Does lucid dreaming all the time not let the brain rest?

**technoviking** · 09-03-2011 06:14 AM

Hi,

I brought up lucid dreaming to a co-worker and he had the idea that if you don't give your brian time to rest (for example if you are always exercising it when its trying to rest) then you aren't getting proper sleep/recovery time for your brain.

Is this true? I would imagine you are waking up your logical parts of the brain that should be sleeping correct?

Either way I'm still going to do this as much as possible

But still curious.

**Darkmatters** · 09-03-2011 06:39 AM

This comes up every couple of days it seems like. 1st, most of us only WISH we could lucid anywhere near "all the time"!! Most of us have to work hard to get like a couple a month if that (I'm nowhere near even that).

We have heard from a couple of people who claim that every dream they have is lucid - I'm not sure if I believe them. I suppose it's within the realm of possibility, but not something you need to worry about.

It must be great to have a friend who's a certified sleep psychologist. Um... he IS, right? Cause yeah, if not, then don't listen to him. Funny how everybody "knows" so much about why lucid dreaming s so dangerous, even though they've never even heard of it before. Trust me, you know a lot more about it now than he does.

**technoviking** · 09-03-2011 06:56 AM

lol so true

**Evolventity** · 09-03-2011 07:00 AM

No. The brain and body remain in the same physiological state in non-lucid and lucid dreaming within REM sleep. Whether you know you're dreaming or not, the brain is going to create experiences out of active thoughts. Lucid dreaming simply allows us to direct these thoughts along constructed lines. LD's are nothing more than being aware.

**Choi** · 09-03-2011 12:33 PM

I sleep 6 hours before I do my attempt, so even if I don't let the brain rest while I am lucid, I still have let it rest for 6 hours.
Sometimes when I wake up after a long lucid dream, it feels kind of exhausting, but that quickly disapears and I am actually more alert and it's easier to concentrate in school.

**DeepThort** · 09-03-2011 12:50 PM

I think that dreaming occupies a fairly small time period compared with sleep as a whole so it has very little effect on our ability to rest. During REM sleep our brains convert the short term memory of the day gone by into long term memory. This by definition requires the brain to "work" rather than "rest". If it did not do this then we could not function normally as we would forget many important events. This conversion is much of what we interpret as dreams (not all of it, some dreams are just random stuff) and so whether we have lucid dreams or not, our subconscious keeps this process ticking over. Plenty of time during sleep is devoted to rest and recovery but REM cycle sleep has many other important functions. I would not worry about this as it is a natural process. Your mind will not let you screw yourself during sleep. What you do while you are awake however is your business. The wakeful processes devoted to inducing lucid dreams are far more likely to be of harm. For example, if you spend too much time reading about how to lucid dream at work you might lose your job

**Darkmatters** · 09-03-2011 01:09 PM

Actually it's now known that dreaming occurs during every stage of sleep - it's just that different sleep stages produce markedly different types of dreams. REM sleep is the most familiar - the dreams that are like movies, and mostly that's when lucidity occurs. But during N-REM (non-REM) sleep we still dream, though it has a distinctly different quality to it. Usually there are no visuals or we simply observe static geometric shapes or mandalas. And rather than stories, this type of dream is composed of thoughts... basically just a string of thorts (

) running through your mind. These dreams seem to be much harder to recall than REM dreams.

**Supernova** · 09-03-2011 02:34 PM

Lucid or not, contrary to what common sense would tell you, the brain is very active during REM sleep.

**DeepThort** · 09-04-2011 05:25 AM

Quite right Darkmatters, I seem to have been over simplifying things in my mind. These N-REM dreams are quite difficult to remember but I have had these experiences. I think that this just goes to show that the idea that we are "unconscious" during sleep is rather pathetic. We respond to environmental stimuli, we continue to think and to process information and we can be highly aware of our situation. What else is there which is a component of being conscious. This is nothing like being knocked out. I know this is nothing new but I think that the point needs regular reiteration.