dreaming

In the psychology subfield of oneirology, a lucid dream is a type of dream in which the dreamer becomes aware that they are dreaming while they are dreaming. The capacity to have lucid dreams is a trainable cognitive skill. During a lucid dream, the dreamer may gain some amount of volitional control over the dream characters, narrative, or environment, although this control of dream content is not the salient feature of lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming has been studied and reported for many years. Prominent figures from ancient to modern times have been fascinated by lucid dreams and have sought ways to better understand their causes and purpose.
Many different theories have emerged as a result of scientific research on the subject. Further developments in psychological research have pointed to ways in which this form of dreaming may be utilized as a form of sleep therapy.The term lucid dream was coined by Dutch author and psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden in his 1913 article A Study of Dreams, though descriptions of dreamers being aware that they are dreaming predate the article. Van Eeden studied his own dreams between January 20, 1898, and December 26, 1912, recording the ones he deemed most important in a dream diary. 352 of these dreams are categorized as lucid.

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