Dreams : 5 ways to have sweet vivid dreams

 

vivid dreams

are basically stories and images that our mind creates as vivid dreams and we tend to experience them while we’re asleep. Dreams can happen at any time during sleep; they can be sad or pleasurable, terrifying or soothing, nonsensical or realistic, intense or absolutely exceptional. Ever happen to experience a dream so intense that it kept on lingering in your mind? Sometimes, a person do not remember anything regarding his dream after he wakes up. At other times, people may exactly remember a dream after waking up because of its intensity. These intense type of dreams can be joyful or scary are termed as ‘

vivid dreams

’. Lucid dreams are different from vivid dreams; as a person may be well-aware that he’s experiencing a dream during sleep.

Humans tend to go through two main stages of sleep, rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

Vivid dreams

are more likely to occur during REM stage. REM cycle is comparatively longer, around 90 minutes during a night of sleep and may last for 20 to 25 minutes.

Ways to have better dreams

Our sleep pattern greatly affects our dreams. Sleep mainly happens in two stages; rapid eye movement sleep (REM) and non-rapid eye movement stage (NREM). Experts have further split NREM into three distinct stages: N1, N2 and N3.

NREM N1 stage refers to ‘falling sleep’. This is the first stage of sleep, you might wake up easily without feeling that you were asleep.

NREM N2 stage refers to ‘light sleep’. This stage occurs before you might enter your deep sleep.

NREM N3 stage is the ‘deepest’ sleeping state. It’s not easily to wake up during this stage.

After an hour to 90 minutes when you have fallen asleep, REM stage begins. Dreams mostly happen during REM stage. If you dream during NREM stage, you will unlikely remember what you dreamt. While if someone wakes you up during REM stage, you might vividly remember that you were dreaming and you wish to fall back asleep to continue dreaming.

Here are some of the ways through which you can have vivid dreams during a good night sleep .

Waking back to bed technique (WBTB)

We can have

vivid dreams

after entering REM stage. A person is aware of his dream during this phase. Using waking back to bed technique (WBTB) is one of the ways to practice vivid dream . This involves waking your body up and then going back to sleep with the intention of lucid dream. The best time is to have ‘normal sleep’ for about 5 to 6 hours and then have a vision in the early hours of the morning. By sleeping for 5 hours, your body needs the sleep it needs first and you almost forget the dreams you had in first half of night. WBTB targets your longest and last section of REM sleep and you’re more likely to experience lucid dream.

Wake induced lucid dream (WILD)

The wake induced lucid dream is possible when your body is very tired mentally or physically and you know you’ll fall asleep as soon as you lay down. The trick is to keep your mind active while your body falls asleep. This practice might be strange for beginners but gradually you might get the lucid dream. The best time to perform this technique can be daytime naps because it involves inducing a lucid dream while your mind is awake.

Dream induction DILD

This is the easiest method of dream induction as it is very random and requires little or no effort. In other words, it’s just a random way to make your dreams become more lucid. This technique is applicable and reliable for those who have regular sleeping patterns, not for those who ought to stay awake late at nights playing video games and spending screen times. The only thing that matters for this technique is good chunk of sleep.

Mnemonic induced lucid dreaming MILD

The mnemonic induced lucid dreaming technique can be done when you have a hint that you’ll be asleep soon and can have a good, healthy kind of sleep. This is one of the natural ways to have lucid dream and can be performed only when you have a productive sleep. Only thing that matters is how fast you are asleep and as soon as you enter REM stage, MILD becomes possible.

Have vivid dreams at 3AM

Mostly people tend to have vivid or lucid dreams at 3AM because this time is considered as the final stage of sleep cycle. Our sleep usually reaches REM stage as most people who have a regular sleeping pattern wakes up around 6AM. Therefore, 3AM could be the ideal time to experience dream and remember it because of high serotonin levels in body ready to wake you up.

Conclusion

Dreams are undoubtedly a beautiful part of life. For some people, it may be a break from their harsh realities but similarly, for other people it can be annoying and terrifying. Psychologists have not yet reached to final conclusions as if dreams are a sign of some upcoming situation or these are just random imaginary images made up of all the thoughts that are mind goes through. Some factors that might contribute to have better dreams include; getting enough sleep, exercising, dedicating a sleep zone, relaxing and de-stressing before going to bed, changing sleep positions, eating foods with melatonin,, managing anxiety, creating a dream journal or practicing lucid dream techniques. Therefore, one should not take his\her dreams seriously, rather enjoy the fantasy world it creates in our mind!