Could you soon learn new skills while you sleep? According to American scientists people can use dreaming as a tool to learn.

Researchers at Yale University found that lucid dreamers or people who have waking dreams that they can manipulate can actually train parts of their brains to open up and learn while they sleep. The researchers found that these lucid dreamers can use their dreams to learn and train new skills. The dreamers were able to perform better in gambling tasks designed to test a part of the brain that deals with emotional decision-making and social interactions.

"We know that by engaging circuits in the brain we can change its architecture," says researcher Dr Peter Morgan from the study.

The team is now taking an idea from the film "Inception" by experimenting with the idea of manipulating a sleeper's dreams and implanting new ideas. The researchers hope this method could teach the sleeper new skills and improve a person's decision-making abilities. The study is published in the journal New Scientist.

This isn't the only research in the field of lucid dreaming. Researchers from the University of Bern found similar results when their study discovered that lucid dreamers who practiced throwing a coin into a cup were better at the skill when they're awake.

The study led by Daniel Erlacher of the University of Bern, asked 20 lucid dreamers to practice throwing a coin in a cup. The seven people who dreamed about it managed to improve their coin-throwing skills. Researchers also discovered that it took longer for dreamers to perform tasks while asleep. The findings were presented at the 2010 annual conference of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity.

Lucid dreaming could have therapeutic uses. Stroke patients could practice lucid dreaming to make physical therapy easier. Erlacher believes the benefits from lucid dreaming could be a greater boon in education. Lucid dreaming provides a more realistic environment to practice skills and there is also more positive reinforcement which enhances learning.