Is Lucid Dreaming Restful?

Pretty straightforward question I've got here, with regards to dreaming-

If sleep is meant as a time for your body and mind to rejuvinate from waking life, whilst in a lucid dream, is your brain recovering the same as if you were not dreaming, or because it is still active will you feel more tired the next day than if you hadn't been LD'ing?

At a guess I would say that during a full LD, the brain is just as active as during the waking hours, but being triggered by and responding to a different set of stimuli, so would not be recovering. Unfortunately as a bit of an amateur at LD'ing I can't give anecdotal evidence either way but hearing from others would be a help.....
Thanks in advance for any replies :)

-doublex

Hmmm...good question. I'm still quite the beginner, so I can't really give a straightforward answer I'm afraid.


I find that lucid dreaming is a bit like dreaming, in a way. But it can be very real. But you just always know you're dreaming, so, it is a dream, plus you can't fly in real life.


I'm not really sure, but I know that when I wake up the next morning, I don't feel tired, I feel rather good. In fact I feel as if I slept better. I'm not sure how the whole subconcious thing works though. Maybe have a lucid dream about sleeping![/b]

Your brain never really shuts off. It's running all of the time, constantly. So, why would being able to control your dream make it any more tiring? Your brain never sleeps, and is always up and about, even when you are unconscious..I think that if anything, having control of such a big aspect of your life is a very liberating (therefore restful) experience.

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Originally posted by Gwendolyn
Your brain never really shuts off. It's running all of the time, constantly. So, why would being able to control your dream make it any more tiring?

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I'm no expert on brain activity, but I would guess that whilst sleeping it is less intense than whilst awake. So my thinking was that during an LD you are somewhat halfway between a dream and reality, so brain activity is going to be similar, i.e. involving more of it because concious thought is required.

I guess I'm not gonna wake up knackered then if I do a marathon in an LD :)

Quote:

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Originally posted by doublex
I'm no expert on brain activity, but I would guess that whilst sleeping it is less intense than whilst awake. So my thinking was that during an LD you are somewhat halfway between a dream and reality, so brain activity is going to be similar, i.e. involving more of it because concious thought is required.

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True, your involving conscious thought, but you are still dreaming. I agree that your brain doesn't shut off at any time. In the later parts of your sleep you are sleeping so lightly and having such vivid dreams, we may not fully remember, but the brain is still producing those images regardless to whether we acknowledge them or not.

I think that sleep is sleep. So, no, lucid dreaming would not take away an hour or so of your actual sleep. Of coarse, don't take my word for it, I'm not an expert.