So why isn't lucid dreaming super popular yet?

[Powerogue]

Lucid dreaming doesn't guarantee what the dream will be. What if I wound up completely aware of Freddy Kruger chasing me with chainsaw hands?

[Darkeon]

Almost every other night, myself.

[Kelathos]

1. It's been scientifically proven and extensively documented so in no way in hell does it belong in the same group as astral projections and other new age woo. It's a real thing.

You are the first person I've heard claim it, and I do not believe it.
This is the answer you seek.

[breadisfunny]

1. it isn't possible for everyone to do if they live in an area with lots of noise and interruptions.
2. it takes a lot of practice and effort to get to work.
3. i could take up lucid dreaming to get the dreams i want OR i could just relive memories or there's certain other sites for the other needs or i can use my fucking imagination. all three are much easier and take immeasureably less effort than lucid dreaming does. it's a pain in the ass to do and it has to be done regularly from what i've read about it.
4. some people are incapable of getting it to work regardless. their bodies just don't want to do it.
5. having to go through annoying sleep cycle crap and train myself to wake up at specific hours and then fall back asleep and all that other shit is just way too much effort when the alternatives are much easier.
6. about the only thing it does that it has over your imagination is it sometimes releases endorphins during dreams while you sleep which can be accomplished with another natural technique for both sexes that's much easier to do and more pleasureable.
simply put lucid dreaming is an inferior option to the alternatives.
also 7. lucid dreaming is more in the realm of in between science and new age woo. it is an actual natural occurance but it's effects and triggers are not well studied.
i've only gotten it to work a handful of times and it isn't very reliable. i stopped after my brain seemed to catch on and started making me dream up disgusting dreams that would make me vomit irl if they happened.

[Zeek Daniels]

WoW is this actually a thing? Ive actually been doing this since middle school. Its was very much off and on back then but now it happens on an almost nightly basis. Im in slight to complete control of my dreams. Although its not like i can just pick what i want to dream about. Its more like im in a dream and then i start controlling what happens next. Im totally aware that im dreaming and can wake up at anytime. One of the things that pisses me off the most is when my alarm on my phone wakes me up right b4 i get to the best part of the dream or what i perceive to be the best part of the dream.

To me it seems like have have the most control over a dream right b4 i actually wake up either by alarm or just naturally waking up. I would say that in terms of sexual interactions during my years of these types of dreams I have had about 3. The last one i can remember having which happened monday or tuesday night, i actually had one last night just cant remember what happened but anyway the one that happened b4 that all i can remember was jim carry was in it and he was playing basket ball for some reason. =p

[Vorkreist]

Science is still ages behind any real understanding of the processes involved in normal dreams let alone lucid dreaming, astral projections/obe, high psychedelic experiences like dmt. Even basic psychology is still a load of ancient junk shit.

The nr.1 deterrent would be that control part. Lucid dreaming requires a certain brain chemical load/balance. You can induce it with a lot of common herbs and medicines that affect those neuro-receptors but the quality of the experience is a lot more sensitive. There's also a very big difference between the lucid dream and obe's confused as astral projections. You can also have very lucid nightmares akin to a very horror psychedelic trip. From my experience I noticed that the quality is always affected by different stimuly. If theres anything that can interfere with your body ( internal issues or external), those things can easily change the theme of your "lucid dream" to something else. If you are very healthy and psychologically and emotionally stable , there a higher chance of getting some quite amazing dreams and experiences.

Also there a very thin line for a lot of people between "sleep paralysis" and successful lucid dreaming. Remember all those very vivid nightmares where you feel like you can't move or make a sound but feel very awake? Thats like one inch miss for a really deep lucid dream.

[Nerdgasm]

You are the first person I've heard claim it, and I do not believe it.
This is the answer you seek.

To be fair, it's scientifically documented and there are some hipothesys how it happens.

The concept itself is not really pseudoscience, altho there are pseudoscientific groups claiming that it's some form of higher bullshit. Theres a great grey area that can let bullshit grow.

The problem with the research is that it still depends on the testimony of the subject.

[telygroar]

have it since child.
Stop imagining thing, first you dont have "full" control on it, you can just react to the actual thing "happening" (and punch the fucking monster who attack you) like you normally do when awake. You cant make a movie like avatar where you finish riding surfing t-rex with 2 pornstars at your side if they didnt were here at start =)
And it not happens in all dreams, you're doing a shit tons of dreams when sleeping, its just you have more "ways" to remembering these one than others.

But well, its pretty cool to stop a nightmare when it begin.

[Mormolyce]

Becoming a godlike being? Badass combat? Epic stories

But I have video games for that.

[MrKnubbles]

scary how? if you have control over the dream, surely it doesn't need to be scary.

now, if it was being awake during a nightmare, that's a night terror and different.

Maybe you'd consider it a night terror instead. I was basically awake but completely unable to move and there was like a demonic wraith hovering over me and getting closer to my face. That's some terrifying shit knowing you're about to die and having no control of your body.

[Bathory]

I dabble in it every now and then. I've been testing out a new LED timed mask that has been working pretty well. The lights kick on when I'm in REM. Sometimes it works, sometimes it wakes me up unfortunately. Still worth it tho, imo.

you might get sleep paralysis.

Don't know if there's an official correlation but, as far as my experience goes I'd say it's possible. Never got paralysis til I started messing around. It doesn't happen very often at all, but when it does, it's fucking terrifying.

[derpkitteh]

Maybe you'd consider it a night terror instead. I was basically awake but completely unable to move and there was like a demonic wraith hovering over me and getting closer to my face. That's some terrifying shit knowing you're about to die and having no control of your body.

yeah, that's a night terror with sleep paralysis. not lucid dreaming.

strangely, that's pretty much how every human experiences night terrors. it feels weird to me that so many people have such a similar experience with it. an overwhelming sense of impending doom, shadowy figures either in the room watching you or actually seeming to hold you down, entirely unable to do anything but scream.

to me... that feels like there's more to it than a simple dream. i don't really believe in the supernatural all that much, but such a consistently shared experience like this? that's weird. that's really weird. if it's not something weird happening, what happened to early humans that gave us this subconscious monster? something had to have imprinted this specific fear into our genetics.

[Destinas]

Whenever I realize I am in a dream, I get a rush feeling (probably because I am overly excited about it) and promptly wake up. My lucid dreams are never stable and collapse the moment I realize I am in one.

This happens to me as well. More often than not, when I realize it's a dream a "vortex" appears in the sky and I'm sucked through it, only to wake up immediately.

To answer the OP, it actually doesn't work for everyone 100% of the time. Personally, I have been able to lucid dreams a handful of times in my life, but most of the time, I just wake up. Yes, I've tried many ways to learn how to do it, it's just not a reliable experience for me, ever. If everyone could do it, everyone probably would do it. It's not a matter of popularity, it's a matter of ability, with factors enabling or disabling it like medications, drugs, stress, sleeping habits, etc.

[Azadina]

*shrugs* I personally don't find it that impressive, when I've always had pretty significant control in my dreams. I can wake myself at any time. I can change how the dreams go, like if I didn't like how something in the dream turned out, I can wind it right back where the deviation started and play it differently. I can also stop a dream and move on to other one, altho I can't choose what the next will be, only that when I get to it, I can change it around again if I wish. Also one thing I can do during sleep, is to choose whether I react to any outside influence. Like noise, smell and so forth. When my downstairs neighbors start playing violin for example, if I'm sleeping I can choose from 3 options: 1. wake up, 2. ignore it and keep sleeping, and 3. listen to it while still sleeping.

Rare exceptions exist where I can't affect a dream or wake up. Also some rare exceptions to the last, usually very sudden and loud noise is where I will wake up, instead of having the option to ignore it. Or constant loud noise, like leaf blowers (those things should be illegal, I'm serious).

[mauserr]

I can't imagine anything I would use lucid dreaming for other than porn :P

Well, I could find some uses, but I guess it'd be mostly porn too. I'd be worried about what happens to me during that time I'm dreaming. Do I make moans? Do I imitate sex moves? I could see how it could get really awkward for the people you live with. If you're lying perfectly still during all that hot sex dream? The things I'd dream about ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

yeah, that's a night terror with sleep paralysis. not lucid dreaming.

strangely, that's pretty much how every human experiences night terrors. it feels weird to me that so many people have such a similar experience with it. an overwhelming sense of impending doom, shadowy figures either in the room watching you or actually seeming to hold you down, entirely unable to do anything but scream.

to me... that feels like there's more to it than a simple dream. i don't really believe in the supernatural all that much, but such a consistently shared experience like this? that's weird. that's really weird. if it's not something weird happening, what happened to early humans that gave us this subconscious monster? something had to have imprinted this specific fear into our genetics.

Seems like some scary shit. I never had that happen to me. I've had some weird ass nightmares as a kid though - I remember one particular style of nightmares where something is often after me and I can't run for shiiiiiiit. I run so damn slow or barely at all.

Another thing is car-driving dreams. I can drive very well in real life but in dreams I forget everything, I can't turn properly and can't even brake

[Zeek Daniels]

have it since child.
Stop imagining thing, first you dont have "full" control on it, you can just react to the actual thing "happening" (and punch the fucking monster who attack you) like you normally do when awake. You cant make a movie like avatar where you finish riding surfing t-rex with 2 pornstars at your side if they didnt were here at start =)
And it not happens in all dreams, you're doing a shit tons of dreams when sleeping, its just you have more "ways" to remembering these one than others.

But well, its pretty cool to stop a nightmare when it begin.

Wrong. Alot of the times im not even present in the dream im sort of a spectator pulling the strings. Not everytime do i have full control but the closer i am to waking up the more control i have over the dream is my experience.

[derpkitteh]

Well, I could find some uses, but I guess it'd be mostly porn too. I'd be worried about what happens to me during that time I'm dreaming. Do I make moans? Do I imitate sex moves? I could see how it could get really awkward for the people you live with. If you're lying perfectly still during all that hot sex dream? The things I'd dream about ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)




Seems like some scary shit. I never had that happen to me. I've had some weird ass nightmares as a kid though - I remember one particular style of nightmares where something is often after me and I can't run for shiiiiiiit. I run so damn slow or barely at all.

Another thing is car-driving dreams. I can drive very well in real life but in dreams I forget everything, I can't turn properly and can't even brake

i've only ever had one night terror. thankfully, i didn't see the shadow beings. but i was held in place by them, idk if they were invisible or what. like, i felt like something was holding me i mean. complete and total cold terror and the sense of doom. happened when i was 12 i think.

and sex with strange beings is exactly what i'd use this for. draenei, succubi, all manner of aliens. if i wasn't doing that, i'd be using magic.

[Morae]

I used to be interested, but I stopped. Why? I could not get the method where you turn a normal dream into lucid dream work (as in learn to notice "oh this is a dream"). Therefore only way I could use was to induce it directly from being awake and causing yourself to fall asleep correctly. The method:

1.Sleep 5-7h normally.
2.Then stay up 10-15mins.
3.Lie down and relax yourself completely. Make your brain think you are actually sleeping. Ignore all sorts of feelings you get during it.
4.Continue to do so until your brain turns to sleep mode even if you are still actually awake and aware.

The problem was betwen 3 and 4. This is effectively causing yourself a sleep paralysis. It seems at least in my case, brain first puts body to sleep stat (as in sleep paralysis) before the actual lucid dream happens. Those of you that have experienced sleep paralysis know its NOT fun. Brain is half asleep so basically anything can happen. You can see all sorts of horrifying things during it, or not at all, but only feel presence. Strange sounds (personally I heard horrifying screaming). Yet you cant move or immediately wake up.

I'll just sum it up. As fun as lucid dreams are, I don't want to go trough the sleep paralysis state to get to it. I'll enjoy normal dreams. You can train yourself remember normal dreams (you see dreams every night, but you dont remember them. You also forget dreams quickly that you remember by the time you wake up).

[falagar112]

Uhh not sure about that? Been trying for years, albeit not very seriously...I hardly ever remember my dreams and only once did I have a dream where I *almost* realized I was dreaming (dream-like things happening, thought "huh that's odd", then woke up). That's the closest I've gotten to a lucid dream.

That is the tricky part - learning your brain to be consciously aware it's dreaming, so you don't have that "huh" moment. Those moments break the experience and wake you up.

But yes this whole "everyone can learn it", is bullshit. You need to be able to train your mind to do things it normally doesn't do. It is the same idea as meditating, while i was able to learn how to get into that state of mind by a lot of practice, I know several people that are simply unable to do it.

If you're not overly claustrophobic, a sensory deprivation tank can really help people get to that state of mind

Also whoever mentioned stoners doing this a lot, i call bullshit. From experience I can tell you that consuming a lot of weed makes you not remember dreams, let alone lucid dream. I need to not smoke for week or two to get dreams back.

And last but not least, just because some people are not consciously aware of dreaming, doesn't mean you don't dream at all. Dreaming is mandatory for a good mental health, you'd go insane if you literally wouldn't ever dream.

[Shadowferal]

If I could induce the state and maintain it long enough I'd experiment to see how vivid memory recall is.