Kingdom of Dreams

An average person will spend more than 20 years of their lives sleeping. Why?

Anyone who has ever watched professional acrobats in a circus, jugglers on the street, ice skaters, pianists or cello players surely must have been surprised with the extent to which people can develop various abilities by constantly practising. But few have thought of developing their ability to participate more actively in their own dreams during the night. Psychologists from the University of Adelaide in Australia have decided to try just that: to develop techniques that can increase their chances of having so-called “lucid dreams,” in which dreams are very intense and the person is fully aware of the dream and has an impression of control over that experience.

The first technique is to develop the habit of testing reality. A person should acquire the habit of checking their surroundings as many times a day as possible and deciding whether they are asleep or awake. This should assist the brain to continue to do this when the person is asleep. Another technique is intentionally waking up after five hours of sleep and remaining awake for a few minutes. Then, a continuation of sleep is recommended, coupled with preparation for probable lucid dreams in the so-called REM phase that should follow. The third technique is the so-called MILD technique (from “Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams”), where a person also wakes up after five hours of sleep and then repeats the phrase “the next time I fall asleep, I will remember exactly what I dream about”, imagining what the dream will be.