WBTB versus micro-WBTB

[Ctharlhie]

^ As per title. Although it wasn't known as WBTB at this point, in ETWOLD Laberge advocated staying awake for up to 1-2 hours 1 hour before you would usually get up in the morning. Now a WBTB is more modestly considered anything from 2-90 minutes long. Sensei had great success fairly early in his LDing career by having many "micro"-awakenings during the night. Also, waking after each REM period is associated with greater recall, possibility of DEILD etc. I had always found that lucidity correlates with length of WBTB period. But the last couple of nights I've been having "micro" WBTBs (auto-shutoff alarm, roll over, MILD) with greatly increased recall and lucidity. So, what do you guys find more effective? One long period of wakefulness mid-sleep, or many short interruptions?

[Kuyarei]

Generally, i think that it depends on the person. Some people can instantly go back to bed and still have an LD which i suppose depends on how mentally aware you can be in such a short duration of time right after awakening. More likely than not, i wake up by my alarm and go to sleep without having any mental clarity of what i am even doing. The reliable thing about these micro WBTBs is that if you can easily fall back asleep, then you can probably slip some awareness into your dreams or incubate the next dream you will have. In my case, i usually enter a false awakening when the micro WBTB works in my favor, and then by an FA i have a reliably high chance of being lucid. At the end of the day, this is not more than an observation of mine which i attempted to logically figure out the cause of. Noting that almost 70% of my total LDs were caused spontaneously after a WBTB, and that around an estimation of 60% of said LDs started in my room.. The very same pattern that repeats itself for me.

[snoop]

I agree with Assassin, it depends on the person. I have trouble getting to sleep in the first place (I did especially back when I was actively LDing, though that's just a coincidence and the reason is wholly separate from LDing), but when I wake up in the middle of the night, it's pretty easy to get back to sleep so long as I don't do anything too physical (nothing more than getting up to go to the bathroom with the possibility of going upstairs to get a drink), and I don't start thinking too much about any one thing (leads to long strings of thought that tangentially break off from each other at times but otherwise are ultimately the result of some interesting thought that acts like a catalyst, at this point it's very difficult to quiet my mind and I'm very much awake), and most importantly that I don't stay up any longer than 5-10 minutes... 5 minutes being the preferred maximum time of being awake. I've actually only tried WBTBs that have had me awake for more than 15 minutes a handful of times out of many, many attempts. I suppose you could say, then, that I exclusively micro-WBTB. The reason this works for me aside from the most important step of a WBTB/WILD being actually falling back to sleep is that the speed with which I fall back to sleep can be very helpful. It's a bit of a double-edged sword, but after getting enough experience I finally got a feel for what I should do and it's helped more than hurt. I naturally wake up 2-5 times a night anyway, so as long as I remember to actually try LDing (which wasn't hard back then, it's almost all I thought about, and if I missed a chance I still had at least one or two more that night), I have a decent chance at success. Of course, even that doesn't change the fact that I may just fall back to sleep almost instantaneously upon waking up. The absolute best case scenario is the very rare times I wake up without even opening my eyes or moving a muscle (I can do this pretty easily when I DEILD, but I'm always exiting a dream I was already lucid in when that happens). If I just lie there and keep my thoughts blank and feel hazily relaxed, my body (for a lack of a better way of putting it) goes back to sleep within seconds, without enough time for me to actually lose consciousness. Either I go straight into a dream from there or stay conscious through REM Atonia, which isn't an issue since I somehow got lucky enough finding a technique that works for me that allows a near perfect success rate of transitioning into a dream from REM Atonia.

[Sensei]

I personally recommend a bunch of micro-wbtbs and one long wbtb (15 minutes). As far as the "what if I can't get back to sleep?" then you stayed up too long. I usually wake up, do a little DJ, and then back to sleep quickly except after the 6 hour mark, I usually get up, reread all the entries, do some meditation, and then back to sleep. I would say that this also depends on how tired I am. I don't say "I am going to stay up 5 minutes" or "I am going to stay awake for 15 minutes". I wait until I hit the balance of awake-asleep that is right for LDing! Mainly posting to see the other responses here.

[Rothgar]

I use the 5 minute micro-WBTBs mostly..since my sleep is important and staying up for a long WBTB isnt practical...I have to work in the morning.But sometimes I cant fall asleep after even a short one, and it may be an hour (unplanned) laying in bed. I have also awakened briefly without even getting up...just rolling over. All three methods have yielded LDs, as well as having some LDs even before I normally wake up after 5 hrs (for a bathroom break...a timing I have fortunately nurtured and is now very consistent). The point is, find what timing works best for you. I think any WBTB duration can be successful. Your "intent" probably has as much influence as the WBTB on producing LDs.

[VagalTone]

Hi ! I prefer multiple short ones( usually while writing on DJ) so as to increase wakefulness before each sleep cycle. I have also had a good experience with auto-snooze alarms. That said, it is also known that before the advent of artificial light, we used to sleep in two periods (byphasic sleep) separated by many hours of interval (long WBTB's), used with daily life activities. Biphasic sleep ( = long WBTB) plus alarm autosnooze is a powerful combination