Q: How might you be awake and asleep at the same time?
A: By waking up in your dreams, which is how researchers describe "lucid dreaming," where the dreamer becomes aware it's only a dream even as the dream unfolds, says "New Scientist" magazine.
It appears that lucid dreamers' brains are in a penumbral state between waking and sleeping, affording opportunities for the study of consciousness. Perhaps confronting our demons in lucid dreams could help us overcome phobias; further, practicing a motor task in a dream, such as dancing or playing an instrument, may hone skills for the waking world.
The lucid dream amounts to a sort of secondary consciousness — not only aware of events but aware that we are aware — a quality thought to be unique to humans, says journalist Jessica Hamzelou.
Yet, how can a researcher be sure someone is having a lucid dream? Ursula Voss at the University of Frankfurt in Germany trained a group of students to signal while asleep and dreaming, by moving their eyes in a pre-agreed pattern, measurable with an electro-oculograph.
"It takes a great effort to make these eye movements," explains Voss, "because normally, in such a dream, the person doesn't want to communicate with the outside world."
After weeks of reality checking — "Am I awake or asleep?" — Hamzelou herself one Easter weekend finally had her first lucid dream. "It lasted all of a few seconds, and I was merely able to consciously twirl on the spot, but I woke up excited and happy."
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