An obvious yet critical tip.

Hey guys, I'm by no means a pro lucid dreamer, as I work all the time and can't pour in as much practice as I'd like, but I realised something. If you're anything like me you're the kind of person that can quite happily stay up really late into the night and get up early in the morning. You may also not have the time for mid day naps. I found myself getting frustrated after maybe a year of lucid training to have only had 1 fairly feasable lucid. But I had a light bulb moment. Sleep. Sleep is clearly the key and I don't get enough sleep as it is. So if you're trying to lucid and failing as often as me, and you're the kind of person that stays up late and doesn't like sleeping in, then I'd advise going to bed early. The more sleep you have, the more likely you are to have a lucid. Pretty simple. I was under the illusion that I could go on trying to get lucid off only 5 or 6 hrs sleep per night. I decided to go to bed early one night recently (usual bed time is around 1:30/2:00am) so I went to bed at 10pm. Low and behold, without really trying, I had 3 very long dreams, one of which I became lucid in. Again, I'm no expert, but if your failing a lot, or finding you're not dreaming at all, go to bed what seems too early, then even when you wake up early you can snooze and that's the time you're most likely to dream anyhow so yeah. That's all I wanted to say really. Little hint for the other noobs like me. hope this helps someone, as it took me a year to notice this.

The first book I read on lucid dreaming 23 years ago also said to go to bed early. I had my first lucid dream the same night that I read that small, short book. It was another two years before I had my second lucid dream with that book's instructions. I agree it helps at times to boost dream vividness and possible lucidity.

I have been testing a new method to induce lucidity for a month now and the results have been very good and I am in the process of writing a comprehensive tutuorial. To describe it personally my experimental method is like MILD on steroids...

I agree. But when I sleep for 8 or 9 hours without any dream recalled, I can't help but wonder. ._.

Nice post. Dreams intensify as the sleep cycle progresses. The most vivid REM dreams are usually after 5 or 6 hours of sleep.

Yes, this is a very important tip to take note of. Although the amount of sleep you get doesn't necessarily affect your ability to lucid dream (unless you get no sleep), it does increase affect your odds. Each dream is a chance to become lucid after all.

Good tip - during the school year I'd get only 4-5 hours of sleep yet try WILDs at the same time and convince myself it'd work - just like you.
Planning ahead and making sure you get 7+ hours is probably the first thing to be done before trying anything funky or just giving up.

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Originally Posted by mcwillis

The first book I read on lucid dreaming 23 years ago also said to go to bed early. I had my first lucid dream the same night that I read that small, short book. It was another two years before I had my second lucid dream with that book's instructions. I agree it helps at times to boost dream vividness and possible lucidity.

I have been testing a new method to induce lucidity for a month now and the results have been very good and I am in the process of writing a comprehensive tutuorial. To describe it personally my experimental method is like MILD on steroids...

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Can't wait to see your method...

I also feel that the pressure of successfully entering a dream lucid is damaging for me. The night I recently went lucid, I simply thought about being lucid and then thought even if I don't, it doesn't matter. I wasn't psyching myself up for it. I've not managed to recall a super realistic dream yet though. Although one of the 3 dreams I had that night was very long and fairly realistic to an extent. The surroundings were realistic but the story was surreal. My current lucid goal is to just stop and survey the dream world. To just look at it. What I noticed from that dream was that some things you look at are like a visual feeling. For example I was trying to look at what I can only assume was graffiti and I knew it was depicting a female and that she was wearing a red top, but I couldn't really see it. I felt that I knew what it was without 100% visual clarity.

When I wake up after a dream during the night to record it in my dream journal I always make a note of how many hours into sleep it occurred. Every time I've noted a lucid dream it's typically been after 7+ hours of sleep. Getting enough sleep is very essential for lucid dreaming in my opinion.

I've also noted this. Whenever I don't get enough sleep or go to bed REALLY tired, I can't remember my dreams at all!

My body came built in with an alarm that wakes me up really early every day so I can't help but not sleep in.
I usually have to make up for it with an afternoon nap.

Does anyone here have successful LDs with a 5~4 hour sleep + afternoon nap schedule?

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Originally Posted by skuthepoo

Sleep. Sleep is clearly the key

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Oh, so wait... run that by me again... in order to have dreams, I need to sleep, is that what you're saying? I didn't quite catch what you were saying :DDD

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Originally Posted by mcwillis

The first book I read on lucid dreaming 23 years ago also said to go to bed early. I had my first lucid dream the same night that I read that small, short book. It was another two years before I had my second lucid dream with that book's instructions. I agree it helps at times to boost dream vividness and possible lucidity.

I have been testing a new method to induce lucidity for a month now and the results have been very good and I am in the process of writing a comprehensive tutuorial. To describe it personally my experimental method is like MILD on steroids...

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so how long til you completed this tutorial?!?!?!

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Originally Posted by TheModernNinja

Can't wait to see your method...

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Thanks. I am typing it up at the moment. It is quite long and as I am working two jobs at the moment as well as a bunch of other commitments it will be coming soon :)

Sweet.