Taking vitamin B6 before bedtime may be beneficial for people who want to recall their dreams, findings of a new study suggest.
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin naturally present in many kinds of food. It is also available as a dietary supplement. It can be found in legumes, whole grain cereals, fruits particularly banana and avocado, vegetables such as potato and spinach, dairy products such as milk and cheese, as well as fish, meat and liver.
Vitamin B6 is important for normal brain development, and for keeping the immune system and the nervous system healthy. Researchers now reveal that Vitamin B6 may also help with lucid dreaming.
Effect Of Vitamin B6 On Dreaming
Denholm Aspy, from University of Adelaide in Australia, and colleagues recruited 100 individuals for a study on the effects of Vitamin B6 on dreaming and sleep.
Prior to the experiment, many of the participants rarely recalled their dreams. The participants who took 240 mg of vitamin B6 supplements before sleep over a period of five consecutive days, however, reported improvements in their ability to remember their dreams.
"Our results show that taking vitamin B6 improved people's ability to recall dreams compared to a placebo," Aspy said.
Some of those who took the supplements reported having clearer dreams that are easier to remember, as well as having dreams that seem more real.
Benefits Of Lucid Dreaming
Aspy said that given the amount of time that people spend on dreaming, the ability to become lucid and be able to control dreams can help people become more productive during their dreaming time.
The researcher also said that lucid dreaming has many potential benefits. Lucid dreaming, for instance, can help people overcome nightmares, treat phobias, refine motor skills, enhance creative problem solving, and even help people suffering from physical trauma.
The researchers said that the key step to having lucid dreams is being able to recall dreams on a regular basis. The findings of the study suggest that taking vitamin B6 may help people have lucid dreams.
"We found that vitamin B6 significantly increased the amount of dream content participants recalled but did not significantly affect dream vividness, bizarreness, or color, nor did it significantly affect other sleep-related variables," the researchers wrote in their study. "We discuss the potential for using vitamin B6 in research on lucid dreaming."
The findings of the study were published in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills on April 17.
