While we sleep, our brain is able to play scenes in our mind through our dreams. However, dreaming does not fully expose our cognitive potential. We are only able to watch those scenes while dreaming rather than fully participating in them. Lucid dreaming gives us not only the ability to participate in our dreams, but allows us to determine what will happen in them and manipulate the entire plot. Lucid dreaming is defined as “the experience of dreaming with consciousness and awareness that one is dreaming (Melton 940).” For a dream to be lucid, the dreamer must realize that he is not in reality or the physical world, but that he is in a dream. Once this realization occurs, the dreamer is able to do whatever he wants and manipulate the plot of the dream. The idea of ​​lucid dreaming has been around since the 8th century, when Tibetan Buddhists practiced forms of yoga designed to remain fully conscious during a dream state (LaBerge, 21). It wasn't until the 1900s that scientists began studying sleep cycles and determining how they affected dreaming and lucidity. These studies have led to the development of techniques that would allow people to have lucid dreams on demand so that scientists can further study lucidity. Researchers have been able to take these techniques and apply them to therapies and treatments for patients with sleep disorders in an attempt to use lucid dreams to improve sleep quality. While additional benefits of lucid dreaming are still being studied, current research shows that it can be a useful skill to develop and can be a therapeutic tool for people suffering from sleep disorders. Frederick Willems van Eeden was the first to use the term “lucid dreams”” in a report he wrote in 1913 for the Society for Physical……half of the paper……lucid dreams, your brain sends the same signals to your body and is performing the same motor activity as when he is awake. This means that practicing something while lucid dreaming has the same effect as when you are awake. Your brain sends the same signals to the rest of your body, but because of sleep paralysis, you only act it out in your dreams. In addition to performance enhancement and therapeutic uses, people also use lucid dreams for recreational purposes. In lucid dreaming you are literally able to do whatever you want. People use it to experience the thrill and “legal exhilaration” of being able to have adventures every night while they sleep (Alexander Street Press). While additional benefits of lucid dreaming are still being studied, current research shows that it can be a useful skill to develop and may be a therapeutic tool for people suffering from sleep disorders.