Lucid Dreaming Research

In the late 1970s, Dr. Dement and his colleague Stephen LaBerge embarked on groundbreaking research into lucid dreaming, a remarkable phenomenon where individuals become aware that they are dreaming and can consciously manipulate the content of their dreams while asleep. Lucid dreamers reported the ability to fly through walls, practice skills like playing the piano, take dream vacations to specific locations, and even arrange simulated sexual encounters during REM sleep.

Stephen LaBerge, who had experienced lucid dreams since childhood, sought to uncover the scientific explanations behind these dreams. In laboratory experiments, LaBerge connected himself to an EEG machine. Astonishingly, he managed to move his eyeballs in a predetermined pattern—left-right, left-right, right-left—different from regular REM eye movements. This pattern served as a signal to notify researchers when he was having a lucid dream. Upon receiving this signal, Dr. Dement would awaken LaBerge and gather detailed reports about his dream experiences.

Through their experiments, the researchers discovered that only one in five people naturally experience lucid dreams, while some have brief moments of lucidity just before waking up. However, LaBerge concluded that with practice and training, up to 60 percent of test subjects could induce lucid dreaming by simply repeating the affirmation, "I will have a lucid dream," at bedtime.

To facilitate lucid dreaming in others, LaBerge developed a special visor that projected a blinking red light onto the subject's closed eyelids during REM sleep. This light, bright enough to penetrate the eyelids, served as a cue for dreamers to make conscious efforts to control their dreams. Additionally, LaBerge introduced a specific mind-training technique known as the Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD), which, with practice, enabled subjects to experience up to twenty lucid dreams per month.

As LaBerge's work progressed, he gained extraordinary control over his body during dreams. In addition to communicating with researchers through specific eye movements, he learned to clench his hands to transmit messages about his dreams in Morse code, where letters are represented by dots and dashes. This ability allowed LaBerge to convey his dream experiences to researchers in real-time, possibly marking the first instance in history where dream communication occurred.

In 1985, LaBerge documented his experiences and methodologies in his book.