placebo effect

Ok i'm sure this has been discussed several times before but here's my dilemma.....


Last night I was in a very fuzzy/hazy dream room when suddenly I thought "I'm dreaming" and I immedietly went to fly (my reality check) but then i got really fuzzy so I rubbed my hands to stabilize and it worked for a second but then I woke up ( i was probably near the end of my dream anyways)

My question is if stablizing technices i.e. spinning, hand rubbing are simply a placebo effect in your mind. Like, we read on here that it will help so your convinced it will, so when you try it in a dream it works.

But last night I started thinking while I was rubbing my hands that it's probably just a placebo effect and I woke up. Now i'm worried that I've "convinced" my mind that its' only "in my mind" that it will work and now I"ve lost my stabilizing tecniques.

Any suggestions or similar experiences. Ask me to clarify if this is a little confusing :)

It isn't a placebo because you are taking your mind off your sleeping body :) Make sure you reality check when you wake up. I had plenty of lucids where the stabilization failed and I was still dreaming.

the spinning and rubbing hands together are just to help you "feel" the dream by doing this it's easier to remain in something just by feeling it.

it helps me to just focus on something like a tree and admire the detailed twigs and leaves and the sunshine. example of seeing in the dream.

i think it's just a way of stimulating one of your senses. your mind really thinks it's happening, so it's gonna feel it but your consciousness is i would say smarter than your brain in lucid dreams since you know its a dream, your biological mind doesn't. i guess it's like a trade. you convince your mind how realistic some things are and in return, it helps you not wake up.

that's just my guess but yeah. to put it short, i don't think it's a placebo because your convincing your mind it's all real.

ah nevermind forget i said anything.

Rubbing hands causes dream sensation, which makes it harder for the mind to switch perception from the dream world to the regular world.

Everything in dreaming is the placebo effect. It's also the only thing that holds people back from constant LDs.

I think what you are having is a reverse placebo effect (is there such a thing?). These dream stabilizing techniques are (from what I understand) done to generate a large amount of input from your dream self, causing your brain to stay in that state, rather then going to the physical state. By convincing yourself these techniques are bogus (consciously or not) they become bogus. So, next time you do it, also remember that they actually work, and are not just placebos.

yeah i guess i would agree it is a placebo in your dreams because your mind seems to think everything is real. becoming lucid and stablizing your dream is like you giving your mind a dose of the placebo.

what the hell is consciousness anyway though. your conscious meets your subconscious. like multitasking, it is your mind.