A modern person rarely gets the opportunity to sleep properly. Most of the day is occupied by vanity, and there is not much left to recuperate. The Americans decided there was no time to waste. Let the rest go on as usual, but at the same time you can learn something. Researchers at Yale University are developing a program that allows students to learn and acquire various skills while sleeping.
But this is not your usual night's rest. There is a special state of altered consciousness in which a person thinks he is dreaming. It has received the name "lucid dreaming" (Lucid Dreaming). Its peculiarity is that at this moment a person can control his movements and control events. Many people can dream in reality, out of ten people there are six who have ever experienced such a dream.
This state can be reached spontaneously, from ordinary sleep. There is also a special technique of hypnosis, which, in fact, scientists usually use in their research. It is believed that you can learn to sleep "mindfully" yourself. Special exercises and long-term practice will allow you to do whatever you want in your sleep.
It was this interesting condition that attracted a group of psychologists led by Peter Morgan. They conducted a series of experiments in which they immersed volunteers in lucid sleep and forced them to perform various tasks. The results confirmed the original hypothesis.
It turns out that people who are able to control their dreams can learn different skills in this state. They actually make certain parts of the brain work for good, for example, to assimilate new information. In general, the ability to be in this state is already a great advantage.
In one experiment, for example, scientists observed a region of the brain responsible for decision making and social interactions. The volunteers were tested in a state of lucid dreaming. When they woke up and performed tasks already in consciousness, they made significant progress. Other studies have shown the same results. Participants did better at resolving issues if they first tried to do so in their sleep.
In this sense, an interesting experiment was organized by Swiss doctors from the University of Bern. Subjects practiced tossing a coin into a tin can while they slept. When they woke up and started doing the same, they showed amazing results.
And one of the patients recalled a funny incident. He didn't know how to swim until he was ten. Mom took him to the pool, but to no avail. Once, when the boy came <home after yet another fruitless attempt to overcome the water element, he fell asleep. And he dreamed that he was swimming, skillfully cutting the surface of the river. When he found himself in the pool the next day, he was surprised to find that he could swim.
This incident actually illustrates one of the most interesting features of sleep. Sometimes healthy decisions, useful thoughts or clues to world secrets come to us exactly when we sleep.
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