From smart pajamas to human hibernation to dream management via lucid dreaming, The Washington Post details some advances that may change sleep as we know it.

It’s long been a staple plot device of science fiction films such as “Inception” for people to wake up and realize that they are living inside their dreams. Now that may be a possibility – as long as you don’t mind zapping your brain with a weak electrical current (40 hertz appears to work best) a few times a week. In tests performed in Germany, researchers found that delivering a low-level electrical impulse to the frontal lobe of the brain during REM sleep cycles enabled sleepers to experience “lucid dreaming” – the sensation of being an active participant in your dreams.