The new study suggests people can increase their chances of having a lucid dream

A scientist in Australia claims to have found a way to let people take control of their dreams, using a combination of three techniques.

Dr Denholm Aspy, from the University of Adelaide's School of Psychology, says the new method increases people's chances of having lucid dreams, whereby the dreamer is aware they are dreaming and can control the experience.

Although many techniques exist for inducing lucid dreams, previous studies have reported low success rates. Dr Aspy's research is aimed at developing more effective lucid dream induction techniques.

The results from his studies, published in the journal Dreaming, suggest that people can increase their chances of having a lucid dream.

The study involved three groups of participants, and investigated the effectiveness of three different lucid dream induction techniques:

Among the group of 47 people who combined all three techniques, participants achieved a 17% success rate in having lucid dreams over the period of just one week - significantly higher compared to a baseline week where they didn't practise any techniques.

Among those who were able to go to sleep within the first five minutes of completing the MILD technique, the success rate of lucid dreaming was much higher, at almost 46% of attempts.

"The MILD technique works on what we call 'prospective memory' - that is, your ability to remember to do things in the future," said Dr Aspy.

"By repeating a phrase that you will remember you're dreaming, it forms an intention in your mind that you will, in fact, remember that you are dreaming, leading to a lucid dream.

"Importantly, those who reported success using the MILD technique were significantly less sleep deprived the next day, indicating that lucid dreaming did not have any negative effect on sleep quality.

"These results take us one step closer to developing highly effective lucid dream induction techniques that will allow us to study the many potential benefits of lucid dreaming, such as treatment for nightmares and improvement of physical skills and abilities through rehearsal in the lucid dream environment."

Dr Aspy is continuing his research into lucid dreams in an attempt to further increase the effectiveness of the technique.

He is conducting a new study, which is open to any English-speaking people aged 18 and over anywhere in the world. For more information and to take part in the study, visit: http://www.luciddreamingaustralia.com .

You can train your mind to bring on reality dreams. By that I mean triggering happy memories from concrete connections with your past. Cherished and fond memories from your childhood for example that are stored in your memory bank. You just have to be able to recall them. Sometimes you can induce these by writing down stuff and reading it just before you go to sleep.

Let me also say another thing about memory recall. Imagine you're listening to a song from the past you really love. Suddenly an accident on the road in front of you unfolds. You may not be able to recall some of the details your mind has recorded at that moment. Then one day when you hear the song replayed you recollect stuff like the license plate and detailed description of the car in front of you, it's occupants etc. This is some of what I'm referring to when I say you'll be amazed at what you can induce, given the right stimulants, so to speak. Self hypnotism, some may call it. Yet I know it works for me if I put in the effort. Sweet dreams, Cheers!