Almost everyone dreams, even if they don’t remember their dreams. The practice of lucid dreaming has shown benefits when applied to waking life. Research has shown that if you can remember your dreams, you may be able to control what you dream about using techniques to induce lucid dreaming.
When Do You Dream
Scientists hypothesize that your dreams help process emotions, conflicts, and memories from your day. They talk about two stages to your sleep: non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Dreams are associated with REM sleep, and a person switches between the NREM and REM stages several times before waking up.The first half of your sleep is mostly NREM or restful sleep, during which the body is repaired and restored. The second half is REM or dreaming sleep, which helps to reactivate the mind, improving learning and memory. You can experience several REM phases per night. The final phase can last an hour or less and occurs in the early morning before you wake up. Brain research indicates that your mind can perform psychological healing during REM sleep, which thus holds the greatest potential for lucid dreams.
