lucidity during school days

[DreamLord1]

I'm going back to school in 2 days, and will have to wake up at 6:30 each day. Is their any way to have good lucid dreams on school days?

[rosetoast]

You should get a really good sleeping pattern. I'm no expert but I have read that lack of sleep kills vivid and lucid dreams. Try to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night and go to bed at the same time everyday. It can be hard with studies and life going on for students to get a good sleeping pattern as they tend to cram exams/homework till the last minute. I found that most of my vivid dreams happen when I've had at least 7-8 hour of sleep. I guess it's because the longer you sleep, the longer your REM periods become, thus better dreams.

[cooleymd]

at least 7-8 hour of sleep. I guess it's because the longer you sleep, the longer your REM periods become, thus better dreams. You are also more likely to trigger for a lucid dream at the time you usually wake up, because your brain is waking up already, of course then the dream won't last much longer.

[Eveningsky]

The hardest part of lucid dreaming during the school year, at least for me, is actually getting the 7-8 hours of sleep. I'm in college though, plus working part-time, and the computer science department keeps trying to weed out their students. It's rather annoying. Last winter semester, a night in which I slept 6 or 7 hours was blissful nirvana. I usually slept 4-5 hours and I do not want to do that again. Sufficient sleep usually only happened on weekends. I was a zombie... If you can, try to get to bed early. Sleeping in at least one day a week, if possible, helps too. Usually Saturday or Sunday works best for me. The whole idea is that your brain will be more conscious than it normally is during those extra hours, because it's used to being awake at that time. So you'll be more likely to have lucid dreams, at least on the weekends. Make sure you go to bed at around the same time, though. I think the hardest part is just getting enough sleep. And don't forget to do reality checks. And write notes from your dreams even if you're exhausted! Aside from that, I figure it's pretty much what you would do normally for lucid dreams.

[Chewnie91]

Hello, DreamLord1! I too had run into this problem when I was learning about lucid dreams! There was an old thread on here about performing LD's during naps. If you are not getting much sleep as a result of your school schedule, it doesn't necessarily kill your chances of having a lucid. I did many experiments with lucid dreams during brief periods of sleep, and found that you can be just as likely to have a lucid during a nap. The reasoning behind this goes as follows. If the mind is deprived of a full nights sleep, you will be tired and sluggish the next day, and also more likely to fall asleep quickly. When you are sleep deprived, I've found that the mind actually enters REM sleep much faster than a well rested mind. I attribute this to the mind attempting to take advantage of the nap to catch up on the restorative sleep it would have normally gotten during a good nights sleep. This is how power naps work. Of course, the success of this technique is highly dependent upon how much sleep you got the night before. So, if you find yourself missing out on your regular sleep hours, perhaps you should try a power nap or two during the day to see if you have any luck!

[DreamLord1]

thanks, chewmie91! I've recently succeeded with WILD, after 2 years of unsuccessful attempts. read about in my DJ!