0072 Intentionally awakening from sleep and its therapeutic potential to reduce nightmares

Abstract Introduction Many people suffer from recurring nightmares that induce fear in their dreams and incur lasting psychological effects. One possible solution to alleviate these nightmares might be to wake up directly from them. Though we typically think of sleep as an “off” state where the sleeper is unable to make decisions, one exception is lucid dreaming. In lucid dreams, the dreamer is aware of the dream and can perform deliberate actions while dreaming. With such control over the dream, it might allow nightmare sufferers to end the nightmare as it is occurring. To date, claims of deliberate awakening from dreams only exist as subjective reports and the actual success rate of such attempts is still unknown. To address this gap in knowledge, the current study tested whether individuals asked to intentionally wake themselves up during sleep (more specifically, a lucid dream) would do so at higher rates than those asked to perform a control task. Methods Participants were asked to either try and wake up from their next lucid dream or clench their fists during their next lucid dream. Both groups completed a survey about their experience upon awakening, including two questions surrounding the impact of the dream task on their awakening. Results Relative to participants who clenched their fists while dreaming, participants who attempted to wake up from the dream by closing their eyes reported that the task woke them up more frequently (p < .05) and that they woke up sooner after executing the task (p < .05). Furthermore, a higher level of lucidity while dreaming was correlated with an earlier wake-up time (p < .05). Conclusion These results suggest that indeed – contrary to traditional thought – people are able to wake up from sleep intentionally. This new finding might allow individuals to reduce the amount of time they spend in fear during their dreams, which would in turn reduce the psychological and physiological effects of the nightmare. Future research exploring the most effective method of waking up from sleep intentionally could provide new approaches to relieving nightmare-related stress and increasing healthy sleep. Support (if any)