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Comment by 40acres | Hacker News Reader

> Okay. So the first one was on the pharmacological induction of lucid dreams. It is complicated, but it’s a mechanism to induce lucidity in your dreams. You can control your dream by waking up in the middle of the night and taking an over-the-counter supplement called galantamine, which increases levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the synapse. Fun fact is that I’ve been writing down my dreams for 11 years.

Uh, what? Has anyone heard of this kind of procedure? I'm aware of other methods to induce lucid dreams but never ones that involve OTC medicine.

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Pharmacological Induction of Lucid Dreams [0]

Abstract:

>This article explores the effectiveness of using supplements to induce lucid dreams. The method of combining a cholinergic stimulating substance (galantamine & choline) with a deep sleep suppressing substance (sulbutiamine, caffeine, or desmopressin) is examined. Eleven nights of EEG data were recorded from a subject skilled in lucid dreaming techniques. On each experimental night, the subject slept for 3.5-4.5 hours before consuming either a deep sleep suppressing substance (DSS), a cholinergic stimulating substance (CS) or a combination of the two.

>The subject experienced a lucid dream in five out of five trials that included a combination of cholinergic stimulation with deep sleep suppression. Furthermore, the five lucid dream events occurred in the span of 10 calendar days and were all characterized as Wake Initiated Lucid Dreams (WILDs) in which conscious awareness remained during the transition from the waking state to the dream state. A second observation relating the influence of dopamine uptake to the subject’s control over the dream environment is also discussed.

[0] http://www.bluesilk.com.au/lucidmind/ld_resources/Pharmacolo...

Not sure there's anything to explain. Waking up and then going back to sleep is going to help with inducing lucid dreams, supplement-assisted or not, that's the point of WILD.

I've actually always been able to wake up in the middle of the night, then go back to bed and continue dreams where I left off.

Yes, popular method is also to drink a lot of apple juice. It worked for me a few times but could just as well be a placebo effect. I've learned to lucid dream before that though.

Isn't acetylcholine how caffeine works too- Any data on the effect of caffeine on dreaming?

Caffeine does indirectly promote release of acetylcholine (along with the monoamines, dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine) via antagonism of adenosine receptors.

I've heard anecdotal evidence on caffeine giving people nightmares and vivid dreams, especially when consumed immediately before sleep.

After digging a little more, I also found that caffeine is also an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (it disrupts the enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine) which have medical use in promoting REM sleep and induce lucid dreaming.

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