Thread: Alternative to REM goggles

A couple of days ago I've done the following experiment: I took my cellphone, disabled sound and vibration, and set a timer to activate in 5 hours right before I got to bed. The idea is that the light of the cellphone will flash when the timer reaches zero, which would hopefully coincide with my REM period and help me attain lucidity. Sound and vibration were obviously turned off to prevent me from waking up. I've put the cellphone on a chair next to my bed at approximately my eye level. The disadvantage is that I may be lying with my back to the cellphone when it's set off (I turn around a lot), but since I always close my window and generally like to sleep in complete darkness, it's more or less guaranteed that at least some light would reach my eyes during sleep. So it's basically an alternative for people like me who don't have the money, the credit card and/or the will to order or buy NovaDream or whatever those goggle things are called via the internet.

The results - I had a false awakening, saw the cellphone flashing, and thought the light woke me up. And the weird thing is that a friend of mine was there in the room with me. If I haven't been so stupid and done a reality check, I would've become lucid immediately. The moral of the story - practicing reality checks helps. I think I'll give it a second try tonight.

Thoughts?