Want to Achieve Lucid Dreaming? Try Hitting the Snooze Button

If you’re fascinated by the idea of lucid dreaming, hitting the snooze button may be enough to make it happen.

What is Lucid Dreaming?

Lucid dreaming is the state of being aware that you’re asleep – and, as a result, having some control over your dream. It’s been described as a hybrid state combining elements of wakefulness and sleep, where the body is asleep and dreaming, yet some level of consciousness remains.

Researchers have suggested that lucid dreaming is linked to arousal. It’s therefore more likely to occur during episodes of light sleep, such as during naps or early in the morning as you move towards wakefulness – especially if you hit the snooze button.

Because the nature of lucid dreaming means an awareness of the fact an individual is asleep, it may allow a degree of control over the events of the dream.

Learn more about the psychology of dreaming.

The Wake Back to Bed Method – and Its Limitations

A popular method to achieve lucid dreaming is known as the Wake Back to Bed method or Wake Back to Sleep method. The technique involves deliberately disturbing your sleep cycle by setting an alarm from around 5 hours after you go to bed, remaining awake for 30 minutes, and then returning to sleep.

Sleep disturbance is associated with detrimental psychological and physical health.

While there have been some positive reports about the likelihood of the method bringing on lucid dreaming, these are anecdotal in nature and according to The Lucid Guide, the technique is not recommended. 

This is because it was not developed from scientific research but rather ‘invented’ by community lucid dream blogger and enthusiast Marc VanDeKeere, and requires deliberate sleep disturbance which is associated with detrimental psychological and physical health.

Further, since the approach is not evidence based, its efficacy is speculative only.

Here’s How to Make Lucid Dreaming More Likely

If you’ve not experienced lucid dreaming but are intrigued by the concept and you may be interested to learn that researchers have discovered a way that may be more likely to induce the state. And it’s as simple as hitting the snooze button – which is less problematic that the Wake Back to Bed method.

Lucid dreaming is defined as ‘occurring when an individual becomes aware that they are dreaming, and, while remaining asleep, can control some of the events or content of the dream’.

While many anecdotal lucid dreaming techniques recommend waking yourself up at various times in the night, a 2015 study¹ showed that there’s particular value in hitting the snooze button in order to induce lucid dreaming.

Researchers interviewed 84 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 75 about their propensity for lucid dreaming. The were also asked questions regarding frequency of alarm clock use, frequency of snooze button use per morning, and average number of awakenings per night.

They defined lucid dreaming as ‘occurring when an individual becomes aware that they are dreaming, and, while remaining asleep, can control some of the events or content of the dream’.

Researchers found a correlation between the frequency of lucid dreaming and the use of the snooze button.

Of the participants, 23 said they have never had a lucid dream. The rest reported how often they experienced them, using a scale to reveal the frequency. 

The results showed that 5 of the volunteers experienced lucid dreams 4 – 7 nights per week, 12 had them 1 – 3 nights per week, 15 had them 1 – 3 nights per month, 14 experienced them 2 – 11 nights per year, 3 had them 1 night per year, and the remaining 12 experienced them less than once a year.

Analysing the results, the researchers found a correlation between the frequency of lucid dreaming and the use of the snooze button.

The paper, published in the journal Dreaming, discovered those using the snooze button recorded an average score for lucid dream frequency 3.04, versus those did not scoring an average of 1.84.

In another study, researchers found similar results using a combination of a wake-up-back-to-bed (WBTB) sleep protocol and a mnemonic technique (MILD)².

The study involved having participants woken after six hours and kept awake for 30 or 60 minutes. During this time they were asked to perform a specific MILD task, such as reading, before going back to sleep for a period. Upon waking again they were asked to report whether they’d experienced lucid dreams.

The results showed the most effective approach is to use 1 h WBTB time, during which dreamwork is carried out and MILD is practiced. Under these conditions, around half of participants reported a lucid dream and around 30% reported a lucid dream which could be objectively verified by volitional eye signalling on a sleep recording.

Naturally, larger and more rigorous studies would be required to show causation. But for anyone keen to experience lucid dreaming, hitting the snooze button may increase their chances of doing so.

Sources

1. Smith, B. V., & Blagrove, M. (2015). Lucid dreaming frequency and alarm clock snooze button use. Dreaming, 25(4), 291–299.
2. Erlacher, D., & Stumbrys, T. (2020). Wake up, work on dreams, back to bed and lucid dream: A sleep laboratory study. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article 1383.