Does that involve lucid dreaming? I rarely manage to get any conscious control when I'm dreaming but last time I did it occurred to me in the dream to question whether I was getting the full physiological benefit of sleep if I'd managed to "manually override" the process.

Yeah, lucid dreaming is the middle of the progression of the practice. The lower being regular dreams, and the higher being clear light dreams (where one resides in pure awareness). I am just a student though. The best teacher I can recommend is Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. He has a YouTube channel with a lot of free resources.

If you're advanced enough to remain aware even while sleeping you've probably already adjusted your life to be quite balanced.