December 8, 2010 “Dreams versus reality” is a motif that serves an important role in Revolutionary Road. Many of the main characters day dream and imagine theoretical situations. This can be applied in real life to the majority of people because whether tired or bored, one will eventually dream in one way or another. Lucid dreaming is a term created by Frederik van Eeden that is used to describe a dream in which one is aware that he/she is dreaming. This type of dreaming is considered by many as a higher level of consciousness. Most people do not know what lucid dreaming is and those who do rarely are aware of how to realize that they are dreaming, let alone actually manipulate their dreams. Lucid dreaming can have many benefits in one’s life, whether it’s relieving stress, learning or studying, having fun, etc. Also, there is little risk in dreaming lucidly, since dreams do not take place in the physical world. Anything that can benefit many people with little risk should be readily available and encouraged. Dreaming lucidly fits this description yet is not studied often, and on top of that, is not taken very seriously within the scientific community. Lucid dreaming should be a topic that is taught and discussed more often than is currently in everyday life. To understand lucid dreaming, one must understand the two different types of “life”. One of which is waking life, which you probably can guess, refers to one’s life while they are awake. The other of which, is dreaming life, which refers to one’s life while asleep. The special thing about lucid dreaming is that it encompasses both of these ideas into one. That is to say, that you are dreaming and consciously aware of that fact simultaneously. This all sounds simple enough, but it can be very hard to trigger lucid dreaming. One trick to realize that you are dreaming is looking at digital clocks numerous times because when you are dreaming often times there will be some indication that what is happening cannot possibly happen in the real world. For example, when looking at said clock, there could be odd symbols, the numbers could change sporadically, or the time could just not be possible for any number of other reasons. Another helpful trick to realize that you are dreaming is flipping on and off light switches because the lighting level in one’s dream tends not to change. One last trick is recognizing reoccurring themes in one’s dreams. This is hard to do if you have a hard time recalling your dreams once you are awake, but one solution to this problem is keeping a journal where you write down every aspect of what you can remember about your dream each and every morning. This sounds like a lot of work for something that does not even apply to the real world, but the joys of lucid dreaming make it worthwhile. Things you can do while lucid dreaming: flying, walk through walls, learn an instrument, or even find out what it’s like to die. These are just a few examples of things that are possible while lucid dreaming, and the list encompasses pretty much anything that you can imagine. Outside of the obvious entertaining aspect of lucid dreaming there are many other therapeutic benefits. Stephen LaBerge, professor at Stanford University goes as far as to say, “[T]hat the ability to dream lucidly could be important to humanity and a tool in solving problems of waking life” (Melton).
Lucid dreaming is not talked about much in the scientific community and most scientists do not see the benefits behind it. One of the few who does support the study of lucid dreaming feels that, “[t]he little research that has been done suggests lucid dreamers' brains are in a penumbral state between waking and sleeping, offering all kinds of opportunities for study” and that “[h]arnessing lucid dreams could provide insights into consciousness” (Wake). There are many different ways to study lucid dreaming that I cannot begin to understand, but the main reason lucid dreaming should be discussed more readily is because of the benefits it can have in the way we view consciousness and other cognitive functions. For instance, we could discover a correlation between our dreams and reality that has not yet been discovered. After all, we do tend to dream about things that happen to us in real life albeit not always in a way that makes sense to us. A goal that could be achieved through studying lucid dreaming is a reliable way to interpret our dreams and their meanings in our everyday lives. Another benefit lucid dreaming could have is its ability to stop nightmares. This can be very beneficial to those out there who have the same nightmare over and over again, which can be caused from a traumatic event in one’s life. Scientists have found, in the few studies done, that “[lucid dreaming treatment] seems effective in reducing nightmare frequency, although the primary therapeutic component (i.e. exposure, mastery, or lucidity) remains unclear” (Spoormaker). More studies need to be done to ensure that these results are correct, but the advantages to figuring these things out seem clear. Lack of sleep can lead to sickness and many other fitness concerns, and reducing nightmares for some could lead to a much happier, healthier everyday life. These are just a couple of the basic goals that can be achieved through the study of lucid dreaming, and the list could be much longer. It’s hard to be certain if there are other benefits, or whether these benefits are actually possible themselves since there has not been much research or scientific work conducted with the issue of lucid dreaming.
There are many different reasons why lucid dreaming is not taken very seriously within the scientific community. One of those reasons is that “[i]t does not fit [in] very easily with dream theory because, as a rule, the regular dreamer is not aware of the fact that he or she is dreaming, and dreaming is distinguished by, among other things, a loss of cognitive control and self-reflexivity” (Patrick). The idea that something should not be studied or that it does not exist just because it does not belong to a preordained “theory” is ridiculous. There are many ways to study and prove that lucid dreaming is real, although they are difficult. The difficulty faced by researchers when studying lucid dreaming is another reason why many scientists do not face lucid dreaming with a sincere approach. When dreaming, your eyes do the same thing in real life that they are doing in your dream, and this comes in handy when researching lucid dreaming because it allows lucid dreamers to communicate with the experimenters. One common technique using this concept is predetermining eye movements so that those asleep can communicate with the outside world. An example of this communication would be “instruct[ing] [lucid dreamers] to mark the following events by means of left–right–left–right (LRLR) eye movements: the onset of lucidity, the beginning and end of the entire lucid dream task, and the transitions between counting to performing squats to counting” (Erlacher). This example was used to measure cardiovascular responses in the human body while lucid dreaming, and although it may be difficult to research lucid dreaming, there are ways around this dilemma that have proved to be useful like the aforementioned “eye movement” design. The biggest reason, however, as to why there has been a lack of interest in lucid dreaming around the scientific community is simply because most scientists and people, in general, do not know what lucid dreaming is. Those who have heard of the topic frequently cannot lucid dream so their interest on the subject often dwindles. If the majority of the people in the world are not familiar with the concept of lucid dreaming, and if many of those who are familiar with the idea are not interested in the topic, then obviously there is not going to be much concern or focus on the topic.
Lucid dreaming is a very useful tool to have in one’s life. Some benefits of lucid dreaming include being entertained, reducing nightmare frequency, discovering certain aspects about our consciousness, and interpreting the meanings of our dreams. Its substantial benefits are significant enough to warrant being taught and encouraged openly throughout the world. At the same time, the subject of lucid dreaming is not well known around the world, even within the scientific community, and since the information is not readily available, one must conclude that there should be more promotion and research done on the topic of lucid dreaming. Living your sleeping life should be just as important as living your waking life because you can live another whole life that can last the same or even longer than your real life, and one in which you can do almost anything that you can imagine.

Works Cited
Erlacher, Daniel, and Michael Schredl. "Cardiovascular Responses to Dreamed Physical Exercise during REM Lucid Dreaming." Dreaming 18.2 (2008): 112-21. EBSCOhost. US: Educational Publishing Foundation. Web. 6 Dec. 2010.
Melton, Gordon. "Lucid Dreaming." Source: Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology 1.5 (2001): 940-41. Gale. Web. 6 Dec. 2010.
Patrick, A., and A. Durndell. "Lucid Dreaming and Personality: A Replication." Dreaming 14.4 (2004): 234-39. EBSCOhost. US: Educational Publishing Foundation. Web. 6 Dec. 2010.
Spoormaker, Victor I., and Jan Van Den Bout. "Lucid Dreaming Treatment for Nightmares: A Pilot Study." Psychother Psychosom 75.6 (2006): 389-94. Karger. Web. 6 Dec. 2010.
"Wake up Dreaming to Explore Consciousness." New Scientist 206.2764 (2010): 3. EBSCOhost. Web. 6 Dec. 2010.