Thread: Certain races more susceptible to LD?

im whitey.

the half english half ukrainian me hasn't had much LD luck...

Hey, this is an awesome question! Good topic! I'm white, but, I got a lot of asian and white friends... I'll ask them, and see what the results are. Heh... interesting...

this sounds like a world of warcraft question

white

I'm half German, half Australian. All my Aussie friends have LD's every now and then, same with my German friends.

Interesting subject.


- Axis

Swiss/Italian (white).

I'm half Sicilian, half Finn. That Sicilian half brings all sorts of stuff into the mix, of course. And I'm quite happy with my track record so far with LDs.

My wifeling's a wild blend, including Scots, Polish, American Indian and much more. She has always had low-level LDs.

Our youngest talks about knowing she's dreaming as if it is no big deal. I discussed LDs with our 15 year old one day last week... and he had an LD that same night.

"Uber-White" (i'm like, dead person pale , or japanese pop artist pale xD)

Anyway:
If i'd go on the ''official'' tour I'd be:
33% Indonesian
20% Fries (it's a ''provincial race, not a country lol'')
40% Dutch
3,5% French
3,5% German

My nationality? Dutch (Aka: The Netherlands)

Originally posted by Crono1000
this sounds like a world of warcraft question

Orcs LD all the time.
Actually it's quite interesting, because I have (a little) asian blood in me and I seem to have much more luck with LDs than my more purely white friends.

Viking

interestingly enough i think there was a medical study that evaluated a southeast asian diet-based electrolyte deficiency that lead to more frequent sleep paralysis/sleep disturbances. i will see if i can dig it up!

I don't really know very many people regardless of race that have LDs.

I don't think race is a factor at all, considering that all human brain structures are virtually identical, and that all humans are 99.9% genetically related. I think it has more to do with your mental tendancies,etc...

I can't remember....

Interesting question! Of course, if there is a difference in the frequency of LDs in people from different ethnic backgrounds, it would be difficult to discern whether that comes primarily from genetic, cultural, or other environmental differences such as one's diet as elcorazon33 suggested. (That would be awesome if you could find that article, btw, Elcorazon.) One's cultural surroundings doubtless play a role in determining the intensity and variability of one's dream experiences - I would think that LDing and other "unusual" dream states and experiences would be more common for those raised in environments that value dreaming and are open about various dream experiences, thereby exposing members of those cultures to the ideas and techniques of LDing, etc, from an early age.

And for the comparison, I'm pretty much a genetic Heinz57. The ingredient list by geographical region of origin is: Irish, Scottish, Welsh, English, French, Cherokee, and Choctaw.
I've had vivid and fairly unusual dreams (at least compared to the majority of people with whom I've discussed dreaming) for as long as I can remember. I generally recall at least 3 per night, and I started to spontaneously LD at the age of 14 or 15. My father does not remember any of his dreams, and my mother LDs occasionally. Neither of them talked about dreams overmuch as I was growing up.

Different cultures have different attitudes towards and beliefs about dreaming.

Diet may have some role in mental states and lucid dreaming.

But as far as genetics:

what constitutes a race might seem obvious to most people, but race doesn't mean much from a biological standpoint.

Genetically speaking, nothing differentiates one race from another. All humans share the same set of genes. There is no African gene, no Caucasian gene, no Asian gene.

Certainly, genetic differences exist and even small differences can have big effects; consider that animals as different as chimpanzees and humans share 99 percent of their genetic code.

And even among humans, genetic variations obviously exist between individuals. Some genes are expressed, or "turned on," in some people and not in others. Some genes tend to develop mutations, which may alter body functioning or physical appearance, and these mutations get passed on to offspring.

But these variations don't occur neatly along racial lines. Scientists calculate that there is an average genetic variation of 5 percent between racial groups. But that leaves a whopping 95 percent of variation that occurs within racial groups.

Even the most obvious distinguishing factor -- skin color -- can vary enormously within a race, said Joseph L. Graves Jr., an evolutionary biologist at Arizona State University West in Phoenix. And the dark skin of a sub-Saharan African is not unlike the dark skin of a Caucasoid in India, added Graves, author of a 2001 book, "The Emperor's New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millenium."

That's why most scientists say race is a social construct, not a biological one. In other words, social rules determine what races are and what they mean. [/b]

I'm supposed to be "white". ( http://czech-ddr.info/pics/stsitg2.jpg )

I am also a naturel LDer. My father and sister don't recall their dreams. My mother does sometimes. And other people in vicinity don't recall their dreams neither.

would think that LDing and other "unusual" dream states and experiences would be more common for those raised in environments that value dreaming and are open about various dream experiences, thereby exposing members of those cultures to the ideas and techniques of LDing, etc, from an early age. [/b]

I think that this is true (if the subject dreaming is an ordinary topic I think it is true, because it's (at least) in people's subconsciousness).
But we in our culture (I live in Belgium now...) people never got the idea that they could recall their dreams. It happens to them occassionally and it's more frightening for them than anything else. They don't even realize what they could do in their sleep...they don't know about it...so their brain does nothing to start LDing. But it's true there are people like me. People who have nobody around speaking about dreams, LDs etc...People who become natural LDers and it was always a part of their lifes. (I'm new to this community....)

When I was about 6 years old I thought that everyone is "aware" of what he dreams and I was telling my dreams (it's like memories for me...) to others but I found soon that people became scared of me because of what I was saying. (those weren't dreams, stories a six year old child could have). I didn't know anything about dreaming till I found by chance an article on being "awake" while sleeping and that it happens only to a small percentage of people.

=> the idea that someone could loose his consciousness during sleep never came to my mind. and that's why I think that people who are born without being able to be lucid won't even realize that they can be.

I don't think that ethnicity really matters in your ability. I think the roles dreams play in a culture does make a difference in how easy it is for one to LD or not. Being surrounded by something your whole life makes you more readily qualified to do it. But, I don't think ability itself is an issue.

I don't think its genetic because I asked my parents about sleep paralysis (beginning stage of WILDs, if that is what is on your mind in SP), and neither of them ever recall ever having such an event. My older brother has never had it either, atleast he says so, and my little brother, age 14, only recalls having it once. I however, at age 18, have had it 2-3 time a year unwillingly, it wasn't until recently that I've began inducing these willingly, in which I had 3 in a month (which should go up now that its summer time and my stress levels will drop). I guess I'm the special one in my family.