5 Myths About Lucid Dreaming 3

MYTH #3. Lucid dreaming is a New Age fad.

The charming and innocent movie, The Good Night, tackles lucid dreaming head-on... only to represent the oneironaut community as hairy hippies, holding hands and crying on each other's shoulders for emotional support.

I personally can't relate to this stereotype - and as a lucid dreamer or would-be dreamer, I suspect, neither can you.

Unfortunately, this myth that lucid dreaming is an unscientific, wholly spiritual pursuit still persists in the general population.

On explaining what I do for a living, a friend once said to me: "Lucid dreaming? Do you reallybelieve in all that?"

I was taken aback by this response because I've long known that lucid dreaming is scientifically proven. As a scientist and a skeptic, this is bitterly disappointing.

So let's bust this myth into pieces.

Lucid dreaming is not New Age (a concept defined as a religious or spiritual movement).

Lucid dreaming is a measurable state of consciousness, having been scientifically studied for the past four decades. It has emerging applications in clinical psychology today.

Indeed, though it has been documented throughout history for thousands of years, laboratory evidence for lucidity was first generated in 1975. Dr Keith Hearne (interviewed here) measured the precise and predefined eye movements of his lucid dreaming experimental subject, Alan Wolsley.

This experiment was more famously replicated in 1983 by Dr Stephen LaBerge, and more recent studies have analyzed the brainwave frequencies of lucid dreamers, finding that they peak in the Gamma range (32-100 Hz) compared to regular dreaming which occurs in the Theta (4-7 Hz) range.

Whatever you believe about New Age philosophies, it's inaccurate to label lucid dreaming as such, and the implications of that are profound.

FACT: The first proof of lucid dreaming was produced in 1975.

Lucid Dreaming Myths on The Internet

It's not just Hollywood that's responsible for producing myths about lucid dreaming. The internet is home to an abundance of myths and misinformation.

I've found these following myths on the blogs and forum posts of inexperienced dreamers, as well as in the hype of internet marketing letters which try to spin lucid dreaming for profit.

The problem here is a lack of critical thinking. Next time someone makes an outrageous claim about lucid dreaming, just how willing are they to adequately explain the conditions? Or are they just trying to sound clever, mysterious, or simply make a quick buck from your curiosity?

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