Thread: how do i stay conscious for wbtb wild. im too tired

would drinking a cup of coffee before doing WBTB WILD let me stay concious enough to stick with it without not being able to sleep. i have failed every day for weeks now. i keep falling asleep. never used to happen. all i remember now is im trying wild, then i wake up having recalled a long vivid dream. then im pissed. then i try it again. more pissedness. did anyone else have this problem

Well, I can assure you that a cup of coffee will make you less sleepy. As you already said, try to drink a cup on the beginning of your WBTB so the effects wear out a bit. Atleast, that's what I'd try.

I read somewhere that eating an apple in the moring is more effective at waking people up than drinking coffee.

The problem is drinking too much coffee or cola (with caffeine) tends to keep me too awake and I can't fall back asleep for hours. There is a fine line between too much and too little.. I find that just a half a cup or a few gulps of caffeine is enough.

For me the hardest part of WILDING is keeping my mind occupied on things that won't keep me wide awake (worries, projects, etc.) but on things not so boring that I fall asleep!

To help keep your mind on mundane things instead of things that will keep you awake.. try counting "1-I'm dreaming, 2-I'm dreaming, etc." or use what I call the alphabet method. I'll think of the letter "a", then picture my picking an apple from a tree (or simply picture an apple), think of the letter "b", then picture a balloon floating on the wind (or simply picture a balloon), etc. until "z" and then start at "a" again picturing something different.

I think it's ok if your mind wanders as long as every so often you bring it back to lucid dreaming (i.e., ask if you are dreaming or state "I am dreaming.. this is all a dream").

you could drink anythin with caffiene, but you have to be careful in the amount you take because too much would mean you wouldnt sleep.

I would suggest sleeping in an uncomfortable position. For example, I sleep on my stomach, but if i sleep on my back, then it takes me longer to go to sleep and it keeps my mind awake.

The problem with drinking something to try to stay awake is that what goes in is going to need to come back out, which can really disturb your concentration if you are having to get up every hour to relieve yourself. For this reason something like a chocolate bar with a lot of caffein in it might be better to help in staying awake to experience a WILD since you won't need to be getting up every hour after eating a chocolate bar.

Most WILD's that I have experienced have occurred after laying in bed awake for over an hour, although some have occurred right after waking up in the morning while staying still and waiting to try to remember a dream, so you never know when one may occur.

Another technique for staying awake is to listen to something that keeps you from relaxing completely. I have two such commercial CD's on lucid dreaming, both of which raise my awareness a little too much and keep me awake half the night, not a good thing when I have to get up very early in the morning to go to work. To counteract this effect I am experimenting with just playing soft music to put me asleep, and then having the CD's come on after an hour to give me suggestions. At least I get to go to sleep this way before them and the flashing lights from my Brainwave Generator wake me up. I'm still working on fine tuning these.

One other thing that might work to help in staying awake is vitamins, but you would want to check out possible side effects before taking taking too many vitamins. I've found that taking a B-100 before going to bed, which is an awful big dose containing 100mg of all of the B vitamins will tend to keep me awake, and if I add a 400 mg E vitamin to that, it is close to impossible to go to sleep. Consider the possible side effect though before taking too many vitamins.

Good luck in your efforts to experience a WILD.

thanks for the advice guys. just this morning i had an FA i guess u could call it. another dream in which i was in my "bathroom" peeing. for a really long time. i got it all over the wall and shit haha. the other day i peed 3 times in the same dream and filled up the toilet the whole way. luckily i was dry when i woke up

in the dream this morning. i found a kit kat bar in the bathroom and was going to eat it so i could try my wild..... hmmmmmmm but then i really woke up and i was like "oh shit i dont have a kit kat bar." but yeah i tried wild again and counted to maybe 80 but i lost it. not sure why its so hard for me now. i think i just get too impatient if it doesnt start in 10 minutes or something.

when do you set your alarm? how much sleep do you get?

around 6.5 hours works for me.

Originally posted by voidofform
when do you set your alarm? how much sleep do you get?

around 6.5 hours works for me.

latley ive been setting my alarm 4 hours after sleep. in the past wild has worked for me when ive set it after 6 hours, stay up 90 minutes and do it. you know thanks for the reminder. i should just go to sleep earlier and wake after 6 hours and give myself enough time to do it. do u find it hard to do if u sleep under 5 hours? thats gotta be what im doing wrong

i tried all manner of times ranging from 3pm onwards. if it was too early i just went back to sleep as if i never woke at all. too late and i was too awake.

90 minutes awake sounds like alot. have you tried varying that? i've found 20 minutes is about right for me. any longer and i wake up too much.

i think its a bit of a balancing act, what i aim for is just to be able to drift without going back to sleep immediately, the same sort of feeling as an afternoon nap (which a few people here have great success with).