Lucid dreamers have better problem-solving abilities, according to a University of Lincoln study.
The researchers said that "lucid dreaming" - a phenomena where people are aware they are asleep when they are dreaming - can resolve problems in the real world better than those who are unaware of their dreams until they wake up.
The concept of lucid dreaming was the main focus point in the 2010 film Inception, where the dreamers were able to identify inconsistencies within their dream. The researchers said that some people possess this cognitive ability because of a higher level of insight, meaning, their brains detect they are in a dream.
The researchers said that this ability in turn helps to spot hidden connections or inconsistencies in the real world. This is the first study to highlight the relationship between lucid dreaming and insight.
"It is believed that for dreamers to become lucid while asleep, they must see past the overwhelming reality of their dream state, and recognise that they are dreaming. "The same cognitive ability was found to be demonstrated while awake by a person's ability to think in a different way when it comes to solving problems," Dr Patrick Bourke, Senior Lecturer at the Lincoln School of Psychology, said in a statement.
For the study, the researchers observed the cognitive ability in 68 participants, aged between 18 and 25 years, who had experienced different levels of lucid dreaming, ranging from never to several times a month. The participants were asked to solve 30 problems intended to test their insight.
The researchers said that each problem comprised of three words and a solution word. Each of the three words could be combined with the solution word to form a new compound word. For example, with the words 'sand', 'mile' and 'age', the linking word would be 'stone'.
They found that frequent lucid dreamers solved 25 per cent more of the insight problems than non-lucid dreamers.
