Question regarding changing place of sleep.

**Jacob528491** · 08-20-2014 09:10 PM

Alright, so I recently arrived at my grandparents house as part of summer vacation (the last major event of my summer before I start my senior year of high school

). Anyway, my brother and I, due to the amount of people in the house, are sleeping on an air mattress. For the few days we have spent here so far, I have had two lucid dreaming related experiences. These have raised a question in my mind, thus this thread. Not to mention I really like posting my experiences on this site.

The first happened yesterday morning. When I "woke up", my dad walked into the room saying that it was 7:30 and we needed to get up to go eat. I was wondering why we were eating so early, and my dad mentioned something about putting our phones in a bag. I eventually drifted back into unconciousness. I'm still not sure if this was a false awakening or hypnopompic hallucination.

The second occured last night. I had a brief lucid dream in which my brother and I were running some strange store. I somehow became suspicious that it was a dream, tried pushing my finger through my hand, but it didn't work. I still managed to confirm it was a dream. I then procceeded to fight a 12 year old girl using waterbending. Pretty much sums it up.

SOOOOO, sorry about all that. So here's my question: Could the fact that I went from sleeping on my bed to sleeping on an air mattress have affected my awareness or dream activity somehow? Although, now, that I think about it, I recently started keeping a dream journal again on my iPad. That probably makes more sense. Still, I'm curious, has anyone else noticed something similar happen to them? Or am I just being silly?

**Sensei** · 08-20-2014 09:18 PM

Changing where you are sleeping is something that usually makes you sleep lighter and be more aware in dreams (I have found). Normally sleeping in a different room might not be enough, but a hotel or a grandparents house will make it this way.

**Jacob528491** · 08-20-2014 10:27 PM

Lighter sleep actually makes a lot of sense! Also, good to see that someone else has noticed this and that I'm not crazy. Thanks a ton!

**LDman** · 08-21-2014 01:54 PM

I had my first long and vivid LD when I sleeped in the tanning room of our house.

**covlad96** · 08-23-2014 12:04 AM

I just got back from a short holiday as well, I was in a caravan and my sleep was veryyyy light. It felt like I was waking up every 30 mins having a new dream. I was loving it. My brother said the same was happening to him as well. I had crazy dreams all week and it felt like my nights sleep was lasting forever, it was pretty awesome. My brother even said 'When we get back I'm going to start lucid dreaming again!'

**sleepingSYNAPSE** · 08-23-2014 03:25 AM

I have had very similar experiences, sleeping outside of my own home has allowed for LD experiences, especially first night. As mentioned above, I think (and have read elsewhere) that it is possible you are sleeping lighter. Evolutionarily, your body knows you are not in your typical environment, which means "stay aware." Since lucidity is about maintining a bit of waking consciousness in your sleep, maybe it becomes easier in these situations. Of course this would not appear to be a phenomenon--sleep elsewhere and you'll have a lucid dream. But if lucidity is on your mind, maybe this increases your chances. I know from conversation that this isn't noticable for all lucid dreamers, but it seems to be for me...
Great post!

**Lucidpants** · 08-27-2014 10:20 PM

I've experienced this also, I've just returned from 2 weeks in our caravan and I had 3 lucid dreams in that time where it's usually only about 1-2 a month. I think it's partly due to be away from the routine of work etc too so when waking up in the morning I'm more relaxed and have better dream recall too.

**iContact** · 09-01-2014 02:24 AM

Great question, and something I had been wondering myself but had never asked. I just moved into a new apartment and had an LD the second night there. A few months earlier, I went on a trip and slept on an air mattress (like OP) and had a really vivid LD that night after not having one for at least a month. Maybe it's something about air mattresses?

Good theories about awareness too - makes a lot of sense