So, um, a lot of people with insomnia, they spend a lot of time awake in bed and ruminating and kind of, they're worried about how they're going to sleep. So, um, another application is insomnia and insomnia, a lot, has like a really big cognitive and psychological component. I'm also interested in lucid dreaming as a treatment for other sleep disorders. And so now we're trying to kind of combine that research and see if we can induce dreams. Um, I've done research on inducing lucid dreams, perhaps using, um, the techniques like the reality checking, but also using like light cues in the lab. Michelle Carr: So I've done studies already on the relationship between lucidity and positive mood and between lucidity and sleep quality. And you can create your own personal therapies. Um, and it does this, um, hopefully while you're dreaming to, to remind you to become lucid.ĪLICE: Imagine one day where you can lucid dream-anytime, anywhere. You try to detect you're in REM sleep and then we'll deliver maybe an auditory cue.If it's an app, or if it's a mask, it might have a light cue, or it might have a vibration cue. So a lot of masks or headbands, um, or even just apps, um, they try to detect when you're in REM sleep, that's the tricky part (laughs). And a lot of technologies are trying to allow people to do this on their own at home. Um, so that's a technique we're still using. That's, that's a signal that it's from the outside world and you're dreaming right now. And the idea is basically like when you're in REM sleep and in a dream you're still, um, you're still incorporating sensory stimulation.So if you notice this flashing red LED light, like maybe your dream, the sun starts flashing, or maybe the lights in the supermarket start flashing. Um, and we're still using these techniques in laboratories now. It just has like a red LED light on the inside of the mask that is supposed to be presented to you when you're in REM sleep. Michelle Carr: The main technology is being developed around lucid dreaming actually do also stem from Stephen LaBerge's work in like the '70s and '80s, and even a device that he developed called the dream light, which is like a mask that, um, plays well. They work with neuro-technology as well as touch, scent and sound to help people re-script the dramas of their sleeping lives. So it's very important for, for both mental and physical well being.ĪLICE: Michelle and other dream engineers continue to leverage the original research methods of Dr. And it seems like during REM, and even in dreams that we're, we're using our bodies and we're learning how to interact with the world and we're learning how to develop. So REM sleep seems really important for that. Um, and we know when, when REM sleep is disrupted, um, you're more likely to perhaps, uh, experience nightmares or experience post-traumatic stress, um, so less resilience to stressful experiences. Michelle Carr: REM sleep seems to play a role, especially in things like emotional adaptation, so adapting to stressful experiences, for example. REM sleep is the fourth or final stage of our normal sleep cycle, and the core space for dream therapeutics. It reduces your distress as well, because you don't feel helpless.ĪLICE: Lucid dreaming happens mostly during rapid eye movement or (REM)sleep. And doing that, um, having that experience reduces nightmare frequency. Michelle Carr: So,if you become lucid in a nightmare, you can choose to not be afraid, or you can choose to interact with the threat in a new way. She is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Psychiatry, working in the Sleep and Neurophysiology Research Laboratory at University of Rochester Medical Center. So through lucid dreaming, when you learn to have some, um, some control or some, you have choices, you can choose how to, how to act in a dream when you're lucid.ĪLICE: Michelle Carr is a dream engineer. Michelle Carr: Lucid dreaming has mostly been studied so far for, as a treatment for nightmares, uh, even in post-traumatic stress disorder because people who have PTSD often have recurring nightmares about their traumatic experience. And with control often comes lucidity because you notice “what am I doing –I’m flying –this is a dream”. Without saying to themselves “I’m flying –what’s that mean? I must be in a dream.” So the control dimension and reflective awareness dimension, they’re not identical, they’re usually mixed together though. Stephen LaBerge: Sometimes people fly in their dreams, for example. Stephen LaBerge is a psycho-physiologist who pioneered the scientific study of lucid dreaming at Stanford University in the 1970s. Stephen LaBerge: Dream control usually means doing magical things in your dream –things that would be impossible to do.ĪLICE: Dr. I don’t know about you, but I find it fascinating that we can engineer our dreams. I’m one part human and one part AI, and I’m always in a state of wonder.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |