Objectless sleep studied with new training

Researchers explore a rare form of sleep where awareness exists without dreams or images.

Researchers Map Consciousness in Sleep Through Objectless States

A team surveyed 573 people and conducted in-depth interviews with 18 participants about objectless sleep experiences. Participants described experiences of "just awareness", "nothingness", or a "void" and noted a sense that the self faded or dissolved. Some reports align with contemplative ideas from Advaita Vedanta and Tibetan dream yoga, while others describe a minimal state in which awareness remains but without sensory content. In a training study, researchers used a mix of meditation, visualization and lucid dreaming to help some participants stay aware as they drifted into non-REM sleep, and portable EEG confirmed episodes of conscious states during slow-wave sleep.

These findings challenge the Western view that consciousness always has an object. They suggest there can be a minimal, content-free form of awareness during sleep. The results also show a link between lucid dreaming ability and objectless experiences, though many lucid dreamers did not report objectless sleep. The study describes a new induction protocol and notes the need for more research to understand how widespread such states are and what they mean for theories of consciousness and for practices such as meditation and sensory deprivation.

The research invites a rethink of how we define consciousness. If awareness can exist without a sensory object, theories that require widespread brain broadcast of information may need adjustment. The link to dream yoga and Advaita Vedanta offers cultural context but not a simple bridge, as the sample included people without knowledge of those traditions. The rarity of the state and the small sample size limit broad claims, so scientists urge cautious interpretation and more data.

And yet the approach matters. Studying objectless sleep could open new methods to explore deep meditation, sensory deprivation, and mind blanking. It also raises questions about how to measure subjective experience in sleep and how to compare cross cultural reports. In the long run, it may help move consciousness studies beyond dream-centric models and toward a broader view of wakefulness at rest.

Highlights

The mind keeps secrets even in sleep.