In a study of fourteen lucid dreamers performed in 1991, people who perform wake-initiated lucid dreams (WILD) reported experiences consistent with aspects of out-of-body experiences such as floating above their beds and the feeling of leaving their bodies. Due to the phenomenological overlap between lucid dreams, near death experiences, and out-of-body experiences, researchers say they believe a protocol could be developed to induce a lucid dream similar to a near-death experience in the laboratory.

The rate that time passes while lucid dreaming has been shown to be about the same as while waking. However, a 1995 study in Germany indicated lucid dreaming can also have varied time spans, in which the dreamer can control the length. The study took place during sleep and upon awakening, and required the participants to record their dreams in a log and how long the dreams lasted. In 1985, LaBerge performed a pilot study where lucid dreamers counted out ten seconds while dreaming, signaling the end of counting with a pre-arranged eye signal measured with electrooculogram recording. LaBerge’s results were confirmed by German researchers in 2004. The German study, by D. Erlacher and M. Schredl, also studied motor activity and found that deep knee bends took 44% longer to perform while lucid dreaming.

People who suffer from nightmares would benefit from the ability to be aware they are dreaming. A pilot study was performed in 2006 that showed that lucid dreaming treatment was successful in reducing nightmare frequency. This treatment consisted of exposure to the idea, mastery of the technique, and lucidity exercises. It was not clear what aspects of the treatment were responsible for the success of overcoming nightmares, though the treatment as a whole was successful. The act of lucid dreaming has a very large impact on the conscious and subconscious mind. Since dreaming is a subconscious act and thinking is a conscious act, thinking while dreaming merges the two, allowing one more control over their subconscious mind. This can then lead to many benefits like being able to think while sleeping, therefore giving you more time to act while being awake. Australian psychologist, Milan Colic, has explored the application of principles from narrative therapy with clients’ lucid dreams to reduce the impact not only of nightmares during sleep, but also depression, self-mutilation, and other problems in waking life. Colic found that clients’ preferred direction for their lives, as identified during therapeutic conversations, could lessen the distressing content of dreams, while understandings about life - and even characters - from lucid dreams could be invoked in ‘real’ life with marked therapeutic benefits.