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  • Did you know video games can give you superpowers?

  • Okay, not really.

  • But they can improve your lucid dreaming powers.

  • It's got to be close.

  • You can literally do anything you want inside your head.

  • Anything.

  • For those who don't know what lucid dreaming is,

  • it's basically when you're dreaming and you can consciously control what happens.

  • Usually, said person wakes up inside the dream and goes,

  • "Whoa"

  • and probably takes a dump in his pants from the literal holy crap moment.

  • The entire thing is pretty cool.

  • Once you realize you're dreaming,

  • you can proceed to sprout wings and fly,

  • dance with some monkeys,

  • or bang pretty much anyone you want.

  • Lucid dreams can be so vivid that the person having them can hardly tell if they're dreaming or not.

  • Because of this, many practice doing a reality check everytime they think they're dreaming.

  • This usually consists of trying to do something impossible,

  • like breathing while your nose is plugged and your mouth is closed,

  • or walking through a wall,

  • or 'poofing' a magical girl monkey into existence.

  • It's honestly really, really cool,

  • and it seems video games help you achieve this.

  • It's widely known that what you do during the day can affect the dreams you have the following night,

  • and so people who play video games often before going to sleep,

  • are more proficient at controlling them,

  • which in turn leads to lucid dreaming.

  • A lot of popular video games like 'Halo' and 'Call of Duty' are similar to dreams in the way you control an avatar in a separate world.

  • The video games are almost like practice, so that the skills you gain translate right into dreamland.

  • You're also able to control yourself more proficiently, and your dreams themselves are more like a video game.

  • Unfortunately, this doesn't allow for all the cool powers of lucid dreaming,

  • since the dreams themselves become more video game like,

  • the only person you can control, is yourself.

  • So no 'poofing' up magical monkey girls.

  • However, just being able to control your own movements gives you an edge with fighting nightmares,

  • and even decreases the frequency of having bad dreams.

  • Also, gamers who end up in a nightmare said that they don't usually feel scared or afraid,

  • but they decided to fight, instead of running away,

  • viewing the entire thing like another round of 'Call of Duty'.

  • Except, you know, minus the annoying screaming ten-year-olds.

  • Jane Gackenbach, a psychologist at the Grand McKewen University in Canada and the founder of this phenomenon,

  • believes that this is a major find to help people who have recurrent nightmares and even war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

  • So, if you have recurrent nightmares or PTSD,

  • or you just think running around in a video game-like dream sounds fun, then play some more video games.

  • Even if you're not interested in this, play some more video games anyways.

  • Video games are great.

Did you know video games can give you superpowers?

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