Lucid Dream Pills: Galantamine, Huperzine-A and Choline


lucid pill explanation

What are the best lucid dream pills?

Put simply, it’s a battle of the titans between Galantamine and Huperzine-A.

Both are clinically proven Acetylcholine Esterase (AChE) Inhibitors. This means their primary effect is to block the normal breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.

Acetylcholine is associated with (among other things) REM sleep phases and memory. So, when it builds up – your dreaming capabilities get a real boost!

I used to take galantamine as my main lucid dreaming pill, but once I started experimenting in depth with huperzine-A I found it was the better choice for me.

Whilst galantamine does work well for inducing lucidity, users commonly report minor muscle twitches and nausea. This can be a bit irritating!

I also find that after taking galantamine I feel a bit groggy and sleep deprived the next day.

For me, these side effects were gone with Huperzine-A.

The Role of Choline

Many dreamers take their pills alongside choline.

While choline is generally obtained from natural food as part of a healthy diet, the theory goes that supplementing your choline levels even further helps to maximise Acetylcholine levels in the brain – and further potentiate the effects of the AChE Inhibitor.

There are several different types of choline available, such as choline bitartrate, choline-CDP and alpha-GPC.

Though many pills for lucid dreaming contain choline - to be honest the jury is out as to whether it makes a difference at all!

I’ve spoken with experienced lucid dreamers who swear blind that it’s all a myth and that choline is completely unnecessary, whereas other dream researches definitely thought it did make a difference (although they admitted it could be placebo).

It’s not something on which we have the benefit of formal studies.

You can definitely get lucid by simply taking huperzine-A or galantamine alone, but if you want ensure maximum effect simply get a lucid dreaming pill that combines both.

Using Huperzine-A for Lucid Dreams

Huperzine-A is a highly purified product of Chinese club moss.

It’s been used for centuries in Traditional Chinese Medicine for the treatment of memory loss.

Huperzine-A has recently become renowned for its nootropic enhancement of memory, learning, alertness and energy.

When taken during the night it will lead to intensely vivid and memorable dreams with profound levels of detail.

It’s actually one of the most incredibly potent nootropic agents around.

It’s so strong in fact, that Huperzine-A is dosed in micrograms (mcg). That is millionths of a gram.

Typically, in order to actually be able to measure out such a dose (since mcg are practically invisible to the naked eye), huperzine-A is supplied in a 1% powder. This makes it possible to dose the powder in mg (thousandths of a gram).

Using Galantamine for Lucid Dreams

An extract from the Red Spider Lily, galantamine is also proven to improve cognitive function and both waking and dream memory.

galantamine for lucid dreaming

The effects of galantamine were discovered more than 3,000 years ago by the Ancient Greeks, when Homer described its effects on dream recall.

Galantamine is also used to treat Alzheimer's disease, a degenerative condition of severe memory loss. Unlike huperzine-A, a synthetic form of galantamine was approved as a prescription drug in 2001.

Although technically legal and available as a herbal supplement, it is becoming harder to get hold of. I can personally vouch for the Absorb Health brand.

How to Take Your Lucid Dream Pills

Get 4-5 hours of sleep before taking your dreaming pills.

This will give you enough deep sleep so that when you go back to bed after taking the pills you should enter directly into REM sleep (REM sleep is where dreams occur).

Your REM periods grow longer toward the end of the night anyway, so this timing makes the most of your active dream phases.

In practice this means going to bed around 10-11pm, so that you can briefly wake (set an alarm) to take your pills around 3-4am.

This should give you 2-3 hours of intense dreams before you get up at say 7am!

Dosage depends on the brand so check the instructions on the bottle. Generally, 20-40mcg huperzine-A powder or 4-8mg galantamine is recommended.

This kind of dose should yield richly vivid, brightly coloured and extremely detailed dreams - and will almost certainly lead to lucid dreams when combined with your regular lucidity training!

After taking a lucid dream pill, lay quietly in bed incubating your lucid dream intention.

The hypnagogia should come fast.

Use it to visualize your desired dream scene and repeat in your mind the mantra:

"The next scene will be a dream."


About The Author

About The Author

Chris Hammond writes about lucid dreaming, awareness, the nature of consciousness, and cosmic existence. See him in action at The World of Lucid Dreaming Academy.