Ask HN: Do you practice lucid dreaming?

Hey!

I know this is a question we're not usually discussing here on HN but I'm sure some of you have at least once in their life experienced lucid dreaming if not practicing regularly.

Would be fun to hear about your experiences. I'm not actively practicing now but should pick it up again (it was a lot of fun).

What I always emphasise when talking about LD's this: it's REAL. It's a full virtual reality experience not only with visuals and sounds but with taste, touch, and emotions, too.

I'm putting together a small report called The State of Lucid Dreaming 2025. Here are 9 questions if you'd like to participate: https://dreamvr.co/stats/questions

And here are the preliminary results: https://dreamvr.co/stats

7 points | by raunometsa 10 hours ago

5 comments

  • ANighRaisin 29 minutes ago
    I've been attempting WILD every few days whenever it's convenient. No luck so far, but it's not something I'm taking particularly seriously. For that reason, I'm still not sure whether it'd be worth doing a dream journal or risk disrupting more of my sleep.
  • wruza 7 hours ago
    It's a full virtual reality experience not only with visuals and sounds but with taste, touch, and emotions, too.

    The commonly experienced downside is lack of real control. Once you get really involved, you just wake up. Nice if you can avoid that, but doesn’t work for me. I have to stay in the mid-zone that is similar to when you wake up but decide to sleep further.

    After some success around ten years ago, I found that it’s not much better than just dreaming and gave up on it. Together with 5-HTP, normal dreaming is like a blockbuster compared to dull prose you can write yourself in LD. I don’t think that I could solve a “5 bullets vs 6 monsters on the block while on a jump stick” problem in LD. (The answer is to find an armed monster and kill it first to get more bullets). Or taking the knife out of perps hand and carving crosses on his knees. How can you come up with that in LD without waking up from laughing?

    [-]
    • Gooblebrai 2 hours ago
      How do you take 5-HTP?
      [-]
      • wruza 2 hours ago
        250-300mg before sleep.

        Edit: It's not safe together with SSRIs, afaik, and all standard precautions/disclaimers apply.

        [-]
        • Gooblebrai 1 hour ago
          I imagined. Risk of serotonin syndrome.
    • raunometsa 7 hours ago
      Yes! Control is the issue for many and also the level of awareness?
  • guzik 8 hours ago
    LD is becoming popular again? I feel like I’m seeing more and more threads about it lately. Even my friends are getting back into practicing LD after abandoning it because of how hard it was to achieve. I think I’ve had a lucid dream twice in my life-each lasting about 4–5 seconds - and honestly, those were some of the most exciting seconds I’ve ever experienced. It’s like being a god, even if just for a moment. The problem? To get there, I had to grind for almost a year—writing down my dreams, doing reality checks etc. Too much effort.
    [-]
    • raunometsa 7 hours ago
      I think it is getting more popular.

      Yes, the problem is getting there but with practice it’s doable for everyone.

      Have you seen Prophetic AI? VC funded startup building a headset for inducing LD-s.

  • elmerfud 8 hours ago
    This is something that has always come naturally to me even when I was a child. I remember when I first learned about a lucid dreaming in my teenage years and I was surprised that this wasn't normal for everyone. Except for very rare situations I have always been aware that I am dreaming and once I am aware of the dream I can exert complete control over it.
    [-]
    • thenthenthen 6 hours ago
      Same, not sure how to trigger it though...Nowadays it happens more in the early morning, being half-awake, although as a kid I had it more when falling asleep at night
      [-]
      • raunometsa 5 hours ago
        There are different techniques to trigger LD, like Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreaming (MILD) but I think we need something else to make it more mainstream.
    • raunometsa 7 hours ago
      Are you happy that it comes naturally for you or is it a burden? Can you get a full rest?
    • sejje 7 hours ago
      What do you get up to?
      [-]
      • raunometsa 5 hours ago
        This reminds me E. S. Fein's comment when someone asked him "Is reality disappointing now?"

        "Not in the slightest. Reality still carries with it the endless enigma of unknowing. When I dream, I know I'm in dream. I know it is just a simulation created by my mind. But reality? I have no idea what reality -- waking life -- actually is. I have nothing to compare it to except for dreams, which stem from waking life. I love my reality, but I have also worked hard to build a reality I am very fond of."

        From: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/mrgep9/my_name_is_e_s...