What Are Lucid Dreams?

A lucid dream is a term used to describe when an individual is in the process of dreaming but is also aware they are dreaming. This phenomenon means an individual can retain their reflexive consciousness when they are dreaming. The individual having a lucid dream can remain asleep physiologically and stay in a dream environment. However, not all individuals have experienced lucid dreams. Lucid dreams are a phenomenon that is not fully understood by science and researchers yet, but studies have provided some useful information about this type of dreaming that can be used as a reference point. Lucid dreaming only occurs during a certain stage of an individual's sleep and has to have certain characteristics to be considered a lucid dream. There have been claims that lucid dreaming holds numerous benefits for an individual, which are matched by research showing it also has several pitfalls.