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Talk:Lucid dreaming

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Should wipe away some doubts:

http://www.stanford.edu/~mgoldens/lab/psyphy_lucidity.html

OK - I'm a bit of a campaigner against Pseudoscience in the Wikipedia. But I won't argue with valid scientific resarch, if it exists.

If there is "no scientific doubt" as to the existence of lucid dreaming, please put in some web links to some published articles validating the research and claims. Currently your links are only to un-referenced names. Otherwise your claims will come under some intense heat around here. - ManningBartlett

Much of the earlier info on lucid dreaming in the literature has been discredited. I think the phenomenon exists as an occasional and idiosyncratic experience (like deja vu), but is of little practical importance.

Whoops - well we need to back up here. I still don't like the tone of the article, it IS a bit airy-fairy but Stephen Laberge is legitimate. Here is an academic paper published in a neurophysiology journal I am professionally aware of. {http://www.asdreams.org/journal/articles/laberge5-3.htm]. Seems like there IS scientific justification after all. ManningBartlett

LET THE RECORD SHOW - that I will back down when given due evidence. I've now seen two research papers from academic journals. I've even put a dissociating note about lucid dreaming in the pseudoscience article. - MB

• Entry on lucid dreaming in the Skeptic's Dictionary, links: http://www.skepdic.com/lucdream.html

This commercial activity does not change the validity of the research, and hence is irrelevant. To report this means that we need to start questioning the commercially-related activities of all scientific research, eg. drugs, etc, which will dig us into a DEEP hole.

Just because lucid dreaming is associated with the new age movement, doesn't meaning we can dismiss it. There are at least 2 articles in known and respected neurophysiology journals (I read Dreaming during my med school days), and hence it meets ALL the critieria for valid scientific research and evidence. - MB

So let's note all that with the Skepdic link.

This occurred to me, actually. What do we do with people like Carlos Castaneda, Terence McKenna, John Mack, or, some would argue Andew Weil, who have some sort of respectable academic background, but then veered into questionable territory? Presumably note the facts on both sides.

According to the linked article, it's not technically lucid dreaming, but another phenomenon that is related to it--dreaming that you've woken up--that can be used as an explanation. This should be explained more clearly.

I'm guessing that it's probably because the dream state is so intensely real, that the dreamer refuses to acknowledge that the events did not happen in reality. It's certainly a lot more plausible that actually being abducted by aliens. It's only a theory (as noted).

I recall reading that some phenomenae that seem to mix dreaming and waking may be related to a sleeping disorder where the sleep paralysis mechanism that sets perception and cognitive motor control to "dream-mode", in a way "leaks". This may lead, for example, into hallucinations involving non-real (dream) entities appearing in the real (waking) bedroom at the time when the person is falling asleep or person experiencing physical paralysis and helplessness. This sounds much like something abduction stories coould be made of.

Lucidity might also then be a wrong phenomenon to blame. I'm afraid I don't have more exact terms or references at hand, but I thought I'd mention this. --blades 23:52, Mar 24, 2004 (UTC)

In many alien abduction stories, the abductee claims to have been sleeping, then have woken up and been abducted. After the abduction, this person supposedly awakens in bed as if nothing happened. Most likely, the person dreamed that they woke up, then and dreamed they were abducted. --Aesir

I dream lucidly on a regular basis. I'm as far from New Age-ish as one can get and still be permitted to live in California (ha ha). I must confess that I never knew that this was rare or controversial. --Jimbo Wales

I don't understand how this issue is controversial at all. Why does it matter if it's science or pseudoscience? It exists. -- Lament

I have had a handful of lucid dreams in my life (my first wasn't until I was over 25). In my most extreme case, I even did an experiment: I thought to myself, if this is a dream, I should be able to morph something (in this case a fishtank) and I successfully morphed it from a retangular to spherical fishtank. The other occcasions were sexual dreams (lucky me). I am not hippie and I am very skeptical. But this phenomena is real. -- Jason Quinn

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child		The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night		Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems		Sleep: The Complete Guide to Sleep Disorders and a Better Night's Sleep (Your Personal Health)
Clinical Companion to Sleep Disorders Medicine Second Edition		Primer on the Autonomic Nervous System		Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea		Sleep Disorders Medicine: Basic Science, Technical Considerations, and Clinical Aspects
A Clinical Guide to Pediatric Sleep: Diagnosis and Management of Sleep Problems