Thread: Does a high IQ affect lucidity / dreaming?

I recently found out that my IQ is 155 (and yes, a real test, not an online one). I was wondering if a high IQ would mess with dreaming and lucidity.

To describe some of the things a high IQ does to me:
-- I think very, very fast.
-- I think about everything 'deeper' than most people, making useless things be linked to philosophical meanings, etc.
-- I sometimes stare off into space, drowning out anything I hear or see with my thoughts.
-- I have very good visualizing skills.

A high IQ does NOT mean that I am smarter than anyone, nor that I can utilize my knowledge BETTER than anyone. It just means I happen to think faster.

In regards to dreaming: I find that my fast thought process makes it harder for me to fall asleep, and sometimes I can't control where it's going (as in trying to think about History before a test, but it just doesn't work). Also, in my (very few) lucids, I've thought out some of my moves before I do them, to avoid getting scared / losing lucidity.

But in a medical / whatever sense, what effects do you think high IQ would have on lucidity / dreaming? ^^

A good news, you have easier to learn thing than a normal person then, if you didn't know it.
There is no effect on the dreaming just because you got high IQ

There should be a thread somewhere about IQ and recall, just couldn't find it.

155? you're higher than me

IQ is mostly logic and memory. The logical part of the brain and the memory is turned off during non-lucid sleep so getting lucidity probably wouldn't help that much, but once you're lucid they should be better.

Aren't IQ tests losing effectiveness as a tool? I know there's much debate over them.

Regardless, to score high I'm sure you're intelligent, but I don't think it would have any major effects on Lucid Dreaming.

Good luck though!

Haha! one point higher then you! Mines 156, and I know that trying to fall asleep is hard, especially when you try to focus on one thing. I think it helps me because I can visuallize better, and I have vivider dreams, making it easier to notice things that are off.

@ Delphinus: That would make sense. I would think my lucids would be a lot more vivid, but they feel like normal dreams most of the time (which makes me feel like I'm not really LD-ing). Maybe everyone else is right; that the IQ doesn't have a very big effect on dreaming at all.

In regard to memory: maybe it would make dream recall better? That is, untrained.

Originally Posted by Out of the Blue

Aren't IQ tests losing effectiveness as a tool? I know there's much debate over them.

Regardless, to score high I'm sure you're intelligent, but I don't think it would have any major effects on Lucid Dreaming.

Good luck though!

I read somewhere that IQ tests are mostly designed for discovering people who fall at the farther ends of the IQ spectrum. It's not really designed to find out how smart any given person is, but rather to see if somebody is exceptionally different than the average.

Originally Posted by Out of the Blue

Aren't IQ tests losing effectiveness as a tool? I know there's much debate over them.

Regardless, to score high I'm sure you're intelligent, but I don't think it would have any major effects on Lucid Dreaming.

Good luck though!

they are losing effectiveness mainly due to their extreme western bias as well as other reasons. but i think they work well enough for this thread at least.

Originally Posted by hyperangel13

A high IQ does NOT mean that I am smarter than anyone, nor that I can utilize my knowledge BETTER than anyone. It just means I happen to think faster.

IQ stands for "intelligence quotient". It is about memory and reasoning, not merely thought speed. Some IQ tests involve timed sections, but on those, time is just one variable considered. On others, time has nothing to do with anything.

Your IQ probably has very little to do with ability to become lucid. That is a matter of determination and attention. However, your intelligence is probably what made you interested in lucid dreaming. You like using and exploring your mind.

You described your thoughts as rapid and out of touch with your surroundings. I am that way too. That can be a disadvantage if you have trouble staying with a thought. My mind is all over the place all the time, and I am in co-pilot all day every day, but I can get very zeroed in on a thought I think is really interesting. To be lucid, you have to be on the look out for your mental activity to be dream like. Once you become lucid, you have to hold on to the thought that you are lucid. That is all that matters.

My best recommendations for being a lucid dreamer are keeping up with your dreams and having a very reliable dream sign. It is great to keep a dream journal, but if you don't want to do that, just think about your dreams on a regular basis. At some point every day, ideally a few times, try to recall past dreams. Make it your goal to come up with as many as you can in a month. That will help you prepare to recognize your dreamscapes when you see them. On top of that, have a dream sign that you think about a lot during the day and that you know for a fact that if you ever actually see it, you are definitely dreaming. My number one dream sign is floating. I will try to float off the ground several times a day. The more times, the more effective the strategy. When I finally do see myself floating into the air, it means I am dreaming.

When you reach lucidity, stay calm. Getting too excited will wake you up. Just ride it. The harder you try to control the dream, the less vivid the dream will be. You should practice nearly effortless dream control. My best lucids happen when I am not trying to control anything. I just watch what happens. Sometimes I will make a decision to go to a desired dreamscape and then just watch the show once I get there.

A higher IQ seems to lead to quicker realization of your dream. I become lucid nearly immediately upon entering a dream. Dream recall on the other hand is based on how important/special the dream was and how good your natural memory is. However dream recal does strengthen day to day memeory. As to IQ tests contact MENSA, that who I took my test from and it's very real.

IQ is Logic and Memory, Lucid Dreaming is visualization and Creativity for the most part. Its more of a rightbrain thing. (I'm nearly central when it comes to hemisphere dominance, I have a semi-high IQ AND creative ability)

I think that my iq makes it v difficult to sleep at night. But my dreams are very vivid, sometimes I can remember them photographly. If I'm lucky, video. At least for a few seconds.

To the person who said their iq was 176, I give you this: WOW . That's like, genius. Wow again.

I don't consider myself especially smart. I took a legit IQ test and here's my results with some comments from the shrink:

"My stupid psychological/parenting class gave me an IQ of 105 with a Performance Score of 107 and Full Scale of 107

I don't know what the break down means, exactly, but I'm still somewhat impressed by my "low" score because:

Verbal
Vocabulary= 14
Simiarities= 14
Arithmetic= 6 [!!]
Digital Span= 7 [!!]
Information= 10
Comprehension= 15
Letter-Number Sequencing= (7) [? !!]

Performance
Picture Completion= 14
Digit Symbol= 15
Block Design= 6 [!!]
Matrix Reasoning= 9
Picture Arrangement= 12

"The client's remote recall was observed to be mildly deficient... Her concentration was observed to be mildly deficient, as noted by her scaled score of 7 on the Digit Span subtest of the WAIS-III. The client displayed the ability to reason at the abstract level. She displayed motor tension during the assessment. The client's overall motor functioning tended to me mildly retarded, and she presented as a person with a slow tempo... Overall, the results of today's assessment indicate that the client typically functions within the average range of intelligence, although the verbal aspects of her intelligence are more appropriate to a high average range of intelligence."

With my math scores so low, I was impressed that my verbal scores pulled my total up as much as it did"

"Mildly retarded" and "slow tempo" still makes me angry to read lol
But, it does take me an exceptionally long time to figure out even mundane things.

I can LD if I REALLY try. But my dreams are always intense and very vivid. I have an intense dream life and my recall is outstanding most of the time. So, I doubt IQ is directly connected.
Sometimes my subconscious mind will figure out things before my rational mind does. During such times, dream themes symbolically make the connections so I can logically piece things together. But my grasp of the abstract isn't too great, so the symbolism is usually more ??? concrete than abstract.
Maybe IQ plays in in a round about sort of way.

Kraftwerk, don't bump old threads.

Originally Posted by Flashdance

Kraftwerk, don't bump old threads.

I have to agree with this but we've also had a recent flood of old threads being bumped recently

As for IQ, don't think it affects LD at all. Possibly helps with recall since that's linked with memory and practice, but, that's it