Pre-sleep treatment with galantamine stimulates lucid dreaming: A double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study

Abstract

Lucid dreaming is a remarkable state of consciousness in which one is aware of the fact that one is dreaming while continuing to dream. Based on the strong relationship between physiological activation during rapid eye-movement sleep and lucid dreaming, our pilot research investigated whether enhancing cortical activation via acetylcholinesterease inhibition (AChEI) would increase the frequency of lucid dreams and found AChEI to be a promising method for lucid dream induction. In the current study we sought to quantify the size and reliability of the effect of AChEI on lucid dreaming, dream recall and dream content as well as to test the effectiveness of an integrated lucid dream induction protocol which combined cholinergic stimulation with other methods for lucid dream induction. Participants (N = 121) with high dream recall and an interest in lucid dreaming were randomly assigned counterbalanced orders of 3 doses of galantamine (0, 4 and 8 mg). On 3 consecutive nights, they awoke approximately 4.5 hours after lights out, recalled a dream, ingested the capsules and stayed out of bed for at least 30 minutes. Participants then returned to bed and practiced the Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams technique while returning to sleep. The percentage of participants who reported a lucid dream was significantly increased for both 4 mg (27%, odds ratio = 2.29) and 8 mg doses (42%, odds ratio = 4.46) compared to the active placebo procedure (14%). Galantamine also significantly increased dream recall, sensory vividness and complexity (p<0.05). Dream recall, cognitive clarity, control, positive emotion, vividness and self-reflection were increased during lucid compared to non-lucid dreams (p<0.0001). These results show that galantamine increases the frequency of lucid dreams in a dose-related manner. Furthermore, the integrated method of taking galantamine in the last third of the night with at least 30 minutes of sleep interruption and with an appropriately focused mental set is one of the most effective methods for inducing lucid dreams available today.

Apical drive—A cellular mechanism of dreaming?

“…These effects were shown to be mediated by the muscarinic ACh receptor-dependent enhancement of dendritic calcium channel activity in the AIZ, and to last for more than a second following only a 4 milliseconds release of ACh. These results agree well with that muscarinic ACh receptors are essential for REM sleep (Niwa et al 2018) and converging evidence that ACh is important for dreaming (LaBerge et al 2018b;Singh and Gupta, 2019).…”

Lucid Dreaming, Nightmares, and Sleep Paralysis: Associations With Reality Testing Deficits and Paranormal Experience/Belief

“…Lucid dreaming is a dissociated state, which combines aspects of waking and dreaming (Schredl and Erlacher, 2004;Voss et al, 2009;LaBerge et al, 2018). Specifically, it denotes conscious awareness of dreaming during ongoing sleep (Baird et al, 2019).…”

“…Specifically, it denotes conscious awareness of dreaming during ongoing sleep (Baird et al, 2019). A central characteristic is that experiencers are typically able to signal their lucid state during dream periods using preagreed eye-movement signals (LaBerge, 1980;LaBerge et al, 2018). Concomitantly, lucid dreaming possesses consciousnessrelated features such as access to waking memories, increased insight and control, positive affect, body dissociation, and logical thought (LaBerge et al, 1981;Voss et al, 2009Voss et al, , 2018.…”

“…The development of physiological measurement and enhanced understanding of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep enabled researchers to produce empirical evidence that supported the existence of lucid dreaming and facilitated the development of objective measurement techniques. For instance, the ability to record pre-agreed eye movement sequences within lucid dreams became an established procedure (LaBerge et al, 1981(LaBerge et al, , 2018.…”

Subjective Consciousness: What am I?

“…However, the often-cited anecdote that Niels Bohr discovered his Nobel prize winning model of the atom in a dream appears to be an urban legend (Runco and Pritzker 1999, p. 600). Today, a drug exists that can induce lucid dreaming (LaBerge et al 2018).…”