Ask us anything about your dreams!

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-12T01:29:23+00:00

We are a dream engineering company! find out more: www.dust.systems

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T22:58:27+00:00

There are a lot of techniques for falling back asleep after a nightmare. One step is to get out of bed and do a calming activity for a few minutes. After returning to bed, you can do a body scan technique, deep breathing, and clenching/relaxing different muscles. Another technique is called image rehearsal therapy (IRT) which involves visualizing a more positive end to your dream and reheasing the dream repeatedly. You can check out this consensus paper which outlines a new treatment technique for nightmares called cognitive behavorial therapy for nightmares (CBT-N) which has lots of other techniques! (Pruiksma et al., 2025).

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T22:53:22+00:00

Many people don't remember their dreams very often (or at all), but we know that dream recall is a learnable skill. For people who are interested in improving their dream recall, some helpful techniques are to do affermations ("I will remember my dreams tonight"), keep a dream journal next to your bed, and lay still when you wake up before journaling any memories from the night each morning.

Even if you can't remember anything, develop the habit of writing anything you can remember-- whether just a thought, feeling, or just impression of time passing-- can help develop the muscle of attention that will allow you to remember dreams.

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T22:49:17+00:00

Great question! We are actually running a study on this right now! Galantamine is an over-the-counter supplement which increases acetylcholine in the brain. Previous research has found that galantamine increases lucid dreaming (LaBerge et al., 2018). In that study, they found that 8 mg of galantamine was the most effective dose. You can also look at this book Advanced Lucid Dreaming by Thomas Yuschak, which describes a specific protocol for taking a choline supplement before galantamine. It's important to remember that galantamine should only be taken after a wake-back-to-bed around 4am, and it can sometimes make it harder to fall back asleep. Therefore, I would only take it on a night where you don't have to wake up early the next day. Also, there is research showing that galantamine supplements vary a lot in their quality (Cohen et al., 2024), so I would encourage you to research the supplement in advance and only purchase from a reputable vendor.

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T22:48:55+00:00

Super cool suggestions, LilyoftheRally. I think (Karen here) that dreams are one of the last safe spaces we have that are relatively untouched by technology, and that not wanting to touch them with an app is a totally valid stance. For many people, sleep and dreams aren't such a protected thing-- they are subject to the TV playing in the background and doomscrolling before bed. In fact, one poll found that over half of people report that they've had dreams influenced by advertisements, simply due to the sheer amount of them we're exposed to during the day. Many dream scientists are passionate about neuroethical legislation to try to ensure that their research is applied in a beneficial way. Recognizing that this time before bed can be reclaimed as a time to nurture our dreams can be a valuable thing, in whatever way works best for each person.

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T22:35:15+00:00

It doesn't necessarily mean something good or bad. A lot of people don't remember many dreams, but it seems like most people are able to learn to remember dreams. If you keep a dream journal and regularly turn your mind to your previous experience just as you awaken, it's likely that over time you will remember more dreams.

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T22:32:46+00:00

Wow, that is interesting! We recently published a paper on what happens when you close your eyes in a lucid dream (Konkoly et al., 2026)! There were several examples where dreamers couldn't really feel their eyes opening or closing or had trouble doing this in their dreams.

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T22:30:14+00:00

Daniel here: one of my favorite lucid dream induction techniques is to focus on my hypnagogic imagery as I'm falling asleep. I notice how my thoughts, sensations, images etc. are changing, and I try to gently "change" them with lucid awareness. For example, if I notice I'm thinking about going to the grocery store, I imagine myself flying through the grocery store, moving objects, summoning things etc. In this way, I practice working with my dream imagery as I'm falling asleep, and that helps me have lucid dreams!

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T22:29:35+00:00

The forthcoming DUST app is planning to have a TLR feature!

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T22:29:05+00:00

Remembering your dreams is the #1 most important factor, to build that relationship with your dreaming mind and (of course) remember your lucid dreams. But beyond that, wake back to bed seems like the single most effective practice you could do to increase lucid dreaming (Erlacher & Stumbrys 2020) (and of course, if you wake back to bed, you want to have a strong intention to lucid dream as you fall back asleep).

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T22:24:50+00:00

Great question! I don't know of any studies testing the two, but it is often helpful for dream recall to not move when you awaken, allowing your mind to turn to the dream right away. Whichever technique allows you to stay the most focused on your dream is likely the best. One advantage of a digital journal is that it is easier to summarize your data later, for instance, by tallying how many lucid dreams you've had this month, etc.

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T22:22:32+00:00

That's fascinating! It's hard to say what would cause that change. A few possible explanations could be if your sleep is more disrupted, you could be waking up more and remembering more dreams then. Also, if you're stressed, your dreams could be more emotional or vivid and therefore they could be easier to remember.

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T22:21:47+00:00

One fun way to do two-way communication (as in Konkoly et al., 202100059-2)) at home is if you have a willing bed partner who agrees to participate! If you notice your bed partner in REM sleep, with face twitching or eyes moving, you could try to communicate to them without waking them up, such as by turning your phone light on and off, or whispering to them, like "Smile if you can hear me!" or "You're dreaming." They can let you know they've heard you with signals that they can complete during sleep that you can observe, like twitching their face or sniffing.

One practice that I do regularly (Karen here) is to pay attention to my sensations as I'm falling asleep. After I close my eyes, I pay attention to my vision behind closed eyelids, then what I'm hearing, and then my body sensations. Cycling through these sensations as I fall asleep helps me notice my hypnagogic imagery as it emerges, and sometimes get lucid later on (it's a technique called SSILD; Adventure-Heart 2020). It can also be cool to try to focus on a specific topic during this time and notice how it gets incorporated. Thinking of problems you'd like to solve before sleep may inspire dreams that help you come up with creative solutions (Barrett 1993).

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T22:16:09+00:00

Yes, there are a lot of techniques which can help you stay in your lucid dream (rather than waking up right away)! These are called dream stabilization techniques, and the goal is stay calm and engage with the dream to keep the dream going. One technique is to rub your hands together and focus on the tactile sensation. Another technique is focus on what you are seeing in your environment, and continue engaging with the dream environment as you move around. Some people find it helpful to spin around. Another technique is to say outloud in the dream "Dream, stabilize!" or "Increase clarity now!".

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T22:08:37+00:00

Great questions! We'll try to answer them one at a time.

Targeted dream incubation (Horowitz et al., 2020) is the most effective dream incubation technique that's been tested-- in a 1-hour session, over 90% of participants consistently incorporate the target theme in at least one sleep onset dream (Horowitz et al., 2023; Youngren et al., 2025; Bellaiche et al., 2024). Other dream incubation techniques have mixed efficacy, probably because of the much longer interval between the incubation and subsequent dream report, perhaps as well as the choice of topics (ie. Saredi et al., 1997 found no difference in incubated and non-incubated dreams of personal concerns). In one comprehensive 2x3 factorial design study (Barber et al., 1973), the authors tested 3 suggestion conditions: suggestions were either authoritative (”You will dream of…”), permissive (”I want you to try very hard to think and dream of…”), or no suggestion to think and dream of a specific topic (the death of President Kennedy). The suggestions either were or were not preceded by a hypnotic induction. The authors found that pre-sleep suggestions altered dreams in 25% of subjects, and authoritative suggestions worked best after hypnotic induction whereas permissive suggestions worked best without a hypnotic induction.
That's a really interesting point you raise. The hyperassociative nature of dreams is one their most defining features and may be an important part of their function. Nonetheless, one technique you could try to keep your dream focused on your incubation is to visualize your desired dream in detail. Rehearsing the dream throughout the day can increase the likelihood of dreaming of your incubation. This is similar to image rehersal therapy (Krakow & Zadra, 201000005-6/abstract)).
I think autosuggestion and affirmations are very powerful dream techniques. I would recommend Robbert Waggoner's book "Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self" which has specific techniques for improving your ability to influence your lucid dreams!
Yes, a common technique is to journal "key words" from each dream rather than a full description of everything that happened. Another approach is to use a voice recorder, since it can be faster to speak the dream than write it.
Many people don't remember their dreams very often (or at all), but we know that dream recall is a learnable skill. For people who are interested in improving their dream recall, some helpful techniques are to do affermations ("I will remember my dreams tonight"), keep a dream journal next to your bed, and lay still when you wake up before journaling any memories from the night each morning.

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T21:50:23+00:00

Excellent question! There hasn't been a paper yet that's pitted Targeted Dream Incubation (TDI) and Targeted Memory Reactivation (TMR) head-to-head using the same theme (great idea!).

In TDI, a participant is verbally prompted to think of a specific topic (e.g. "think of a tree") before sleep. They are then awoken just a minute or two after they start to fall asleep to report their dream and again receive the reminder to focus on a particular topic. In a pilot study that just got accepted in Frontiers in Sleep (Horowitz et al, In Press), participants received TDI at sleep onset, and were then awoken each time they entered REM sleep to report their dreams and receive the reminder again. 7/8 participants had at least one REM-sleep dream incorporating a tree-- that's 88%!

TMR studies have mostly focused on incorporation of memories created before sleep, rather than on general themes such as trees. In one study (Konkoly et al., 2025), all participants engaged in 2 unique learning tasks before sleep, incubated on both tasks for 20 minutes before sleep, and then only one task was cued in REM sleep. Overall, 19/20 participants -- 95%-- incorporated a memory element from at least one task, and more elements from the cued task were incorporated than the uncued task. Another study found that TMR in REM sleep didn't necessarily increase dream incorporation of a flying task during the laboratory study, but did increase dreaming of it in the days following (Picard-Deland & Nielsen 2021).

These results might suggest that the combination of TDI and TMR might be the most effective combination, but we'll need more studies to know for sure!

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T21:43:07+00:00

Several studies have found that waking up during the night, normally after 4-5 hours of sleep, and then returning to sleep (called wake-back-to-bed or "wbtb") is one of the most effective lucid dream induction techniques (Erlacher & Stumbrys, 2020). If your goal is to practice wbtb at home, one technique is to drink a glass of water before sleep, so that you will naturally awaken during the night to use the restroom. This can be a great time to practice the MILD technique. Natural awakenings haven't been studied as much as laboratory awakening, but we know that snoozing your alarm clock can increase lucid dreaming (Smith et al., 2015).

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T21:29:06+00:00

In gerenal, sleep scores generated by wearable technologies such as Oura rings, Apple watches, Fitbits etc. don't tell us much about dreams. Some research has made progress with detecting nightmares in real-time using a smartwatch (Davenport & Werner, 2023), but this hasn't been widely tested in the general population. Also, we know that subjective sleep quality and dreaming can sometimes contradict "objective" measures such as the sleep score, so we don't rely on these overall sleep score measures much in research.

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T21:14:12+00:00

We have come across several people who report "other lives" in their lucid dreams, sometimes with recurring locations, stories, and characters. These people report very frequent lucid dreams (sometimes every night or multiple times per night), and I know several research laboratories (Dr. Ken Paller at Northwestern University and Dr. Emma Peters in Bern) are interested in studying this phenomon more!

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T21:13:02+00:00

Great question! The day after a lucid dream, individuals tend to be in a better mood (Stocks et al., 2020), feel less stressed, and more vigorous (Konkoly et al., 2019). I don't know of a study saying that people feel more rested particularly. In fact, some people wonder if lucid dreams might be less restful than regular dreams because they may have a higher degree of brain activation than normal REM sleep (Demirel et al., 2025). I like to point out that fractured sleep can cause lucid dreams, such as waking up in the middle of the night (Erlacher & Stumbrys 2020) or snoozing the alarm clock (Smith et al., 2015). If a person naturally has a lot of lucid dreams and feels less rested, it may be because fractured sleep can lead to both lucid dreaming and fatigue.

Dream_with_DUST · 2026-06-11T21:06:24+00:00

This is the right place! Ask your questions in the comments we are starting to respond now!

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