Practice
How do you start lucid dreaming?
To start lucid dreaming, build your dream recall first, then try one tested technique. In a home study of 355 adults, people set an alarm about 5 hours into the night and did a short technique (Adventure-Heart, 2020). They had lucid dreams on about one practice night in six. Breaking up your sleep isn’t a good idea for some people, such as those with sleep disorders (Adventure-Heart, 2020; Cleveland Clinic, 2025).
Last updated: 2026-10-13.
What is a lucid dream, and how many people have one?
A lucid dream is one in which you know you’re dreaming while it’s still going on (Baird et al., 2019). An analysis of 50 years of studies estimated that 55% of people have had at least one, and that 23% have them once a month or more (Saunders et al., 2016).
Sleep labs confirm lucid dreams with an eye signal agreed before sleep, such as looking left and right twice, which the dreamer makes from inside the dream (Baird et al., 2019). It shows up on recordings of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
Knowing you’re dreaming isn’t the same as steering the dream: lucid dreams without control are more common than ones with it (Soffer-Dudek, 2020). If you’re hoping for dreams of flying, being lucid may not be enough to choose one.
Why does lucid dreaming start with remembering your dreams?
Dream recall comes first because, in two trials, people who remembered more of their ordinary dreams had more lucid ones (Adventure-Heart, 2020; Adventure-Heart et al., 2017). Past experience with techniques made no difference (Adventure-Heart, 2020).
Both trials opened with a week of writing down dreams, with no alarm. Our 7-night dream recall plan builds that habit one night at a time, and the guide to keeping a dream journal you’ll stick with helps it last.
Which lucid dreaming techniques have the best evidence?
Two techniques done after a short night waking have the best results: MILD, a memory exercise, and SSILD, an exercise in shifting attention between the senses (Adventure-Heart, 2020). The same paper reports that daytime reality checks didn’t help on their own in week-long trials.
A review of 35 studies rated their quality as fairly low and found no technique shown to work reliably, though some looked promising (Stumbrys et al., 2012). MILD paired with waking up and going back to bed was one of those (Erlacher & Stumbrys, 2020).
MILD (mnemonic induction of lucid dreams) trains you to remember that you’re dreaming (Adventure-Heart, 2020). In the home study, people set an alarm for 5 hours after going to bed. When it rang, they recalled the dream they had woken from and repeated “next time I’m dreaming, I will remember I’m dreaming,” picturing themselves back in that dream and noticing something odd until the intention felt set. That alarm breaks up your sleep, which isn’t a good idea for everyone (Vallat & Ruby, 2019).
| Technique | What you do | What the studies found | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dream journal | Write down each dream you remember | Better recall went with more lucid dreams; a diary alone didn’t help in a trial Adventure-Heart (2020) describes | No alarm needed |
| Daytime reality checks | Test often whether you’re dreaming, such as trying to breathe in through closed lips | Added to MILD, no gain over a week: 12.1% of nights with them, 19.4% without, not a significant gap (Adventure-Heart, 2020) | A burden for many |
| MILD | After a night waking, recall a dream and resolve to notice the next | Lucid dreams on 16.5% of practice nights (Adventure-Heart, 2020) | Needs a night waking; not for everyone |
| Wake back to bed | Wake about 5 hours into the night, then go back to sleep | With reality checks alone, no clear gain in the 2017 trial, as Adventure-Heart (2020) reports | Breaks up sleep; not for everyone |
| SSILD (senses initiated lucid dream) | After a night waking, cycle your attention through what you see, hear and feel | Lucid dreams on 16.9% of practice nights (Adventure-Heart, 2020) | Needs a night waking; not for everyone |
What are the real odds of a lucid dream in your first week?
For motivated adults practicing at home, lucid dreams came on about one night in six (Adventure-Heart, 2020). In the home study, they rose from 5.3% of mornings in a week of logging to 15.8% in a week of practice.
Falling back asleep quickly seemed to help (Adventure-Heart, 2020). Lucid dreams followed on 18.3% of nights when people fell asleep within 10 minutes of the technique, against 11.1% when it took longer. Adventure-Heart (2020) reports the same for the earlier Australian trial (Adventure-Heart et al., 2017). There, the group using MILD went from lucid dreams on 9.4% of nights to 17.4%, and to 45.8% on nights they fell asleep within 5 minutes of finishing it.
These were eager volunteers (Adventure-Heart, 2020). Only 355 of the 1,618 who signed up finished, and the author says the results likely apply best to highly motivated learners.
In a German sleep lab, 40 people, mostly students, were woken after about 6 hours of sleep (Erlacher & Stumbrys, 2020). They stayed awake 30 or 60 minutes to practice MILD. By morning, 19 reported a lucid dream, and 9 made an eye signal the recordings confirmed. The groups were small. Unlike the home study, the lab kept people up for a set time.
Is lucid dreaming safe, and who should skip the night waking?
There isn’t good evidence that lucid dreams harm your health, but breaking up your sleep to have them can leave you short of sleep (Cleveland Clinic, 2025).
An online survey of 489 people, nearly all of them lucid dreamers, found frequent lucid dreams weren’t linked to poorer sleep (Stumbrys, 2023). Most of their lucid dreams were positive, though about 10% were negative in tone. The survey can’t show cause.
In a five-week diary study of 149 people, nights with a planned waking felt less refreshing once sleep length was accounted for (Schredl et al., 2020). They did it once a week, on nights they could sleep in, which made up for it. In the home study, sleep was rated slightly better on nights the technique worked, which suggests failed tries may cost some sleep (Adventure-Heart, 2020).
Two opinion papers urge caution. One argues that such methods break up and shorten sleep, with unknown effects on health when used regularly (Vallat & Ruby, 2019). The other notes that frequent attempts have been linked with sleep problems, stress and dissociative symptoms, though those links don’t show cause (Soffer-Dudek, 2020).
Skip the alarm and see a doctor or sleep specialist first if any of these apply. Each was a reason the home study turned people away (Adventure-Heart, 2020):
- a diagnosed or suspected sleep, mental health or neurological disorder
- persistent insomnia, or no regular sleep schedule
- sleep paralysis more than once in the past 6 months (see when sleep paralysis needs a doctor)
- a traumatic or very stressful event that is disturbing your sleep
- being under 18
Even people without any of these were asked not to practice on nights they were short of sleep (Adventure-Heart, 2020). People with conditions involving hallucinations, such as psychosis, may find it harder to tell lucid dreams from reality (Cleveland Clinic, 2025), so talk to your doctor first.
More questions about lucid dreaming
Can lucid dreaming stop nightmares?
The evidence that lucid dreaming stops nightmares is small and mixed (Soffer-Dudek, 2020). A small pilot study reported fewer nightmares, but a larger online study found no added benefit over imagery rehearsal and similar techniques, though most people dropped out (Baird et al., 2019). Imagery rehearsal, the method in our guide to changing a recurring nightmare, reimagines a nightmare with a less frightening outcome (American Academy of Sleep Medicine [AASM], 2020). Methods like it that keep sleep whole can help (Vallat & Ruby, 2019). If nightmares follow a traumatic event, start with a doctor or therapist (AASM, 2020).
Are lucid dreaming pills or supplements a good idea?
Don’t take pills or supplements for lucid dreaming without talking to a doctor first. The drug studies that worked used acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, prescription medicines, and none was done in a sleep lab, so the results need repeating (Baird et al., 2019). If you already take a medicine, never change it without your prescriber.
Is lucid dreaming the same as choosing what you dream about?
Lucid dreaming and choosing a dream are different things. Lucid dreaming means realizing you’re dreaming while it happens (Baird et al., 2019). Picking a topic before sleep is called dream incubation.
Keep a record while you practice
Dreams Come True, a voice-first dream journal app for iPhone, turns a dream you say aloud into a written entry on your phone. Pro adds lucidity and sleep-quality insights from your own journal.
Sources
- Adventure-Heart, D. J. (2020). Findings from the International Lucid Dream Induction Study. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1746. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01746
- Adventure-Heart, D. J., Delfabbro, P., Proeve, M., & Mohr, P. (2017). Reality testing and the mnemonic induction of lucid dreams: Findings from the national Australian lucid dream induction study. Dreaming, 27(3), 206–231. doi.org/10.1037/drm0000059
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine. (2020, October). Nightmares. Sleep Education. sleepeducation.org/sleep-disorders/nightmares/
- Baird, B., Mota-Rolim, S. A., & Dresler, M. (2019). The cognitive neuroscience of lucid dreaming. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 100, 305–323. doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.008
- Cleveland Clinic. (2025, July 23). Lucid dreams: What they are and why they matter. health.clevelandclinic.org/lucid-dreams
- Erlacher, D., & Stumbrys, T. (2020). Wake up, work on dreams, back to bed and lucid dream: A sleep laboratory study. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1383. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01383
- Saunders, D. T., Roe, C. A., Smith, G., & Clegg, H. (2016). Lucid dreaming incidence: A quality effects meta-analysis of 50 years of research. Consciousness and Cognition, 43, 197–215. doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2016.06.002
- Schredl, M., Dyck, S., & Kühnel, A. (2020). Lucid dreaming and the feeling of being refreshed in the morning: A diary study. Clocks & Sleep, 2(1), 54–60. doi.org/10.3390/clockssleep2010007
- Soffer-Dudek, N. (2020). Are lucid dreams good for us? Are we asking the right question? A call for caution in lucid dream research. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 13, 1423. doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.01423
- Stumbrys, T. (2023). Dispelling the shadows of the lucid night: An exploration of potential adverse effects of lucid dreaming. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 10(2), 152–163. doi.org/10.1037/cns0000288
- Stumbrys, T., Erlacher, D., Schädlich, M., & Schredl, M. (2012). Induction of lucid dreams: A systematic review of evidence. Consciousness and Cognition, 21(3), 1456–1475. doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2012.07.003
- Vallat, R., & Ruby, P. M. (2019). Is it a good idea to cultivate lucid dreaming? Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2585. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02585
A gentle note
If practicing leaves you sleeping badly, frightened or unsure what’s real, stop and talk to a doctor; no technique is worth that. If anything leaves you struggling, our crisis resources page lists people you can talk to, at any hour.