How many times have I heard that there’s no magic pill to greater awareness? In this case, I am glad I’m wrong as I have discovered a natural brain supplement that does just that. The mental alertness pill I’m talking about here is not caffeine but galantamine, and its proven power to stimulate your lucid dreams. Lucid dreams can be defined simply as dreams that you know you are aware and still safely confined in the sleep state. This is a special altered state of consciousness that can provide some amazing experiences for advanced dreamers.

Usually, to learn lucid dreaming you have to get better at remembering dreams, teach yourself to do reality checks to trigger a lucid dream, and learn to recognize signs that you are dreaming. Taking a lucid dreaming pill alone may not be effective, but if you are practicing these skills and taking galantamine, the chance of success practically triples. How does galantamine lucid dreaming break on through to the other side? Galantamine works in the brain by preventing acetylcholine from being reabsorbed. This improves the quality of REM sleep which is when most dreams occur. This affect has also been linked with improved memory and concentration in studies of people suffering from alzheimers. Paired with choline – which is an amino acid that promotes the production of acetylcholine – and you will have a strong chance of noticing that you are awake and aware in the dreamworld. In fact, some recent research even suggests that galantamine paired with light caffeine does an even better job. Caffeine reduces deep sleep, but not REM sleep. So with this combination there are more dream moments to become lucid in the first place.

A word of caution: go easy if you have never tried galantamine before. I encourage people to also ground their lucid dream practices with breathwork and physical exercise. Galanthamine is, after all changing your diurnal cycles, and it could lead to sleeplessness and even paranoia for some. However, if you start slow and pair these safe supplements with good mindfulness practices, lucid dreaming will become a fact of your dreamlife, not just a fantasy.