Up till my early 20s, I used to lucid dream so much, I thought it was the normal state of dreaming (for everyone). Over the last few years the frequency has declined to maybe a couple times a month.
Of course, you never know how much you'd miss a thing until its gone. In this case, I didn't even know it was a thing before it started fading away.
I'd certainly let my brain be zapped to get this superpower back.
I too experienced a plethora of lucid dreaming through my early twenties. Sometimes I would have a few a night for weeks. They tapered off gradually and I have maybe a few a year now (I'm 35).
Many were tied with sleep paralysis, which didn't give me the fear that most people associate with it. Sometimes I could extract my preceptual self from my body and experience walking around the room in a weird lucid dream world. All while simultaneously being aware of my pysical body lying in bed.
Wow, so similar. My first lucid dreams were initiated during sleep paralysis. Initially, these episodes were absolutely terrifying (i felt like I was suffocating). Lucid dreaming cured me of this fear .. once I realize i'm in a dream I can change the scenario to something more pleasant.
Or just fly away through the window ;)
I feel sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming are deeply linked phenomena.
What's your sleep cycle like? Do you tend to fall asleep out of utter exhaustion, or do you tend to give yourself a reasonable bedtime and wind down period. I've found that I dream lucidly a lot less when I've let my sleep hygene go to crap.
As an aside, because of being a naturally lucid dreamer, nightmares confuse me and on the rare event I have them -- once or twice a decade -- they freak me out a lot more. That absolute loss of control of one's subconscious mind is near unfathomable to me. I can remember being six or seven and my sister telling me about a nightmare she had and me being absolutely confused about them; the thoughts of being injured in a dream was just something that happened in movies.
Interesting .. I tend to "become" lucid in the middle of a non-lucid dream (nightmare or otherwise). Rarely will I be lucid from the get go.
So when I gain "control", the initial scenario is set. Sometimes, it's quite a fascinating "twist" on recent real-life events. Other times it's Alice and the Wonderland style craziness.
Often I think I'm in a partially Lucid dream. I know I'm dreaming, I can mostly do what I want (including completely changing the scenario) but I am also not in control of everything that happens, particularly what characters appear or what they say/do in response to me. It's a bit like living in an alternative universe.
The strangest aspect is how realistic the characters are, particularly the real-life people. I'll be talking to a friend, and get a conversation that is so like that person that I'll often forget that it was said in a dream. This has led to some strange real-life conversations, lol.
Of course, you never know how much you'd miss a thing until its gone. In this case, I didn't even know it was a thing before it started fading away.
I'd certainly let my brain be zapped to get this superpower back.