Headaches during/after lucid dreaming...
I've been lucid dreaming for as bout as long as I remember. Dreams have always had an importance in my life and once I learned how to lucid dream (long before I realized it was what I was doing or that others could do it to) I have experienced a strange "side-effect"... headaches.
The headaches only seem to happen when my mind wakes up, is conscious that it's awake, and then I force myself back into a lucid dreaming state. The headaches, for me, happen about 80% of the time. Headaches occur 100% of the time if my body gets it's full rest, but I willingly force myself to sleep into lucid dreaming (like on the one day off a week when I like to sleep 10 hours). What's strange is when I get the headaches, I'm aware that my body feels that way although my dream self does not experience it. It strange to be "out of body" yet still feel the connection to my physical self.
The other day I finally decided to do some google research and found something very interesting: there are plenty of message boards and q/a sites regarding this experience, but for as many folks who have it happen to them, there are just as many folks who have NEVER had this happen. This has only fueled my curiosity. For as common (and I say "common" because there are a decent amount of hits regarding this), there are no research papers or articles in regards to it. And thus, I decided to try and figure it out for myself. Currently I am researching the nature of headaches, and doing even more research into dreaming, sleep states, and lucid dreaming. The closest thing to an answer I found on a message board where an individual postulated that the headaches are a result of energy building up in the "third eye". While I'm a man of science, I certainly believe that science can only answer part of any question.
And thus, I post here in hopes that maybe one of you has found information regarding this... or if you have your own ideas as to why this may happen... or if you, yourself, have experienced this. Any information would be greatly appreciated, although I feel that the results I'm looking for may be years away.
