Electric Stimulation Could Help You Control Your Dreams 138
sciencehabit (1205606) writes "A new study suggests that mild current applied to the scalp while sleeping can help people become aware of, and even control, their dreams—a phenomenon called lucid dreaming. Researchers recruited 27 men and women to spend several nights in a German sleep lab. After the volunteers had plunged into REM sleep, a state in which people are unable to move and the most vividly recalled dreams occur, researchers applied electrical current to their skulls near the forehead and temples. This boosted neural activity in the frontotemporal cortex, a brain region associated with conscious self-awareness, which normally gets tamped down during REM. Researchers then woke the participants and asked them to detail any dreams they could remember. People who had received 40 Hz of current were lucid in more than 70% of their reported dreams. The researchers suggest that the technique could potentially be used to help people who suffer from chronic nightmares."
insert PKD joke here (Score:5, Funny)
Torn between "Do androids dream of electric sheep" joke and a "we'll remember it for you wholesale" one.
Re:Used to be able to dream lucidly when ... (Score:5, Funny)
Someone once told me that if you dream of flying it really means sex.
I asked her what it meant if you dreamed of sex.
It would appear to mean you aren't getting any, and aren't going to - at least from her.
Rekall (Score:5, Funny)
Choose your ego trip:
- Millionaire Playboy
- Sports Hero
- Industrial Tycoon
- Secret Agent
Re:40 hz of current? (Score:5, Funny)
Makes as much sense as megabytes of keyboards.
Unfortunately... (Score:5, Funny)
The researchers suggest that the technique could potentially be used to help people who suffer from chronic nightmares.
Wait, what? (Score:5, Funny)
"40 hz of current"
Is that like four cc's of amplification? 18 db of sugar? 16 mph of cotton?
Someone help me here, I'm drowning.