How Do You Control Dreams?

Yes, you can learn to control your dreams. The skill is called lucid dreaming, where you become aware that you are dreaming and can steer the action. About 55% of people have at least one lucid dream in their lifetime, and roughly a quarter manage it monthly. The most reliable methods are keeping a dream journal, doing reality checks, the wake-back-to-bed routine, and the MILD technique.

Have you ever wondered how it would feel to control your own dreams? Just imagine the possibilities! You could experience anything you’ve ever wanted! You could be a king living in a castle, the smartest person in the world, or a flying robot that saves the world from total destruction!

However, why do dreams always feel so out of your control? Why is it that once you fall sleep, your willpower basically just fades away?

How Do Dreams Work?

Dreams are essentially the recreation of an active mind processing information while the body is resting. Most vivid dreaming happens during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) phase of sleep. The pons, a structure in your brain stem, helps switch REM sleep on, while your limbic system floods the dream with emotion. Here’s the twist, though: your dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the region that handles logic and self-awareness when you’re awake, is actually switched down during REM. That is precisely why dreams feel so bizarre and why you rarely stop to notice that none of it is real. Lucid dreaming is really just the trick of waking that critical part of your mind back up while the dream keeps running.

And it is far from rare. A meta-analysis of more than 30 studies found that roughly 55% of people have at least one lucid dream in their lifetime, and about a quarter have one or more every month. So if you have ever caught yourself thinking “wait, this is a dream,” you are in very good company.

1. Keep a dream journal

Everyone in the world dreams, but not everyone makes an active attempt to remember them. Keep a journal beside your bed where you can record your dreams immediately after waking up. It might seem prosaic at first, but keep at it nonetheless. This method will help you analyze your own dreams and pick out similarities. These similarities will help you be more aware of them if they reoccur in your dreams.

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2. Set an alarm half an hour early

If you wake up thirty minutes earlier than your usual waking time, there is a good chance that you will be interrupting a dream. The sudden shift to consciousness will jar the brain awake, helping you to remember your dreams better. This is the heart of a method sleep researchers call wake-back-to-bed (WBTB): set an alarm a few hours before your normal wake-up time, stay awake for a short while, then go back to sleep. Because so much of your REM sleep is packed into the final stretch of the night, dropping back into it with your mind a little more alert makes a lucid dream far more likely. In sleep-lab studies, WBTB works best when you pair it with the MILD technique (more on that below), and the combination has pushed success rates into the 40-50% range, far higher than doing nothing.

3. Keeping track of dream objects

As mentioned earlier, by keeping a dream journal, you can see what objects seem to frequently reappear in your dreams. In addition to this providing great insight towards your own self, these ‘special’ objects become indicators of the fact that you are in a dream. These are called ‘dreamsigns’ and they are different for different people (for example, red cats, flying objects, curly edges, etc). The more aware you are of these, the more you will be able to identify dreams from reality.

4. Meditation

Meditate before you fall asleep. Even 20 minutes of quiet meditation will help you be more in control of your brain. Even if it doesn’t help you achieve lucid dreams, it’s still a great habit to have!

5. Reality checks

Don’t take your reality for granted! Have at least 10 reality checks every day. This may sound crazy, but bear with me. Ask yourself, ‘Am I dreaming right now?’ and legitimately try to answer the question by considering why your present reality is real. Look into a mirror and see your reflection. Read a sentence out loud. Check a wristwatch to see the time. Turn a switch on and off again. Usually in dreams, these easy acts will seem warped. Time seems hazy, reflections look strange, words swim in front of your eyes and things don’t work as they should. Therefore, if you keep up the practice of asking yourself questions when you’re awake, you will likely remember to do it even when your body is asleep.

6. Motivate your unconscious self

Before falling asleep, motivate yourself to recognize, remember and control your own dreams. Tell yourself: “Next time I’m dreaming, I will remember that I’m dreaming,” repeatedly, like a mantra. Be single-minded in your intent and focus on nothing but this mantra before sleeping. Remember not to get distracted, no matter what! This little ritual is not just wishful thinking. It is essentially the MILD technique (short for Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams), developed by sleep scientist Stephen LaBerge, and it is one of the few methods with solid lab evidence behind it, especially when you combine it with the wake-back-to-bed trick from earlier.

7. Boost your melatonin levels

Melatonin is a hormone made by the pineal gland that regulates our sleep-wake cycle. Healthy melatonin rhythms support deep, regular sleep, and many people report that their dreams feel more vivid when melatonin runs high, which can make lucid dreams easier to notice and recall. But how do you keep your melatonin on track? One way is to always sleep in complete darkness. Another is to go to bed and wake up at similar times every day. You can also eat foods that naturally contain melatonin, such as tart cherries, almonds and walnuts. A quick word of caution on melatonin supplements: they can intensify dreams and leave some people groggy, so treat them as optional rather than essential, and check with a doctor before taking them regularly.

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8. Learn To Stay Lucid

Once you do notice that you’re dreaming, it becomes quite hard to stay asleep. This is because your brain gets excited and you end up waking yourself up. But no worries! There are a few ways to prevent this from happening. For one, the excitement level will die down over time as you continue to lucid dream. Also, if you ever feel yourself waking up, simply look down at your dream floor and force your dream self to start spinning! This technique was popularized by Stephen LaBerge, the Stanford psychophysiologist who pioneered much of the modern science of lucid dreaming. According to him, this familiar motion engages parts of the brain involved in REM, which helps keep you in the dream. In one of his experiments, spinning the dream body prolonged the dream in 96% of cases, so it is worth a try the moment you feel yourself slipping awake.

9. Try Supplements

Research suggests that the neurotransmitter acetylcholine plays a major role in REM sleep, the stage where most vivid dreaming happens. The most rigorous evidence comes from a double-blind, placebo-controlled study led by Stephen LaBerge, in which a small pre-dawn dose of galantamine (a drug that raises acetylcholine levels) combined with the MILD technique triggered lucid dreams in 42% of attempts, compared with just 14% on a placebo. That is striking, but galantamine is a medication, not a casual supplement, and it can carry side effects, so it is not something to experiment with on your own. If you are curious about a chemical nudge, the sensible route is to talk to a doctor first rather than buying nootropics marketed online for “dream enhancement,” most of which have no solid evidence behind them. For the vast majority of people, the habit-based steps above will do far more than any pill.

10. Don’t Lose Hope

Most importantly, keep at it! Once you’ve begun knowing the difference between dreams and reality, you can grow more and more ambitious with your dream intentions. Basic lucid dreaming does not necessarily translate into being able to control your dreams completely. For that to happen, you have to keep practicing!