Thread: Napping - consistent yet frustrating results. Advice please

Hey guys,

Recently I've been having a bit of a dry spell in terms of "decent" LDs. I say "decent" because over the past couple of weeks I've been lucky enough to have time to take late morning naps where I've been attempting WILDs, but instead, I've fallen asleep and become lucid for about 2 seconds before waking up! If this had happened once or twice I'd think nothing of it, but it has happened with literally without fail for the past about 8 naps.

I feel like I'm squandering a really successful technique by perhaps doing something wrong, though I have no idea what. I'm not a noob, though maintaining a dream once becoming lucid has been an issue in the past.

The naps only last between 10 and 25 mins (basically power-naps). One of my theories as to why this is happening is because I've had enough sleep at night, so the nap is such light sleep becoming lucid just tips me over to the waking world.

Has anyone experienced this / have any advice for me being able to maintain lucidity in these situations? I just feel like if I can tweak these experiences slightly I can have a successful LD during pretty much all my naps.

Thanks in advance,

Lucas

Well if you're so fond at napping, this may be the key for you. Though when following polyphasic sleeping, your naps have to follow a pattern otherwise you're just having a sloppy nap. Hope that helps.

Maybe you're simply napping at the wrong time? REM periods are best when you nap 5-6 hours after waking up in the morning; saying this, you might be becoming lucid right at the end of the dream(s). You could try a mild REM rebound by waking up a bit earlier than you usually do, then go to bed 5-6 hours after the time you normally wake up.

Yeah, I have my best results with WILD during naps when I'm somewhat sleep/REM deprived (5 hours or less the night before) but I wouldn't necessarily wait 5-6 hours to nap again (unless Puffin can show where she got that bit of info). Just give it a shot again after doing some stuff when you're feeling tired again.

Conversely, days where I got in my full 8-10 hours I find nearly impossible to get a productive nap from.

Cheers guys. I think it may be that I'm just becoming lucid near the end of the dream, or the fact that it's not a great time for REM sleep.

Hmmm.. well I'm ususally getting about 7-8 hours at night, then napping for 20 mins or so maybe 2 or 3 hours later. I'll definitely mix it up a bit and see what happens. I'll try both getting less sleep, and napping later. I'll update when I've given them both a try.

Thanks again.

The thing about napping is you don't want to fall asleep in the sense that your mind becomes unconscious. You want to trick your body into falling asleep, not your mind? Have you been doing that on accident? I am talking more about WBTB though. For me it has also worked in WILD attempts. Most of the time I would just be aware that I am dreaming then become lucid. Try going a couple of days without napping, then fall asleep regularly, but wake up an hour to hour and a half, before you would wake. Then take a nap later in the afternoon. Your body's sleeping schedule might be weird, kinda like mine.