Thread: Dangers Of Lucid Dreaming?

Yeah. And then there are those people who use LDing as a way to get out of their real life. LDing is fun as a hobby, but just don't take it too far. Don't ignore other things just so you can sleep or do something LD related.

Thankyou for the peace of mind, obviously lucid dreaming is only dangerous for mentally unstable dreamers

Yeah. There doesn't seem to be any real physical danger (other than the possible disruption of the sleep cycle). There do seem to be psychological dangers, though. Either your distinction between fantasy and reality blurs or you use lucid dreaming as a means to escape from real life. Lucid dreaming is not a good substitute for counseling if you can't find happiness in your life (although it's better than suicide).

[quote=dsr;428933]Yeah. There doesn't seem to be any real physical danger (other than the possible disruption of the sleep cycle). quote]


Exactly, is there some unconcious process you are interrupting?

Sleep lol. Waking up at 4 AM every morning isn't exactly healthy for you, but I imagine if you do it long enough then you will get used to it and it will become a part of your routine.

Originally Posted by tiddlywink101

I have recently been thinking that perhaps Lucid Dreaming is not that good for our us and have put it on hold until somebody can shed some light upon my concerns.
Firstly when I was awaking at 5am each to record my dreams I noticed a lack of concentration that day at school, leaving me thinking that it was because I had interrupted some vital process of the sleeping mind (I am only 15 so my brain is still developing)
Secondly we have to train ourselves to LD thus breaking natural barriers in our mind that could be there to safeguard against dream lucidity, so surely it's not natural and may have harmful effects.
Sorry if i'm talking rubbish here but if anyone understands me please share your thoughts. Also if your just starting out don't let this put you off trying to learn, as Lucid Dreaming is a very rewarding experience and PROBABLY not dangerous.
Thanks

About the second point: Lucid dreaming is difficult to achieve "naturaly" ie. without any practice. But so is hunting, first aid treatment, reading and writing, driving, and a million other things that you can only achive effectivly if you learn it. Evolution ( or God ) did not give us all the possible abilities, but it gave us the ability learn the other abilities.

Originally Posted by tiddlywink101

But still, there is no "proper" scientific research into lucid dreaming so we can't realy make these statements

Well I've been doing it for a year and I haven't had any reality lapses yet so don't worry

And there are others who have been doing it for much longer.

Exactly so we agree interupting sleep so early is not good for you, however we wake up around 4-5 times on an average night anyway, but forget it happened according to research

Originally Posted by tiddlywink101

Thankyou for the peace of mind, obviously lucid dreaming is only dangerous for mentally unstable dreamers

That's an ironic way of putting it! In a sense, you could say dreamng is a form of psychosis (well, 'normal' dreaming anyway.) It's an altered state where we lose the ability to question things or think critically, or we accept as real things we'd otherwise absolutely know were absurd, etc etc .. and all because our neurochemistry goes completely when we fall asleep.

You could say, lucid dreaming is a way of stabilising ourselves, or at least of gaining some control over the psychotic state we always fall into, while we're asleep....?

Lucid dreaming is marvelous. I have had so many great learning experiences with practicing LDs.
We must sleep for a reason. The most Obvious to be resting the body and the MIND.
If our conscious mind is activated during a time where it would otherwise be in its most deepest of sleep, I have to question if there could be possible deprivation.
Just recently I had a lucid dream that I had asked myself (or my subconscious) during the lucid dream if this is a natural act. The result was.. I yawned. But you have to remember I half believed this prior to the dream. Hence one of the reasons I asked the question.
SO was the answer manipulated by my Precognitive thought processes or was my subconscious giving me a true and valid sign?

On most accounts, many people who claim to lucid dream almost all the time say they do not experience sleep deprivation.
Yet another variable is that we all require different amounts of sleep.

Originally Posted by tiddlywink101

Secondly we have to train ourselves to LD thus breaking natural barriers in our mind that could be there to safeguard against dream lucidity, so surely it's not natural and may have harmful effects.

I'm not sure if anyone has made this point (as I don't have time to read all of the pages right now), so I'm sorry if they have. Most things in life that are worth while you have to train to be able to do. You can't just go up to a guitar and play challenging songs, you must practice, even if you can play the piano (guitar being lucid dreams and piano being regular). When you were young, you had to learn to walk, you even had to learn to talk. People who do things out of the norm are what make society what it is today. cavemen making fire, Thomas Edison and the light bulb. Don't forget that some people don't even need to train to have LD's, they have had them as long as they can remember.

I'd say at this point, without further scientific research and studies done we cannot pronounce that lucid dreaming is entirely safe.

In Steven LaBerge's lucid dreaming book he also talks about the dangers of LD for people who try to escape everyday life. (I'm quite sure it was his book, correct me if I'm wrong Marvo, you may have read it since you mentioned Steven earlier)

In my humble opinion I do think there could be negative effects to lucid dreaming if one was to..."stumble too far in".

Hey all, thanks for the concern. It's not that I doubt that I'm awake; I know that I'm awake, but I feel really disconnected. Like I'm looking at everything from far away. But yes, I feel that stopping my LDing was probably for the best.

In Steven LaBerge's lucid dreaming book he also talks about the dangers of LD for people who try to escape everyday life. (I'm quite sure it was his book, correct me if I'm wrong Marvo, you may have read it since you mentioned Steven earlier)

I'm sure most people don't abuse lucid dreaming in this way, and it's spelled "stephen" by the way (sorry to nitpick)

lol, i forgot. no big deal, i nitpick all the time.

So what were we talking about again?

lol

I dont think that there are any dangers involved if Lucid Dreaming is to be achieved by people with common sense.

It's okay to go against our Evolutionary Design. Our behavior has its roots in basic instincts which often no longer have a context in modern living. Talking about this starts to get to the very nature of our Being.

For example, we are evolutionarily designed to gossip about all the behavior of people in our community(especially sexual/mating practices) as a way of protecting ourselves from dangerous individuals and knowing about other's behavior patterns. However, gossip plays a very harmful role in many situations today. This is a minor example. A larger one might be that our violent instincts can drive us to war which no longer aids in our survival (generally).

Although my examples don't correspond perfectly to your question, I think its perfectly ok to override some of our genetic predispositions when possible.

Another note, when I successfully have LD's I find that my need for sleep lessens. There is a man named Michael Winn that claims he sleeps no more than 3 hours per night because he has developed such great control over his energy through Lding and other Taoist means. Than again he may just be a freak...

Another note, when I successfully have LD's I find that my need for sleep lessens. There is a man named Michael Winn that claims he sleeps no more than 3 hours per night because he has developed such great control over his energy through Lding and other Taoist means. Than again he may just be a freak...
__________________

He would surly have to powernap around the day for this to be healthy

If only we could permanently overide war TalkingHead!
And Yoko Ono only slept a max of 3 hours a day, but we all know that bitch is crazy!

Originally Posted by themindsi

If only we could permanently overide war TalkingHead!
And Yoko Ono only slept a max of 3 hours a day, but we all know that bitch is crazy!

If everyone will be into lucid dreaming, there will be world peace, because how can one have a decent WILD with bombs blowing up everywhere?

Lol, good point Dodobird!!

I've been trying to ld for about a year now, and the only time I doubt whether I'm dreaming or not is when I remember something random and wonder when it happened. it's a little annoying but it's no different than all the other random ways people get memories. (I'm not a great lder so it's usually just normal dreams I get confused with).

*edit* just looked at the date on thread, this is a major bump.

... thread necromancy, eeeeek.