Your personal gateway to conscious dreaming

The Lucid Dreamer is an easy-to-use device that helps you gain awareness inside your dreams. But how exactly does it work?

Anyone who’s been able to lucid dream can tell you what an exhilarating experience it is! Some people have devoted months, years and even careers to the study and practice of lucid dreaming.

 

Many methods and techniques have been developed to naturally reach this state, however results take a great deal of time and effort – if you ever get them at all. Knowing this, others have tried to manufacture lucid dream-inducing sleep masks using built in LED lights, a method that has been proven ineffective. [1]

 

It started to seem like such a device could never exist, and lucid dreaming would always be left up to either chance or painstaking practice.

Then, a promising technology emerged

Studies have shown that a very specific type of brain activity in the frontal lobes, called gamma activity, is present during lucid dreams. This activity is associated with consciousness.

 

There is a well-documented method of enhancing gamma activity in the brain called transcranial alternating current stimulation (or tACS). This method implements mild electrical stimulation to the head in a way proven to be 100% safe. [2] It is important to note that tACS is not electroshock therapy.

[1] Study on effectiveness of lucid dreaming techniques and external stimulation (LED light) to induce lucid dreaming; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22841958
[2] Safety, sensations and secondary induced effects of transcranial electric stimulation; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=25922128

So how does this translate to lucid dreaming?

In 2014, Ursula Voss from the Goethe-University Frankfurt Germany published a landmark study showcasing the use of tACS during REM sleep. The stimulation succeeded in enhancing gamma activity in the participants’ brains, causing lucidity in 77% of dreams.[3]

 

This study laid the foundation on which the Lucid Dreamer was built upon.

 

The Lucid Dreamer uses advanced algorithms that detect when you start dreaming. These algorithms use the electrical signals from the brain, which are measured with EEG (electroencephalogram). Measuring brain activity to detect the onset of a dream is much more accurate than the more conventional method of using eye-movement data. The measurement of brain activity during sleep will also be used as a basis for personal stimulation settings recommendations.

When the onset of a dream is detected, tACS is applied, which will enhance gamma in the frontal regions of the brain and therefore significantly lowers the threshold for getting a lucid dream.

The Lucid Dreamer also has the ability to apply light and audio stimulation during a dream. Light flashes and audio stimulation are long-known methods for increasing the possibility for getting a lucid dream. Rhythmic light flashes and audio signals can also be used for neural entrainment, which is another way of altering neural oscillations. The Lucid Dreamer supports neural entrainment protocols that can be triggered at the onset of a dream and altering neural oscillations in the visual and auditory cortex.

Light and audio stimulation during a dream has shown to be effective when used combination with cognitive exercises known as ‘Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams’ or ‘MILD’. The Lucid Dreamer App implements an innovative MILD training program.

You can learn more about MILD here

To summarize: The Lucid Dreamer implements old and new techniques that are known to induce lucid dreams, provides the possibility to flexibly combine these techniques and also adds new innovative approaches to REM detection, tACS, light/audio stimulation and cognitive exercises.

[3] Induction of self awareness in dreams through frontal low current stimulation of gamma activity; http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v17/n6/full/nn.3719.html

“The Lucid Dreamer is a wearable device that automatically detects REM sleep, after which it uses mild electrical stimulation (tACS) to induce a lucid dream.”

Inside The Lucid Dreamer

Hardware Specs

Built-In Sensors

  • EEG Amplifier
  • 6 Axis Accelerometer and Gyrometer

 

Battery

  • Lasts 10+ hours
  • Rechargeable Lithium Polymer 3.7V 240mAh
  • Micro USB Chargeable

 

Package Includes

  • Lucid Dreamer Device
  • Micro USB Cable
  • Starterset of Lucid Dreamer Electrodes (150)

Electrodes

The Lucid Dreamer uses disposable, sticky electrodes. Simply attach the electrodes to the device, remove the protective covering and stick the electrodes to the designated places on your forehead and behind your ears.

 

The electrodes contain a highly conductive gel core, enabling high-quality recordings and efficient stimulation. They also serve to attach the device snuggly against your head, eliminating the need for an uncomfortable and unstable headband.

 

Each use requires 6 electrodes: 4 on your forehead and 1 each on your left and right mastoid (the thick bone behind your ears).

 

Your Lucid Dreamer will come with 25 sets of electrodes, giving you 25 nights to start with. New sets of disposable electrodes can be ordered here.

The Lucid Dreamer Apps

The App is used to control your LD device, build your personal dream profile and connect with the Lucid Dreamer community.  There are three versions to choose from:

 

  • Essential: Run the standard Insight (40Hz) and Control (25Hz) protocols on your Lucid Dreamer.

 

  • Pro: Receive the standard protocols as well as the Protocol Builder, giving you the ability to experiment with different frequencies and durations of stimulation.

 

  • Connect: Get all the perks of Pro with the added ability to experiment with dream sharing. Become part of a crowd research project into mutual dreaming, a phenomena that some lucid dreaming experts have claimed to accomplish.