Would love a neurologist to answer this question about Lucid Dreams.

AFAIK there are no neurologists on Fluther.

well anyone would be great…. just a general question really…

As for Melatonin levels I can’t really say. But my experiences with lucid dreaming have not seemed to affect how rested I feel during the day. If anything I wake up feeling more rested. I’ve also found myself completely exhausted after some normal dreams and nightmares.
As far as effecting REM sleep, maybe this will help;
http://www.lucidity.com/SleepAndCognition.html

Wait, no…
I like this one better.
http://www.unexplainable.net/artman/publish/article_557.shtml

From the reading I’ve done, lucid dreaming doesn’t appear to impact the deep sleep stages at all. Lucidity occurs almost exclusively during the REM stages, most often the longer REMs toward the end of the night. The dreamer is not any “less asleep” during periods of lucidity than during periods of non-lucidity. Lucidity occurs during the more active (“phasic”) stage of REM (as opposed to the “tonic” or calmer stage of REM), but this stage occurs whether or not there is lucidity.

The deeper (non-REM) sleep stages, which are the more physiologically restorative, are distributed more toward the beginning of the night, so most of the deep sleep has been done by the time lucid dreaming is likely to occur.

The natural production of melatonin by the pineal gland is keyed to the “big picture” of day vs. night, as established by light exposure, and isn’t affected by nuances of the sleep cycle.

I often have lucid dreams, and haven’t had any negative results from them.

I dream that way most of the time and I get less sleep than most but I still function okay.

Thanks guys @thorninmud that explains quite a lot… I“m quite interested in lucid dreaming, @Summum and @filmfann when you lucid dream can you do whatever you what?
Can you control the dream?
I have anxiety and have been using my lucid dreams to try overcome them.

Many times I am in complete control of some dreams. The interesting part is you can through meditation go into the rem state and experience the dream state but are entirely conscience and aware. It is in those times that you can find many answers to lifes questions.

yeah it’s pretty amazing, I wonder if it’s ever been used as a therapy as it should be really…

@tan235 When I lucid dream, I am usually able to steer the dream, but if I try to do something too far apart from that dream, it derails into something else.

wow, it’s quite fascinating isn’t it, i’ve been looking up how Tibetans use Lucid dream state for ritual… I’m thinking that there must be something quite powerful in lucid dreaming.
I actually met a man in my lucid state who was a doctor, he said his name was Dr Rualeta and I could find him whenever i was lucid.
I spend a lot of my lucid dreams with him – a few times he’s put me through this machine that tests my anxiety levels and where i’m most stressed in my body, other times we just talk about life – most of the time though i spend my lucid state trying to find him… haha.
quite amazing – I think I might start a blog maybe .. Im’ so fascinated by it.

@tan235, I have lucid dreams several times a week and have had them for as long as I can remember. The places are always the same, and I can walk around between them and memorize locations well enough to physically map them out in the real world. It’s pretty cool.

As to this question, I’m pretty interested, so I’ll stick around.

yeah @Fiddle_Playing_guy…. makes me wonder if you can meet others in your lucid state?
I did watch Inception a few days ago and that got me thinking – perhaps it’s not as impossible as we think?
Brain waves matching up apparently is how telepathy is possible – one person thinking of something and sending to the other – actually affecting that persons thoughts… and it’s a science now no longer a theory…. so given that… perhaps if two people were to decide to meet in Lucid state that would be possible?
After all we only use a small percentage of our brain – if we can think it – maybe it can happen?

@tan235, I kind of have my doubts about all that, but it’s fun to think about. I just think that I have a very expansive, yet logical and organized imagination. My dreams are always surreal, but they conform to logical rules of time and place. Same goes for my dream characters. I’m more apt to think it’s just a reflection of my imagination.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard – a logical and organized imagination is something I don’t have… however I’d like to have – sounds great, my mind is definitely filled with imagination that is as free as a child in a candy shop….. however when I’m lucid in my dream that’s when I actually feel more like a spiritual entity rather than my normal self… I’m normally much more on to it and demand answers to things – a part of my brain ‘switches’ on that i really like… guess the trick is is awakening that part in real lucidity – when I’m awake!

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard do you work, student?
Did you find lucidity by accident?
In fact how did everyone whose commented on here find out about lucid dreaming?

@tan235, I’m a history student. I used to be a psych student. I’ve been a lucid dreamer for as long as I can remember. I remember reading about the subject and being fascinated by it when I was 8 or 9 years old. I think I should clarify: technically, I’m not a true lucid dreamer. I can’t completely manipulate the landscape or characters of my dreams, but I can move around (on foot or driving) as I please and talk to characters and remember the tiniest details. Just like the real world. I guess that would mean I’m partially lucid since I don’t actively manipulate the setting or plot of my dreams.

Now push the button just a little further and imagine talking with other beings that are not from this world. Think about how they could possibly teach things that this world has no knowledge of or very little.

possible?
Could be possible… I havn’t tried it however the man I met in my lucid state does seem to know an awful lot about everything so who knows, i just assumed he was part of my subconscious knowledge.
Does make you wonder… I mean where do you really go when you dream?

There is a veil between us and the dream world and this can be breached by us not only while we dream but we can learn to do so while fully awake. Where do you think that mankind understood enough while they were in the process of evolution? For instance the Mayans or Eqyptians and the technology and things they accomplished. They had help and if you look at their drawings it is all through them.

@Summum… can you do this?
Is it something that is easily accessible or is this now breaching on the occult?
Or given that the occult merely is a way of explaining something we don’t understand I guess to most it could be.
I’d be very interested in learning more about this though – is there a website you can recommend?

are you talking about the Theta brain state? The state before sleep and wake… the state you get to in meditation?

You can get into the Delta Dream state through Meditation and learn to do many things. I will send you a private site to look at.