Mindfulness, Meditation, and Lucid Dreaming: A Narrow vs. Broad-Spectrum Mindfulness Study
Imagination, Cognition and Personality March 1, 2023 DOI: 10.1177/02762366221113292 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional survey Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Undergraduate students and meditators |
| Topics | Dreaming Lucid dreaming Meditation |
| Key findings | Lucid dreaming frequency was not associated with meditation practice frequency or with narrow-spectrum mindfulness experiences like present-centered awareness and nonjudgmental acceptance. It was predicted only by dream recall and mindfulness-related experiences of transcendence. |
Abstract
Both lucid dreaming and mindfulness appear to involve metacognition and awareness, or “awareness of awareness” in which one is aware and consciously attends to present experiences. Despite evidence for the continuity hypothesis of dreaming (which posits dream content is connected and related to the concerns and thoughts in waking life), little research has explored a relationship between lucid dreaming and waking mindfulness. The present study explores the relationship among mindfulness experience, meditation practice history, and lucid dreaming. Undergraduate students and meditators completed questionnaires assessing trait mindfulness, lucid dreaming frequency, and meditation practices. Surprisingly, lucid dreaming was not associated with meditation practice frequency or narrow-spectrum mindfulness experiences like present-centered awareness and nonjudgmental acceptance. Lucid dreaming frequency was predicted only by dream recall and mindfulness-related experiences of Transcendence. Possible personality implications are discussed.
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on lucid dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Phenomenology of Lucid Dreaming: An Online Survey Respondents to an online survey about lucid dreams | 2014 | Online survey | n = 684 |
| Frequency of Lucid Dreaming in a Representative German Sample Representative sample of German adults | 2011 | Cross-sectional survey | n = 919 |
| Lucid dreaming: an age‐dependent brain dissociation Students aged 6-19 years | 2012 | Survey | |
| Terror and bliss? Commonalities and distinctions between sleep paralysis, lucid dreaming, and their associations with waking life experiences Adults aged 18–82 years | 2016 | Cross-sectional survey | n = 1,928 |
| Increased Lucid Dreaming Frequency in Narcolepsy Patients diagnosed with narcolepsy and healthy control subjects | 2015 | Cross-sectional study | n = 979 |
Citations in the library
Cites 17
- The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003
- Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Assessment January 27, 2006
- Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2004
- Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2003
- The toronto mindfulness scale: Development and validation Journal of Clinical Psychology 2006
and 12 more in the library