For the last few days, my phone has been sending me notifications to remind me that I’m awake and not dreaming.
That’s because I have recently trained myself to become a ‘lucid dreamer’ – and, like the plot of the movie Inception, the makers of the app are worried I become so efficient at it I can’t distinguish between the two states of consciousness.
I began using the app Awoken after hearing about research that lucid dreaming has cognitive benefits, such as self-awareness.
Simply put, a lucid dream is a type of dream where the person is aware that they are dreaming.
It lets people experience a state of ‘heightened awareness’ during sleep and allows them to control what happens within the dream.
Awoken combines training during the day with sensory cues at night that woke me up with a gentle gong sound so I could record what I was experiencing while asleep.
It all seemed faintly ridiculous, until about the fourth night when I had my first lucid dream.
I’m ashamed to admit that it was about Dungeons and Dragons, which I had been playing with some old friends earlier in the evening.
In the lucid dream, I discovered a powerful character and went to war in sunlit ruins where I was 100 percent aware that I was actually asleep.
Lucid dreams are dreams where the dreamer is aware they are dreaming and can sometimes control what happens
I would have liked to report that I achieved full control and could fly in the air, but beyond a concrete certainty I was dreaming, I was not able to drive the dream in any direction.
But upon waking, I felt absolutely elated about the ‘Knight’ character I had become, swinging my sword and attacking enemies on the battlefield.
The entire scene felt like a real-life adventure, allowing me to control how fast I ran, how hard I swung and which directions I moved through the ruins.
Lucid dreaming is relatively common, with up to 55 percent of people have experienced them at least once in their life.
Why would you want to have a lucid dream? Well, apart from it just being cool to control your dreams, it’s been shown to have multiple benefits.
According to its growing band of exponents, lucid dreaming has the power to not only improve health — both mental and physical — but also help us process past trauma, overcome phobias and addictive behaviors and even improve life skills.
Advocates have also suggested that controlling dreams can be a way to deal with real-life trauma – or even a way to improve skills.
But can an app really make you dream differently?
There are several well-known techniques to induce lucidity, according to experts, and most lucid dreaming apps follow at least some of these techniques.
Dr Chelsea Perry, a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine and owner of Sleep Solutions, told DailyMail.com, ‘Achieving lucid dreams takes practice, but some simple techniques can make it easier.
For the last few days, my phone has been sending me notifications throughout the day to remind me that I’m awake and not dreaming (Rob Waugh)
‘One effective method is to start with reality checks, like regularly asking yourself, ‘Am I dreaming?’ throughout the day.
‘This question can carry over into your dreams, helping you recognize when you’re actually in one.’
This is how Awoken works: you are reminded you are in reality through the day, then when you wake up, you try to remember your dreams.
‘Keeping a dream journal by your bed also builds awareness, writing down your dreams right after waking sharpens recall and helps you notice patterns or ‘dream signs’ that often pop up in dreams,’ Dr Perry said.
‘Another approach, called Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD), involves repeating a phrase like, ‘Next time I’m dreaming, I’ll recognize it’ before bed to set an intention for lucidity.
‘If you’re up for experimenting, try the ‘Wake Back to Bed’ (WBTB) method by setting an alarm to wake up after about five hours of sleep, staying awake briefly, then going back to sleep with lucidity in mind.
Research by Northwestern University in October 2024 suggested that smartphone apps really can make you lucid dream through targeted lucidity reactivation (TLR) – combining pre-sleep training with sensory cues during sleep.
‘Apps can be helpful tools. While they don’t directly cause lucid dreams, they support the process by offering reminders for reality checks, a place to log your dreams, and audio cues to boost awareness,’ said Dr Perry.
‘These features provide structure and guidance, making it easier to stick with a consistent practice.’
