This article was co-authored by Alex Dimitriu, MD . Alex Dimitriu, MD is the Owner of Menlo Park Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine, a clinic based in the San Francisco Bay Area with expertise in psychiatry, sleep, and transformational therapy. Alex earned his Doctor of Medicine from Stony Brook University in 2005 and graduated from the Stanford University School of Medicine's Sleep Medicine Residency Program in 2010. Professionally, Alex has dual board certification in psychiatry and sleep medicine. This article has been viewed 15,583,663 times.

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If you want to lucid dream, start a dream journal where you write down the details of your dreams as soon as you wake up each day. This will train you to remember more of your dreams which can improve your dream lucidity. Dream lucidity is the awareness that you are dreaming, so you need to be able to remember your dreams before you can start to control them. Throughout the day, try performing reality checks where you ask yourself, “Am I dreaming?” every few hours to double check that you’re awake. You can also try pinching yourself to see if you’re dreaming or not. Once these reality checks become a habit, you'll likely start asking yourself the same question in your dreams, which will help you realize that you're sleeping. If you ask yourself "Am I dreaming?" and you think you really are, try pushing your finger through your palm. If it goes through, you're dreaming! Once you know you're dreaming, you can start controlling your dreams by going to a new place, introducing new characters, or even flying. For more tips on lucid dreaming, like using a light alarm or listening to binaural beats, read the article!