I agree with Nfri that, for many of us (and especially those of us new to awareness during sleep) NREM certainly can feel like a barrier--especially when we are balancing on that edge between wakefulness and sleep, want to WILD, but just feel unconsciousness tugging at us. Very frustrating.

On the other hand, I also agree with Sageous that NREM does not have to be a barrier. Enough evidence (although, like Sageous says, anecdotal) abounds that NREM is a state of conscious awareness very similar to other forms of conscious awareness--waking awareness, meditative awareness, etc. Thoughts certainly arise and there is certainly a sense of self.

I think it comes down to a matter of practice in entering the dream state lucidly, and of course natural propensity--some people will end up working harder for the same results.

What is so exciting about this thread is that Nfri is perhaps in the stages of developing a method of thinning out NREM in the latter parts of the sleep block for the benefit of practitioners who are having trouble with lucid dreaming in general.

Nfri, you seem like you are on to something I would be very interested to see what your REM graph looks like on a night when you have taken melatonin, and on a night when you have taken Galantamine. Keep us updated!