Lucid Dreaming: A Valid Explanation

Thanks to another great e-mail that I received from Scot Stride, I have obtained some useful documents written by Mr. Yuschak that were posted on the AdvancedLD website until the site went down. Links to these documents are posted at the end of this post.

In the e-mail from Mr. Stride, he also committed about his own hypothesis of why we lucid dream. Here is what he had to say:

“The crux of lucid dreaming is the awakening of the aminergic system which allows the person to think rationally enough to recognize the mental hallucinations as dreams. Vividness and memory alone are not enough to overcome the "idiotic" state of the mind during REM dreaming. Unless the aminergic system is above a certain threshold of rational functioning, the dreamer can't become lucid. I'm beginning to conclude that the only supplements which hold promise are those that enhance the aminergic system (serotonin and norephinephrine). There is further benefit in raising the levels of brain Histamine, which is tricky because there are not that many supplements that can do it (e.g., L-Histidine). I've also concluded that increased cerebral blood flow is important. Aspirin is an indirect vasodilator by raising Nitrous Oxide (NO) levels. Niacin (Niacinamide) and L-Arginine also increase cerebral blood flow. This is important because the brain functions better and is more alert with better blood flow.”

After reviewing his hypothesis for lucid dreaming it does have validity as it seems to have its foundation based on much of what Dr. Hobson research has concluded. According to Hobson’s research, the aminergic system is deactivated during a dream and “being thought as responsible for periodic discharge of norepinephrine and serotonin, into the brain (Wolf, 1995, p. 312).” If this is true than as talked about before in earlier posts, the memories of dreaming or lucid dreaming would not exists because of the absence of the important memory related neurotransmitter serotonin. An activation of the aminergic system would allow for the dreamer to remember his or her lucid experiences.

The real question that I find that I now ask myself is, how often does the average person lucid dream without remembering the experience? Being unable to remember these events myself has me wondering, why is our brain so actively trying to forget such dream events as well as the 25% of life the average person is spent sleeping? More research must be done in the area of lucid dreaming as well as REM and non-REM dreaming in order to conclude anything.

References:
Wolf, F. A. (1995). The Dreaming Universe. Simon and Schuster.

As promised here is the link for the .pdf files made by Mr. Yuschak:
http://www.searchmovement.com/sleepdocs/

On a side note, it seems that anyone dealing with lucid dreaming still doesn’t know what happened to Mr. Yuschak as he seems not to be in contact with anyone.

-L