Quote Originally Posted by agent509 View Post
on the subject of WBTB, how long should I stay up before going back to bed? and what should I do while up?
How long you need to sleep for WBTB is different for everyone. A good place to start is to set your alarm for 5 and 1/2 hours from when you go to bed (the 30 minutes is included as the time to fall asleep). However, the trick is to wake up just before an REM cycle, or in an REM cycle. You'll need to experiment to see whats a good time for you! If you wake up out of a dream, you were in an REM cycle. There is information on the internet about average cycle times for different ages, you could also look at that too.

While awake, you want to get your critical faculty working. I personally play sudoku on my ipod touch (btw its a million times harder this tired haha) because I find it really makes me analyze and think. One time I got up and studied statistics for an hour before going back to sleep lol!

Just don't do any 'mind melting' activities, like watching tv. You want to be thinking and using your brain!

It has been said that staying awake for an hour is optimal for lucid dreaming, but it varies person to person. Personally, thats too long for me as I already have trouble falling back to sleep. I usually stay awake until the groggy mind feel leaves, but my body still feels like a drag.

Hope this helps!