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No effect of α‑GPC on lucid dream induction or dream content

Keine Wirkung von α‑GPC auf die Induktion von Klarträumen oder Trauminhalte

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Abstract

Background

A lucid dream is a dream in which one is aware of the fact that one is dreaming. Various cognitive and technical methods exist to induce lucid dreaming, most of which show only little success when tested scientifically. Until now, only few studies have dealt with inducing lucid dreaming by supplements, with, however, promising results.

Objective

We have continued this line of research by conducting a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled field study in order to investigate pharmacological lucid dream induction using L‑alpha-glycerylphosphorylcholine (α-GPC), a prescription-free drug acting as an acetylcholine precursor. Additionally, we tested whether cholinergic activation changes dream emotions or bizarreness.

Materials and methods

Following the baseline night with placebo, 23 participants with little lucid dreaming experience and 10 participants with advanced experience were administered a placebo on one night and 1200 mg of α‑GPC on one night. The Lucidity and Consciousness in Dreams (LuCiD) scale was used to measure the level of dream lucidity. In addition, dream reports were collected to analyse dream content alterations.

Results and conclusion

Out of 75 dreams in total, six were rated as lucid: two in the baseline condition, two in the placebo condition and two in the α‑GPC condition. There was no significant alteration of dream content such as dream emotions or bizarreness. Thus, previous anecdotal findings about lucidity-promoting or dream-altering effects of α‑GPC were not confirmed in our study.

Zusammenfassung

Hintergrund

Ein Klartraum ist ein Traum, in dem man sich der Tatsache bewusst ist, dass man träumt. Es gibt verschiedene kognitive und technische Verfahren, um Klarträume zu induzieren, jedoch sind die meisten davon in wissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen nur wenig erfolgreich. Bisher haben sich nur wenige Studien mit der Induktion von Klarträumen durch Präparate befasst, allerdings mit vielversprechenden Ergebnissen.

Ziel der Arbeit

Die Autoren haben diesen Forschungsansatz fortgeführt, indem sie eine doppelblinde randomisierte placebokontrollierte Feldstudie durchführten, um die pharmakologische Klartrauminduktion unter Einsatz von L‑alpha-Glycerylphosphorylcholin (α-GPC), einem rezeptfreien Nahrungsergänzungsmittel mit der Wirkung einer Vorstufe von Acetylcholin, zu untersuchen. Zusätzlich wurde untersucht, ob eine cholinerge Aktivierung die Traumemotionen oder die Skurrilität der Träume veränderte.

Material und Methoden

Nach der ersten Nacht als Ausgangswert mit Placebo wurde 23 Teilnehmern mit geringer Klartraumerfahrung und 10 Teilnehmern mit fortgeschrittener Erfahrung in der einen Nacht ein Placebo und in der anderen Nacht 1200 mg α‑GPC verabreicht. Zur Messung des Maßes der Traumluzidität wurde die Skala Lucidity and Consciousness in Dreams (LuCiD) verwendet. Darüber hinaus wurden Traumberichte erfasst, um Veränderung von Trauminhalten auszuwerten.

Ergebnisse und Schlussfolgerung

Von 75 Träumen insgesamt wurden 6 als Klartraum eingestuft: 2 in der Ausgangssituation, 2 in der Placebosituation und 2 in der α‑GPC-Situation. Es bestand keine wesentliche Abweichung der Trauminhalte in Bezug auf Traumemotionen oder -skurrilität. Somit wurden in der vorliegenden Studie anekdotische Angaben zur luziditätsfördernden oder traumverändernden Wirkung von α‑GPC nicht bestätigt.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany

    Simon Kern B.Sc., Kristoffer Appel M.Sc. &  Gordon Pipa

  2. Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany

    Michael Schredl

Authors
  1. Simon Kern B.Sc.
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  2. Kristoffer Appel M.Sc.
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  3. Michael Schredl
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  4. Gordon Pipa
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Correspondence to Simon Kern B.Sc..

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Conflict of interest

S. Kern, K. Appel, M. Schredl and G. Pipa declare that they have no competing interests.

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Caption Electronic Supplementary Material

11818_2017_122_MOESM1_ESM.docx

1) A picture of the three different pills in use in this study with a coin as a size comparison 2) Extended results for all tables

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Kern, S., Appel, K., Schredl, M. et al. No effect of α‑GPC on lucid dream induction or dream content. Somnologie 21, 180–186 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11818-017-0122-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11818-017-0122-8

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