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Possible Dangers of Lucid Dreaming
While there is no current evidence of lucid
dreaming being abnormal or unhealthy in any way,
there are a few things you should be aware of
that could occur as a result of practicing lucid
dreaming techniques. These possible side effects
have been outlined for you below. Please don’t
let this scare you away from this wonderful
tool; rather, remember that with dreams you are
dealing with your own subconscious mind, and
recklessness is not recommended.
Alienation
Many people have never even heard of lucid
dreaming, much less ever experienced it. Some
people are also less than open-minded and
receptive to new ideas. Don’t be surprised if
someone considers this whole phenomenon “weird”
or “crazy” (which it is not). Don’t preach,
either; it’s not your job to absolutely convince
everyone.
Often people who spontaneously lucid dream,
especially children, may find it surprising that
not everyone does. They may even start thinking
that they are the only person in the world who
has lucid dreams. If they’re worried, the best
support is to let them know that they’re not
alone, and they’re not abnormal.
Addiction
Lucid dreaming can be used for different
purposes. Some may want to try it just for fun,
using it as a "safe drug", or a personal virtual
reality machine. Having fun is a fully valid
application of lucid dreaming. However, be
careful not to be addicted to this way of
escaping your waking life. If you find that you
are spending more time asleep than actually
needed, or that you are thinking more about
lucid dreams than your real waking life, take a
break.
Dissociation
Lucid dreaming may weaken the borders between
waking and dreaming, the conscious and
subconscious mind, reality and fantasy. This
might lead to problems of a dissociative nature.
Probably the most common form of dissociation
involves having problems distinguishing your
waking memories from dream memories. Everyone
who recalls at least one dream will have to sort
out their dreams from reality in the morning.
This can really be a problem for those who have
previously had zero recall and, due to lucid
dreaming, have had a major uptick in recall.
Now, suddenly, they have all these excess,
illogical memories to sort out. This is
unlikely to be a major problem, but may be a
big annoyance.
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