Some people claim that they can’t remember their dreams. Or that nothing exciting ever happens. I am not one of those people.
I often have very vivid dreams where I am being chased or racing against time to reach a forbidden area. Last night, in the latest Hollywood blockbuster that I was starring in, I found myself as a nature photographer, flying through the air over the Himalayas to take a picture of the highest peak on Earth, a picture that no one else had ever been lucky enough to get. As great as this dream was, it would have been even better if I could have taken control of my actions in it. If I could have steered where I was flying so that I could have turned around and explored the rest of the planet. A phenomenon known as lucid dreaming.
Unfortunately, not everyone is capable of controlling their dreams and those that can often spend years trying to master the techniques that will allegedly allow them to do so. But what if there was an easier way? What if it was possible for everyone to suddenly gain the ability to lucid dream? How great would that be?
Well, as it turns out, it may actually be possible after all, thanks to a new drug born out of Alzheimer’s research by psychiatrist Benjamin Baird at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
According to I Fucking Love Science, “In past research, Baird’s team discovered that lucid dreams tend to occur during periods of increased physical activation during REM sleep, leading them to theorize that boosting REM nervous system activity could help people switch normal dreaming into lucid dreaming. And since REM sleep appears to be affected by the signaling of a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine, they sought to test whether drugs that ramp up acetylcholine signaling – by inhibiting the enzyme that breaks the molecule down – might do the trick.”
I feel that such a drug, if its ever commercialized, could revolutionize society. Just think about all of the people who suffer from nightmares and night terrors. Just think about how different their lives would be if they could take control of their dreams, instead of being a prisoner inside of them.
Or just think about how much better all our psyches would be if we could take the lead on exploring the deepest recesses of our sub-conscious instead of just being helpless bystanders while our mind tries to sort out our feelings on its own. Perhaps instead of trying to analyze our dreams for hidden meanings we’d already know where to find the answers. Perhaps we’d be able to unlock the secrets of the Universe or at least better understand the world and our own place in it.
Suffice it to say, a lucid dreaming drug could be one of the best things to ever happen to mankind. Allowing us to take control of our bodies. Allowing us to turn dreaming from a necessary part of life into the best part of life.
Is a lucid dreaming drug the Greatest Idea Ever?
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