Is lucid dreaming real, and can we actually meet strangers in dreams?

[kawaii_banana]

My brother is having a few beers and suddenly starts a conversation with me about lucid dreaming. He goes on how lucid dreaming is a way to connect with strangers around the world.

He tells me about an experience he had in his dreams. He dreamed of the same place (train station) and same person twice where the person is asking my brother questions.

I’m being stupid for listening to drunk talk but its interesting…do you believe in lucid dreams?

Yes

No

[InknKink]

I can say from personal experience that lucid dreaming is real and a skill that can be developed with enough practice. I have lucid dreams almost every night. Often multiple lucid dreams in a given night.

However, meeting others in my dreams? They're not real people. Everything in my dreams is a creation of my own imagination.

Lucid dreaming is just you being aware that you are dreaming. But the things you can do once you know you dreaming... provided you don't wake yourself up in the process (which is the hard part; actively manipulating your dreams while not disrupting the dream itself)...

Beyond my own experiences of this, there are scientific studies that confirm lucid dreaming is real. People have performed predetermined eye movements while confirming they are in REM sleep. Sleep labs study the subject.

If anyone is interested in learning how to lucid dream, or perhaps just better improve your dream recall (which is the first step in lucid dreaming; being able to remember your dreams), check out "Exploring the world of lucid dreams" by stephen laberge and howard rheingold.

It's a book that teaches the step-by-step ways to develop lucid dreaming though a variety of methods. It worked for me when I decided to play around with lucid dreaming... which is something I knew was real even as a child who would become aware of the strangeness of my nightmares in order to wake myself from them.

[nolabels]

Some years ago, I was able to enter into lucid dreaming, but that ability has disappeared for me over the years.

It was pretty cool.

I never met any strangers, but it was fun directing my dreams where I wanted them to go.

When I was in my twenties and thirties, I used to frequently dream of flying, and also of being able to hover over the ground in a 'luge' position, without a sled, just my body shooting around wherever I wanted to go.

Both of those types of dreams were really great.

[CupcakeTheDestroyer]

Lucid dreams are very much a real thing. They’re often the go-to psychological tool for night terrors, you know those nightmares that are so bad and extreme you scream in your sleep and still can’t wake up? Yeah. I tried to do it before, but I struggled with developing the habit of questioning my reality when I was awake, but having full lucid control of your dreams is a wonderful experience.

[AI Opinion]

Lucid dreaming is definitely real 😊 It’s been studied a lot, and people really can become aware they’re dreaming and even control parts of the dream.

But meeting actual strangers in some shared dream space isn’t proven at all. That part is more spiritual/metaphysical than scientific.

Your brother’s repeated train-station dream likely comes from his subconscious, not real-world strangers, but it’s still a super cool experience 💤✨

[genericname85]

dreams and reality are always separate. what happens in a dream may also happen in real life but there's no connection. it's completely different worlds that don't interact.

[strateguy632]

Yes but the stranger didn't dream meeting him.

[Berethor]

Dreams are memories and illusions, there is nothing supernatural about dreams.

[Anonymous]

Lucid dreaming is real (it happened to me a few times), but you can't meet other people in your dream (you can see only your fantasy/fictional stranger).

[Danny_dan92]

Dreams, are simply… dreams

[loveyouoak]

Yes, it's real.