Gamers Better at Lucid Dreaming

Play a lot of Video games? So do we. For those gamers lucky enough to fall asleep at night and inevitably dream, you’re more likely to have a lucid dream – a dream which you can control or interact with, according to research. Jayne Gackenbach, a psychologist at Grant MacEwan University in Canada, became interested in video games back in the 90’s, although she had been studying lucid dreaming before then.

By reading through previous research, Gackenbach found a link between gamers and lucid dreamers in that they both have better than average spatial awareness (the ability to be aware of your surroundings), and were less prone to motion sickness. Both groups also showed a high level of focus. The distinction between the two grew though as Lucid dreamers have control over the entire dream, events and such. Gamers on the other hand only had control over their actions, not the rest of the world. Also, gamers frequently switched between first and third person views, acting through their own eye’s and looking at themselves from afar.

Through experience, this is quite easy to understand as a gamer, since we can play for 8 hours straight, it’s almost a dream to some extent since the outside world no longer exists, our monitor becomes our eyes, our headset our ears, our head becomes the mouse. If we need to dodge bullets, our shoulders and waist don’t move but our fingers dance, rapidly hitting W, S, A and D, our arms and legs controlled with the whim of our hand.

The extent of the research goes beyond dreams, but also to nightmares. Gamers are more inclined to ‘fight back’ when under threat within a nightmare, making it less of a nightmare and more ‘fun’. There was also some study into that of aggression, but the research is a little limited though, since the study only took place on 35 males and 63 females, so it’s impossible to base a conclusion on these results. While there may be a connection between aggression and gaming, it would be careless to make an assumption without further tests and research.

This research though, may have some practical use. Gaming can act as a protection mechanism against nightmares, teaching them to turn the situation around in their head, maybe the same could be taught to those suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, since frequent nightmares are believed to be a common symptom.

All this research is fascinating and is definitely worth further investigation. Maybe gamers really can save the world after all…

“If you’re spending hours a day in a virtual reality, if nothing else it’s practice,” said Jayne Gackenbach, a psychologist at Grant MacEwan University in Canada. “Gamers are used to controlling their game environments, so that can translate into dreams.”