The Scientific Link

There have long been anecdotal stories about the affinity of psilocybin and dreaming. It has been said to restore the ability to dream to heavy cannabis users. Not to mention the frequent reports of vivid and lucid dreams as a result of a psychedelic trip. But a recent study has gone further and actually produced some cold, hard evidence to support the floaty, dreamy anecdotes. Here we explore the scientific link between psychedelic trips and dreaming. 

Mapping the Activity of a Tripping Brain

Dr Carhart-Harris, a researcher from Imperial College London, carried out a study in 2014. 15 participants received an intravenous dose of either psilocybin or a placebo, while they lay inside a brain scanning machine. The team of researchers then mapped the activity in the brain using a system called Blood Oxygen Level Dependant signal (BOLD). 

Consciousness Fragmented

The researchers found that the participants who had been given psilocybin exhibited “disjointed and uncoordinated” brain activity. This was because the parts of their brains responsible for consciousness/self awareness, as well as problem solving and decision making, became fragmented. The ‘primitive’ areas of the brain showed more activity when tripping on psilocybin. The primitive areas of the brain are the ones responsible for emotion, memory and arousal. 

Dr Carhart-Ellis states:

“You’re seeing these areas getting louder, and more active. It’s like someone’s turned up the volume there, in these regions that are considered part of an emotional system in the brain. When you look at a brain during dream sleep, you see the same hyperactive emotion centers.” 

A Waking Dream

Additionally, when psilocybin was injected just before or during sleep there was a marked increase in activity levels during Rapid Eye Movement sleep (REM). This supports a theory that psychedelics induce a state similar to a ‘waking dream’. Interestingly, this study marks the first time there has been scientific evidence to support millenia of stories about the ‘mind expanding’ qualities of psychedelics. 

The findings that psilocybin increases the activity in the parts of the brain associated with emotion and memory, further advocate for psychedelics as an effective mood disorder treatment. Resetting and understanding negative thinking patterns that exemplify depression becomes possible because there is greater access to the emotional regions of the brains. 

Therapeutic and Mind Expanding

The researchers also mapped brain entropy. Traditionally, entropy is a measurement of the energy lost in mechanical systems. However, it also is used to describe the randomness possible in a system, even biological ones such as the brain. The researchers discovered greater levels of entropy in the primitive brain regions. This meant the participants had a vastly increased range of brain states available in their emotional sector. This again supports psilocybin’s therapeutic potential, as well as the psychedelic legend of mind expansion. 

So tripping and dreaming— maybe not so different after all. Both have the potential to awaken your mind.