--- title: "New App Claims to Launch Users Into Lucid Dreams" description: "Scientists looked into the efficacy of an app that claims to induce lucid dreaming — and found that it nearly tripled awareness of dreams." date: "2024-11-16" modified: "2024-11-16" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/new-app-lucid-dreaming" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Studies" tags: - "apps" - "dreaming" - "lucid dreaming" - "sleep" --- # New App Claims to Launch Users Into Lucid Dreams ![Scientists looked into the efficacy of an app that claims to induce lucid dreaming — and found that it nearly tripled awareness of dreams.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Scientists looked into the efficacy of an app that claims to help people lucid dream — and found it was a runaway success. Published in the [journal *Consciousness and Cognition*](), this study out of Northwestern University seems to demonstrate that so-called "Targeted Lucidity Reactivation" (TLR) can help people remember their dreams, and even propel them into a fascinating dive into the subconscious. The app involves training people to associate a specific sound, such as a tone or melody, with the awareness of dreaming. That sound is then played while subjects are asleep, tipping them off that they're not in the waking world helping them enter the state of lucid dreaming. In a two-part study, Northwestern psychology researchers first recruited participants — 19 in the first phase, and 416 in the second — who historically remembered their dreams upon waking. Using a specialized Android smartphone app, the participants in the first phase completed one week of TLR training that consisted of 20-minute sessions in which they were instructed to associate the sound, which was either a sequence of beeps or a violin note, with lucid dreaming. After participants fell asleep, the app would stay on and play these sound cues on a six-hour delay softly, so as not to wake the dreamers. In the morning, study subjects were asked to write down any dreams they remembered, and whether they were lucid or the sound was merely incorporated into the dream's narrative. Second-phase participants had a similar training protocol, with some variation in the post-sleep execution: some would get the cues they were trained on, while others would get unrelated sounds or no cues at all. In both phases, participants who received the sound cues on which they were trained reported the highest frequency of lucid dreaming. In the first phase, subjects reported an average of 2.11 lucid dreams during the training week compared to 0.74 before — a nearly three-fold increase. As [*PsyPost* notes](), this experiment appears to be the first to take lucid dreaming research out of a sleep laboratory setting and into the hands of the public. By the way, for those wondering, you can [try out the app here](). In an interview with *PsyPost*, study author and Northwestern postdoctoral student Karen Konkoly gushed that these findings could help bring lucid dreaming to the masses. "Since we’ve been developing more effective ways to induce lucid dreams in the sleep laboratory," Konkoly said, "we wanted to take a step towards making these advances available for individuals to use on their own." **More on dream research:** [*Startup Claims It's Achieved Communication Between Two People Who Were Both Dreaming*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()