists and scientists actually study lucid dreaming professionally.The act of lucid dreaming has been practiced for ages; but modern science has only recently begun to delve into it and explore why and what it is all about.Until Stephen LaBerge came along (with all of his research put into this), lucid dreaming was thought of more as a phenomena as opposed to something with actual core research and information about it; and since then (the early 1980's) every day lucid dreaming has become more and more in touch with mainstream society. Although some people still don't believe it is real or possible, simply because it isn't quite yet a widely talked about or taught about subject.Are Lucid Dreams Safe? (Back to Top)Yes, lucid dreams are completely safe. Lucid dreams are nothing but regular dreams in which we realize we're dreaming. No matter how scary a dream is, it's all in your head. By actively choosing which dreams to pay attention to, and which not, you can greatly affect your experiences when it comes to dreaming. Nightmares are never fun, but by learning how to lucid dream you can take control over the nightmare or just wake yourself up. Just relax and realize it's all in your head, you're the one in control and whatever is scary should go away.What if I get addicted to the dream world? Dreams are greatly affected by your real life. Perhaps you've noticed that if you're stressed out, anxious about something or is feeling down for some reason, your dreams become more dark and you're more likely to have a nightmare. Lucid dreaming is only a tool to enchance real life, it's never a substitute. There's also a limited amount of time we spend in REM, so you can't live in a dream no matter how much you'd want to.What if I've slipped into a coma while sleeping? I might be stuck in the dream forever!You don't dream when you're in a coma. People have reported having dreams that has lasted for hours and they've been perfectly fine after waking up. Try to enjoy the long lucid. You will eventually wake up.If I die in a dream, will I die in real life?No. Dying might be scary in the dream, but your mind can only try to create the scenario based on expectations.When you die in a dream, the dream scenario will change or you will wake up. Will my brain get the rest it needs if I learn how to lucid dream?Yes. During REM sleep is when we all dream, and the amount of REM is limited. We all dream each night we end up in REM, most people just don't recall the dreams. You don't strain your brain much when lucid dreaming. In fact, having had a lucid dream the previous night will probably improve your mood during the day.I Value the Messages my Dreams Give me, Doesn't Lucid Dreaming Get Rid of the Messages?No. The messages your dreams give you can still exist in a lucid dream. The messages come from your unconscious mind; this may lead you to believe that a lucid/conscious dream takes away the messages. However, if you become conscious in the dream, your unconscious mind still has control over a lot of the dream unless you take 100% full control over it. This means that you are able to consciously observe the messages being given to you while in the dream. In fact, some people may argue that this is more efficient than waiting to wake up then writing down the dream to study the possible messages.Who Can Lucid Dream? (Back to Top)Anyone can Lucid Dream. It all comes down to effort. There are sleep disorders that may make it harder, but even then, some extra effort is all it takes.Some people are natural lucid dreamers. This is a rare natural ability, but it certainly does not mean that they are the only people who can lucid dream. Anyone else in the world can learn to do it. There are many techniques that people have used in order to lucid dream. Every person will find a different technique to be easier. Everyone's mind works differently, so they just have to find what works for them.Another factor that may affect a person's ease of learning to lucid dream is how good their dream recall is. If you can't remember your dreams, you can't very well remember a lucid dream if you have one. Dream recall is also something that can be improved by various techniques and methods; the most popular being a simple dream journal updated as often as possible. Just like learning to lucid dream, improving recall is also of varying difficulty depending on the person.I Don't Have Lucid Dreams, How Can I Fix This? (Back to Top)You do have dreams every night, but you may however not remember them. A lot of people are cursed with terrible dream recall, which results in them having such little memory of the dream that it feels like it didn't even happen at all.Dream Recall can be improved dramatically with a few different methods. Some involve doing things when you wake up, and others involve doing some memory tricks before sleeping.Try as many of these tips as you can until you find one that works well enough for you. Tweak them too, because a lot of people use their own methods for pretty much anything related to dreaming.Dream Journal is often considered the most important tool a dreamer/lucid dreamer can have. It is different for everyone, but a lot of people will benefit a lot from using one.It is a very good practice to write your dreams down as soon as you wake up. Different people do this in different ways, it's best you just find what you like best and what works best. One way to do it is to jot down any little tiny detail you remember, then branch out on that little detail by thinking about what happened around that detail, and keep branching until you have a full tree of memories.Although, you may have enough memory to just write it down normally and in chronological order. On the other hand, you may need to roll with what you can remember at first.Stay completely still when you wake up if you find it hard to even remember a single detail. Stay still without moving or opening your eyes (although some people say that it's good to open your eyes and focus on the first thing your eyes look at). Just lay still and try to focus on your memories, and it should start to come back to you.The reason this often works is because dreams happen in a part of your mind that isn't normally accessible by your conscious mind, and when you wake up, there is a moment when you are half asleep, which is half-way conscious. This means that there is a sort of "bridge" between your conscious mind and the place where the memories of your dream is stored.Lucid Dreams happen to be much easier to remember because you have consciousness in the dream, which means a lot of the memories go straight to your conscious mind. This doesn't mean it gives you perfect memory though.Autosuggestion can sometimes be a good method to help improve how you remember things. Autosuggestion is where you repeat something over and over in your mind until it's stuck in your head. The thing you repeat to yourself is referred to as a "mantra".For example, a good mantra for this situation is something like "I will remember my dreams when I wake up". You should repeat something like this as much as you can as you fall asleep. Just keep saying it (either aloud or in your mind is fine) until you fall asleep.This exact use is not very reliable, but works for some.Wake up after every dream. This may be bad for people who don't have a lot of time to sleep. But you are much more likely to remember all dreams if you wake up after each one, before the memory has a chance to die away and bury itself in your deep mind.This is a very tricky thing to do, too. Alarm clocks are useless unless you have very good judgement of roughly when REM periods are ending, or unless the alarm clock has a REM detection feature in it.So you have the option to try using an alarm clock if you can judge it or if it can detect REM.However, you could involve the use of autosuggestion. This can be a good use of that little trick. Repeat to yourself something like "I will wake up at the end of every dream".What Things do I Need if I Want to Lucid Dream? (Back to Top)All you need to lucid dream is your mind, and some sleep. Lucid dreaming is a totally free hobby. However, there are certain items a lucid dreamer can purchase, to aid in their mental journey. A dream journal is the most common lucid dreaming related purchase. This can be anything from a note pad to a leather bound book to a computer notes software or online web app. You can keep an online dream journal, although some people prefer to write in a physical dream journal or use it as the rough notes as soon as waking up, which allows fully written version to be typed up. Just go with your preference.Others purchase supplements, such as B6. Some claim that B6 and other supplements increase the clarity of dreams. Although there is no research to back this up.Some other things include; alarms, sleep masks, earplugs, and binaural beats. None of these things are required, but can be nice additions.If you are going to get an alarm, you will want to look out for an alarm that has the ability to only ring for only a few seconds, rather than keeping on going. This is for methods such as DEILD (Dream Exit Induced Lucid Dream), as you will want to go straight back to sleep without moving, which means you won't be able to turn off the alarm. You may also want to look out for one with REM detection functionality. There are mobile apps that do this, and you may find dedicated devices that do it more accurately.How Long Does it Take to Have a Lucid Dream? (Back to Top)The amount of time it takes to have a lucid dream will vary from individual to individual. The average time it takes to have a lucid dream is one to two weeks after starting. However, many people have a lucid dream the first night they make an attempt.The time it takes is partly based on how much effort is put in, how much motivation is there, and a small element of luck.Keeping a dream journal allows you to improve on your dream recall so that you have a higher likelihood of remembering a lucid dream if you have one. This also keeps your mind actively thinking about dreaming, which keeps the motivation intact and puts the thought of lucid dreaming deeper in your mind. Reading about lucid dreaming a lot is another thing that will keep your mind actively thinking about lucid dreaming. You could do such things as study the science behind lucid dreaming, or reading people's success stories and their ideas for lucid dreaming. This keeps high motivation and helps drill it deep in your mind if you keep it up.Following lucid dreaming techniques correctly is also important. You may miss a key element in a technique that could mess things up from a good opportunity, or you miss something and you start it all wrong making you waste a lot of time afterwards.What Lucid Induction Techniques Are There? (Back to Top)Many techniques are used by people all over the world to Lucid Dream. Some are very common, and others not so much. It's very likely though, that any technique you find people using, will be very similar to another technique or branch from another technique. Lucid Dreaming techniques don't have to be done exactly the way you read them to be done, which is why so many people tweak them and basically create their own technique.However, all techniques somehow branch back to two main types of lucid dream induction. We tend to look at lucid dreams which are induced while in the dream, and lucid dreams which are induced from the waking state (so you go straight into a lucid dream when you fall asleep).The first is what we know as DILD, which stands for Dream Induced Lucid Dream. The second is known as WILD, which stands for Wake Induced Lucid Dream.These two both have what is seen as standard ways to do them. There are tutorials all over the place saying how they should be done. We then have all the techniques that branch off of them, but we give another name for each of them. Some don't have names, simply because they don't need a new name or because they aren't commonly used enough for a universal name to be given and referred to.Dream Induced Lucid Dream is most commonly done by getting into the mindset of being aware in real life, given the knowledge that a lucid dream is essentially when one is aware that they are dreaming. Combining this mindset with reality checks will help to improve your sense of awareness and ability to pick up on minute details in the dream that don't seem realistic. When in a dream, the awareness you have practiced in real life will transfer over into the dream, increasing your level of consciousness. This is when you will end up reality checking, and hopefully coming to the conclusion that it is a dream. Another way of knowing whether you are dreaming or not is dream signs. If there is something that seems to appear in your dreams a lot, then look out for related things appearing in real life. Get into the habit of looking around, asking yourself if you could be dreaming, and reality checking when you see these dream signs, or anything that seems out of the ordinary. MILD (Mnemonically Induced Lucid Dream) is the most common variant of Dream Induced Lucid Dream. This technique involves doing something that somehow gets the idea of reality checking stuck in your head, or getting something stuck in your mind that will in some way result in you realizing it is a dream while in the dream.For this, there are many different methods to do so. One method is auto-suggestion, which involves the use of mantras. Basically what this means is you repeat something to yourself (in your head or aloud) over and over. The sentence(s) that you repeat to yourself is what's known as the mantra(s). An example of a mantra could be something like "I will remember to reality check when I'm in the dream" or "I will realize it is a dream".Wake Induced Lucid Dream, in it's traditional sense, is a technique which involves putting your body to sleep and trying to keep your mind "awake". Sometimes (and only sometimes) this means you go into paralysis before you actually drift off. We call this "Sleep Paralysis". The idea of that can scare some people, but there is nothing to be afraid of. Anyone who goes through a bad experience in sleep paralysis usually caused it themselves by having the wrong expectations.The main thing about Wake Induced Lucid Dream is that it requires you to go straight into a dream. This means you have to go straight into a REM period (Rapid Eye Movement). To go straight into a REM period, you have to continue a sleep cycle from earlier in the day. However, it can't have been too long ago, or else you will start the sleep cycle from the start. Furthermore, the sleep cycle you came out of earlier needed to have exited from a REM period.The two best ways to do this is using "WBTB" (Wake Back To Bed), or an afternoon nap.WBTB is where you wake up in the middle of the night and go to sleep again after a few minutes to an hour.DEILD (Dream Exit Induced Lucid Dream) is a popular variant to WILD. Many people claim that this is a very easy technique, so long as the conditions are good.This technique is where you wake up, and instantly fall back asleep while keeping your mind aware. It's basically a very short WBTB.Just like any other WILD, this technique requires you to wake up from a REM period. This is a very hard thing to do. The best/easiest way to wake up from a REM period is to wake up naturally, without an alarm clock. But a lot of people have to rely on an alarm clock to get up for work/school. This is why it is important for the conditions to be good.EILD (Electronically/Externally Induced Lucid Dream) is another popular technique. With this technique you use some sort of device that does something while you are asleep. Normally, such a device would detect when you are in a dream/REM period and then trigger something as a means of communication from the real world to the dream world. This basically means that the device is reminding your dream self that it is a dream, allowing you to reality check (or often you will just realize it's a dream straight away).A well known (but expensive) device is the Nova Dreamer (or the REM Dreamer). These devices are sleep masks that detect your eye movement, then flash a red light when you are in REM. It is a very successful device, but not 100%, which is why it may be a risk to invest in one if you can't spare the money. This particular use of EILD is a form of DILD. However, it is possible to use EILD to wake yourself up in order to WILD.There are many many more techniques. DreamViews has some very good Lucid Dreaming Tutorials available for you to use.What is the Easiest Way to Lucid Dream? (Back to Top)The easiest way to have a lucid dream, is to simply fall asleep expecting to have one. While this alone can produce some results, your odds of achieving lucidity will be very low unless you are "a natural".The many techniques across our forum will help you become more consistent in your lucid practice. Since every individual person is unique, the same techniques may not work for everyone. It is best to try out many different techniques and find out what works best for you. Starting a dream journal and building up your dream recall, is an excellent first step. As your recall improves, so will your in-dream awareness. The more awareness you have within the dream state, the more likely you will be to question your reality. Thus, the more dreams you are able to recall, the more chances you will have at attaining lucidity.What is Sleep Paralysis? (Back to Top)Sleep Paralysis is the paralysis of your body while awake. This is very similar to REM Atonia, which happens in REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement). REM Atonia allows the sleeper to dream without acting out things with their real body. Sleep Paralysis does the same thing, except the person is still aware, meaning they may have hallucinations (but not always).Sleep Paralysis doesn't have to be a bad experience. Many people have the wrong idea about Sleep Paralysis, which causes them to panic when you end up having it. Panic leads to a much more likely outcome of a negative experience. However, if you are able to keep yourself calm and/or expect enjoyment from it, it is much more likely that you will enjoy it or not feel anything bad.Wake Induced Lucid Dream is a common lucid induction technique which makes the use of Sleep Paralysis. The idea with this technique is to shut your body down while keeping your mind awake, allowing you to drift into a conscious dream (lucid dream). Sleep Paralysis is not required to do this technique, but if it happens then you are at an advantage, because that means your body is shut down, leaving only the need to drift yourself into a dream.Why do I Wake up When I Achieve Lucidity? (Back to Top)Waking up immediately, or soon after attaining lucidity, is a common issue with beginners. Do not become discouraged, for this issue can certainly be overcome. Upon achieving lucidity, there is oftentimes a rush of emotion (generally excitement). This rush of emotion, if not controlled, can cause the dreamer to wake up. When lucid dreaming, it is always ideal to keep your emotions in check. Once lucid, take a moment to let everything settle, including your emotions. Try to stay calm, relaxed, and act is if there is nothing unusual going on. Even if this is your first experience with lucidity, act as if you have been lucid dreaming for years.If the dream begins to fade and you feel yourself waking up, there are a many stabilization techniques you can try. "Dream Spinning" is one of these. Quickly spin yourself around in a circle several times and allow everything to settle once again. This helps "reset/refresh" your dream environment. The feeling of motion also keeps your mind engaged in dream activity. This combination can be very useful for extending your lucid experience. "Rubbing your hands together" is also an effective method. This stabilization technique helps engage your mind in the sense of touch. While you are rubbing your hands, it is recommended that you try to engage your other senses as well. Simplifying what your mind has to process can also be an effective strategy. If the dream starts to fade, try to kneel and focus your vision on the ground/floor below you. Just relax and allow the dream to settle once again. Once everything clears up, slowly rise and shift your vision back to the front-facing position.If you were unable to stay within the dream state, be sure to check for "false awakenings". It is a always good idea to perform a reality check upon waking from a dream. There are several other strategies you can look into as well, including DEILD (dream exit induced lucid dream). This technique takes advantage of waking up and allows the dream to jump right back into the dream state.How do I Wake up if Something Goes Wrong? (Back to Top)You're lucid, having the time of your life and all of a sudden it becomes a nightmare! How do you wake yourself up? The first thing you need to remember is that it is YOUR dream and YOU control it. You don't have anything to be afraid of, and can make anything you don't want in your dream to go away.Another thing to note is that you can try to change the dream scene. If there is a door nearby, walk through it and imagine the scene you want on the other side. You can also close your eyes, imagine a new dream scene, and when you open them expect to be there!If you still want to wake up, here are some ways you can do that:
      • Tell yourself to wake up. This is the most common method, and has a high success rate.
      • Think of your real body, lying in your bed. If you think about it hard enough, you should wake up!
      • Blink Rapidly in the dream. This often will jolt you up, and you will be out of your dream!
      • Kill yourself in the dream. Find a way to kill yourself, and you will probably wake up.

      Is There Any Technology That Makes Lucid Dreaming Easier? (Back to Top)Yes, there are several devices available to aid you on your lucid dreaming journey. Relying on devices like this to lucid dream is a method called EILD (Externally Induced Lucid Dream). You can read more into EILD here.One of the most popular lucid dreaming devices right now is called the REM Dreamer. It uses infrared sensors to detect when you are in REM, and then it starts to beep and flash lights. Then in your dreams, you will hear the beeps and see the lights and realize you are dreaming. The REM dreamer is currently available for 147 Euros (About $209). The NovaDreamer was a very popular device created by psychophysiologist, Stephen Laberge. The NovaDreamer 1 came out a while ago, was discontinued, and is no longer for sale. LaBerge has said that the NovaDreamer 2 will be coming out soon, but it's been a few years and it still isn't out.If you don't have the money to spend to buy a lucid dream mask, you can make your own.To make your own, basically all you need is to wire up two little red LEDs to a 6V power supply, and plug it into an electric timer, setting it to make the LED flash for 2 minutes every hour. Just attach the LEDs to something you wear on your eyes that block out light, such as a sleep mask or goggles.This means that if it doesn't successfully hit your REM period first hour, it will likely get it the next or the next, or so on.You could also use audio instead of or as well as the LEDs. An audio clip of a voice reminding you that it is a dream is one possibility. You can be creative with these devices.What would happen with these things is that in your dream, you will notice the flashing and/or hear the audio, which should hopefully trigger you to remember that it is a dream, bringing you right into a lucid dream.A lot of people agree that it is best if you can learn to have lucid dreams at will without relying on any type of electronic induction device. However, sometimes a little help is needed.Do Any Drugs/Supplements Make Lucid Dreaming Easier? (Back to Top)There are a few herbs, drugs and supplements that can be taken to increase your chances of success with lucid dreaming. The magnitude of their effect on dreaming can vary a lot from person to person and from day to day. Some people may at some point have great success, while others may not get much of an effect.Calea Zacatechichi (a.k.a. Dream Herb) is a herb that can often make dreams more vivid and help with dream recall. It is best to take this herb while doing a WBTB (Wake Back to Bed), this is so that it has more of a chance of it's effective time being within the time you have a REM period (when you have a dream).Artemisia Vulgaris (a.k.a. Mugwort) is a herb which can make dreams more vivid, and helps with dream recall and control. You may want to take this while doing a WBTB (Wake Back to Bed), but take it 20-30 minutes before going back to sleep.Be careful with this herb, make sure you don't take too much, as it contains Thujone which is toxic in quantities too large.Silene Capensis (a.k.a. African Dream Root) is a herb which can make dreams very vivid and helps your dream recall. This needs to be taken daily for a few days before great effects will be shown. It can sometimes cause vomiting and nausea if too much is taken at a time.Galantamine is a drug which is said to increase dream vividness and recall. This is best taken just before going back to sleep in a WBTB (Wake Back to Bed) as it acts quickly. You can most commonly get them in 8, 16 and 24mg tablets. This should not be taken by people with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).Vitamin B5 is a supplement which can be used with protein, carbohydrates and choline to help increase dream vividness and recall. This can be taken before bed or WBTB (Wake Back to Bed) as it acts quickly, but the effects stay for a longer.B5 can be found in foods such as meats, eggs, whole grains and others.Vitamin B6 has similar effects as B5, however, it is best taken with Tryptophan. Be careful with Vitamin B6, because it can be overdosed. Try to stay under 100mg per day of B6.Choline can be used with things such as B5 or Galantamine to increase dream vividness and recall. Do not take this if you suffer from Trimethylaminuria.Melatonin can make you dream longer and more vividly, taken with vitamin B6 or calcium. Take it before bed rather than WBTB. Do not take melatonin if you have poor blood circulation or low blood pressure. It is also illegal in Canada.