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Lucid Dream

Prevalence & Frequency
Demographics such as age and cultural background play a part in the frequency of lucid dreams as well. For instance, studies show that children and adolescents are much more likely to experience lucid dreaming than someone who is an adult or senior. In 2016, a meta-analytic study by David Saunders and colleagues on 34 lucid dreaming studies, taken from a period of 50 years, demonstrated that 55% of a pooled sample of 24,282 people claimed to have experienced lucid dreams at least once or more in their lifetime. Furthermore, for those that stated they did experience lucid dreams, approximately 23% reported to experience them on a regular basis, as often as once a month or more.

Risk
Though lucid dreaming can be beneficial to a number of aspects of life, some risks have been suggested. Those who have never had a lucid dream may not understand what is happening when they experience it for the first time. Individuals who experience lucid dreams could begin to feel isolated from others due to feeling different. It could become more difficult over time to wake up from a lucid dream. Someone struggling with certain mental illnesses could find it hard to be able to tell the difference between reality and the actual dream. Mixed sleep-wake states are also commonly associated with lucid dreaming. These mixed sleep-wake states are related to stress and psychopathology, as well as disruptive sleep.

Long term risks with lucid dreaming have not been extensively studied.