Many people have been experimenting with Vitamin B to help them remember their dreams and increase their chances of being aware that they are dreaming. This offers an opportunity to get into the dream and have some unheard of fun! It's called Lucid Dreaming - but does Vitamin B really help? And how much should you take for maximum enjoyment without harm?
First, lets take a look at the benefits of Vitamin B (not related to Lucid Dreaming):
According to Wakipedia Encyclopedia:
The B vitamins as a whole often work together to deliver a number of health benefits to the body. B vitamins have been shown to:
1) Bolster metabolism 2) Maintain healthy skin and muscle tone 3) Enhance immune and nervous system function 4) Promote cell growth and division — including that of the red blood cells that help prevent anemia.
Together, they also help combat the symptoms and causes of stress, depression, and cardiovascular disease.
This being said, experimenting with Vitamin B can't be all bad. However, B vitamins are water soluble, which means that after they are dispersed throughout the body, whatever is not used is excreted. Therefore, you could be wasting your money if you overdue it.
Most people start with Vitamin B6 (or Sublingual B6, the kind that dissolves in the mouth). At least one preliminary study has found that this vitamin may increase dream vividness or the ability to recall dreams. Experimenters with this Vitamin suggest using about 75 mg a night (or lower) and claim that this dosage should be enough to enhance your dreams.
Vitamin B6 has been touted as the "Magic" vitamin, but then again, some people are mixing it with Melatonin (which regulates the sleep-wake cycles) and/or Valerian (which is a sedative) and say that mixing helps them have more intense Lucid Dreams. It looks like those two additional mixtures are made to help a person get to sleep, and have nothing to do with the dreaming aspect. Mixing and matching vitamins in various quantities before you go to sleep at night can be dangerous and is not recommended.
Unfortunately, since most Vitamin B6 multi-vitamins are sold in 2mg doses, you would have to take a lot of pills to reach 75mg, but be careful, an overdose of B6 can cause a temporary deadening of certain nerves such as the proprioceptory nerves; causing a feeling of disembodiment. In case you're wondering, this is NOT a good thing!
What about Vitamin B5?
Back to Wakipedia again: "Pantothenic acid, also called vitamin B5, is a water-soluble vitamin required to sustain life. Pantothenic acid is needed to form coenzyme-A (CoA), and is thus critical in the metabolism and synthesis of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Its name is derived from the Greek pantothen meaning "from everywhere" and small quantities of pantothenic acid are found in nearly every food, with high amounts in whole grain cereals, legumes, eggs, meat, and royal jelly. It is commonly found as its alcohol analog, the provitamin panthenol, and as calcium pantothenate."
So, Vitamin B5 is good for you, but does it help you get Lucid Dreams? Unlike Vitamin B6, there is no evidence to support that theory. However, there is evidence that low doses of the herbal extract Galantamine (Reminyl/Razadyne) have been successfully used to improve thinking and memory. Since it is the memory portion of our brains we are trying to control, it looks like Galantamine might be the key to experiencing a dramatic boost in dreaming activity, vividness and clarity. Mixed with Vitamin B5, it will help you have exciting dreams that you will remember, and then when your memory starts to increase at night and you become more aware that you are dreaming, you can begin the Lucid Dreaming experience.
Again, it is not good to experiment with varying doses of these vitamins. The best choice would be to buy something that contained the ingredients you want in a dosage that has been verified and recommended.
