How to lucid dream: a research-backed guide

When lucid dreams happen

Lucid dreams are closely linked to REM sleep, the stage in which vivid dreams are most likely. Waking after about five hours of sleep and then going back to sleep, as in the wake-back-to-bed method below, is a way to enter a REM period with your mind a little more alert.

Brain research on lucid dreaming is still small. A 2019 review found early signs that frontal and parietal areas of the brain are involved when people become lucid, and called for larger studies.

Sources: Saunders et al., Lucid dreaming incidence: a meta-analysis of 50 years of research, 2016 (PubMed) · University of Adelaide: Want to control your dreams? (2017) · Baird, Mota-Rolim & Dresler, The cognitive neuroscience of lucid dreaming, 2019 (PubMed)

The three methods with the best evidence

In 2017, Denholm Aspy and colleagues at the University of Adelaide tested three techniques with 169 Australian adults: reality testing, wake back to bed and MILD (mnemonic induction of lucid dreams). An earlier systematic review of 35 studies had concluded that no technique worked reliably and that most studies were weak, which is why this trial got attention.

The three methods are meant to be used together. Here is each one.

Sources: Aspy et al., Reality testing and the mnemonic induction of lucid dreams, Dreaming 2017 (APA) · University of Adelaide: Want to control your dreams? (2017) · Stumbrys et al., Induction of lucid dreams: a systematic review of evidence, 2012 (PubMed)

1. Reality testing

Several times a day, stop and ask yourself whether you are dreaming, then check. A common test is to read a line of text, look away and read it again; many lucid dreamers report that text in dreams does not stay the same. The aim is for the habit to carry over into your dreams, where the check fails and you realise you are dreaming.

2. Wake back to bed

1. 1Set an alarm for about five hours after you fall asleep.
2. 2Get up and stay awake for a short while.
3. 3Go back to bed. You are now more likely to enter a REM period, when dreams are most vivid.

3. MILD: intend to notice that you are dreaming

In the study, the group that combined all three methods had a success rate of about 17% over just one week. People who fell asleep within five minutes of finishing MILD did much better: almost 46% of their attempts led to a lucid dream. Good dream recall also helped.

1. 1When you are awake in the night, for example after the wake-back-to-bed alarm, recall the dream you were just having if you can.
2. 2Repeat an intention to yourself, such as “Next time I’m dreaming, I will remember that I’m dreaming.”
3. 3Picture yourself back in that dream, and imagine noticing that it is a dream.
4. 4Fall asleep with that intention as the last thing on your mind.

Sources: Aspy et al., Reality testing and the mnemonic induction of lucid dreams, Dreaming 2017 (APA) · University of Adelaide: Want to control your dreams? (2017)

Habits that make lucid dreams more likely

• Keep a dream journal: people who remembered their dreams better had more success with MILD.
• Do not stay awake too long after the night alarm; falling asleep quickly after MILD gave the best results.
• Give it time. The study tested a single week, and results vary a lot from person to person.

Sources: University of Adelaide: Want to control your dreams? (2017)

Lucid dreaming and nightmares

Researchers are interested in lucid dreaming as a way to change recurring nightmares from inside the dream, and Aspy names nightmare treatment as one possible use. It is not a proven treatment yet. For nightmares, the approach with the strongest evidence today is imagery rehearsal therapy, which our nightmares guide explains.