Thread: Would exercise in a lucid dream give real world benefits?

According to Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, when you move in a dream, your brain makes connections with your muscles. In his own words, "the neural impulses from the brain to the body are still active and quite similar, if not identical, to those that wold accompany the same acts in waking." The muscles don't really move due to sleep paralysis, but apparently the nerve pathways are strengthened. My thoughts are that exercising in an LD would not make you stronger in real life, but it may make difficult or complex tasks easier to do (such as batting in baseball, playing golf, throwing basketballs, tennis, etc.).
However, you could practice fine motor skills while dreaming, like writing or typing, and improve them in real life since you're strengthening the neural pathways.
tl;dr:
No, you won't get stronger, but it'll help anyway.

Originally Posted by kookyinc

According to Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, when you move in a dream, your brain makes connections with your muscles. In his own words, "the neural impulses from the brain to the body are still active and quite similar, if not identical, to those that wold accompany the same acts in waking." The muscles don't really move due to sleep paralysis, but apparently the nerve pathways are strengthened. My thoughts are that exercising in an LD would not make you stronger in real life, but it may make difficult or complex tasks easier to do (such as batting in baseball, playing golf, throwing basketballs, tennis, etc.).
However, you could practice fine motor skills while dreaming, like writing or typing, and improve them in real life since you're strengthening the neural pathways.
tl;dr:
No, you won't get stronger, but it'll help anyway.

Ah yes this makes sense, as u are not actually using your muscles, your muscles fibres cannot split and therefore the muscles doesnt get stronger...but u can improve your co-ordination as its related to your nerves. Great post I wonder if this applies to your heart? I would assume if your heart rate increases in a lucid dream then it would increases in real life? Therefore would it not be possible for exercise in a dream to have the same cardiovascular benefits (increase heart size and strength but, not weight loss) as exercise in the real world?