How To Lucid Dream TONIGHT in 2 Minutes

Sigmund Freud, born 1856, is oft-referred father of psychoanalysis and equally oft-referred creator of the Oedipus Complex.

Although he spent the majority of his life developing his theory of dreams, which informed much of what psychology has become today, he was wrong about most things.

But what do you expect? He wrote a paper literally called On Coca, about how coca is a far more potent and far less harmful stimulant than alcohol, and its widespread utilization is hindered at present only by its cost.

So, you know, the genius with the substance addiction was wrong about things.

Surprise, surprise.

Freud was not the first to do research into dreams, but his theories on how dreams are informed and can inform our conscious lives was groundbreaking.

His theory argued that dreams may be interpreted, and every dream will show itself to be a sensible psychological structure which may be introduced into an assignable place in the psychic activity of the waking state.

Essentially, he said that dreams have meanings that we can interpret.

Much like how we interpret books and movies to gain insight into our own lives.

Like this recurring nightmare I have where every cup of coffee I make is cold could be interpreted as my subconscious telling me I'm forgetting something time sensitive.

These days we take most of Freud's theories with a grain of salt, but he did make dreams a faculty of science rather than religion, which has continued today.

The burning question we've had since then is why? Why do we dream? Does it serve any purpose? Physiologically, it doesn't seem to matter if we dream or not.

A study entitled The Possible Functions of REM Sleep and Dreaming found that deprivation of REM sleep in humans for as much as two weeks has little or no obvious effect on behavior.

In fact, patients taking certain antidepressants have little or no REM sleep, yet show no obvious ill effects, even after months or years of treatment.

REM or rapid eye movement sleep is one of the few sleep states, but it is important insofar as it is the sleep state in which humans dream.

But according to this study, not dreaming doesn't hurt us in any way.

The most popular reason as to why we dream is called activation synthesis theory.

It was posited in a paper called REM Sleep and Dreaming Towards a Theory of Proto-Consciousness by John Allen Hobson, in which he argues that dreams are byproducts of our brain's lower functions translated into visual and auditory hallucinations while we sleep.

He believes that dreams are as much a preparation for waking consciousness as a reaction to it.

We are as much getting ready to behave as we are getting over the effects of our behavior.

Dreams are essentially practice for our consciousness.

If you're interested in learning more about REM sleep and activation synthesis theory, you can by clicking on our sleep paralysis video at the end of this one.

But we're not talking about dreaming in general.

We're talking about lucid dreaming.

Psychiatrist Frederick von Eden, one of Freud's contemporaries, devised the term lucid dreaming to characterize one, of what he believed to be, nine different kinds of dreams.

Sigmund Freud, born 1856, is oft-referred father of psychoanalysis and equally oft-referred creator of the Oedipus Complex.

Although he spent the majority of his life developing his theory of dreams, which informed much of what psychology has become today, he was wrong about most things.

But what do you expect? He wrote a paper literally called On Coca, about how coca is a far more potent and far less harmful stimulant than alcohol, and its widespread utilization is hindered at present only by its cost.

So, you know, the genius with the substance addiction was wrong about things.

Surprise, surprise.

Freud was not the first to do research into dreams, but his theories on how dreams are informed and can inform our conscious lives was groundbreaking.

His theory argued that dreams may be interpreted, and every dream will show itself to be a sensible psychological structure which may be introduced into an assignable place in the psychic activity of the waking state.

Essentially, he said that dreams have meanings that we can interpret.

Much like how we interpret books and movies to gain insight into our own lives.

Like this recurring nightmare I have where every cup of coffee I make is cold could be interpreted as my subconscious telling me I'm forgetting something time sensitive.

These days we take most of Freud's theories with a grain of salt, but he did make dreams a faculty of science rather than religion, which has continued today.

The burning question we've had since then is why? Why do we dream? Does it serve any purpose? Physiologically, it doesn't seem to matter if we dream or not.

A study entitled The Possible Functions of REM Sleep and Dreaming found that deprivation of REM sleep in humans for as much as two weeks has little or no obvious effect on behavior.

In fact, patients taking certain antidepressants have little or no REM sleep, yet show no obvious ill effects, even after months or years of treatment.

REM or rapid eye movement sleep is one of the few sleep states, but it is important insofar as it is the sleep state in which humans dream.

But according to this study, not dreaming doesn't hurt us in any way.

The most popular reason as to why we dream is called activation synthesis theory.

It was posited in a paper called REM Sleep and Dreaming Towards a Theory of Proto-Consciousness by John Allen Hobson, in which he argues that dreams are byproducts of our brain's lower functions translated into visual and auditory hallucinations while we sleep.

He believes that dreams are as much a preparation for waking consciousness as a reaction to it.

We are as much getting ready to behave as we are getting over the effects of our behavior.

Dreams are essentially practice for our consciousness.

If you're interested in learning more about REM sleep and activation synthesis theory, you can by clicking on our sleep paralysis video at the end of this one.

But we're not talking about dreaming in general.

We're talking about lucid dreaming.

Psychiatrist Frederick von Eden, one of Freud's contemporaries, devised the term lucid dreaming to characterize one, of what he believed to be, nine different kinds of dreams.