The effectiveness of lucid dreaming practice on waking task performance: A scoping review of evidence and meta-analysis.

A lucid dream is a dream during which the dreamer becomes aware of the fact that they are experiencing a dream. The higher awareness and cognitive traits which accompany lucid dreams offer individuals a unique opportunity to use this practice to rehearse waking skills. This scoping review aimed to summarise existing evidence on the effectiveness of lucid dreaming practice (LDP) on the performance of waking skills and employed a meta-analytical approach to estimate an overall effect of LDP. A total of seven studies were reviewed. Findings indicate that LDP can improve waking performance of motor tasks of a variety of nature with an overall medium positive effect size of .483 (p=.095). LDP environments appear to be suitable for the practice of such tasks however practitioners should be aware that perception may at times be distorted from wakefulness. Dream distractions may also be encountered which may impair dream practice and have a negative effect on subsequent performance. A lack of empirical evidence within the literature was identified. Challenges with conducting LDP research are discussed and recommendations for future research are proposed.