What I've found out is that lucidity is best achieved during the final hours prior to you waking up for good. At first I thought it had to do only with the fact that REM sleep stages get longer the more you advance throughout the night. Now, I believe our state of mind is the other big factor to keep in mind. This more than likely has to do with an increase in awareness the closer we are to a full night of sleep. You could also suggest there's an increase in motivation, that it leads to a proper WBTB, a more efficient practice.
From little that I know (this is all my opinion anyway), whenever I feel the most tired I notice I have a hard time either:
- Remembering my dreams
- Retaining presence in my dreams
- Attaining lucidity in my dreams
I can barely remember fragments of dreams I know were longer, or I breeze through the practice superficially during WBTBs like these. Basically, it is in these moments that I only want to go back to bed, period.
On the contrary, the nights I've woken up from a WBTB feeling well rested are ones in which the opposite happens:
- I can remember long dreams, maybe even vivid ones.
- I retain greater presence in the dreams I remember, giving me a better opportunity to induce lucidity.
- I can prepare more before hand, and I know the practice I do during the WBTB period is put to good use. Yes, this can happen even if you wake up during the very early hours of the night (3-5 am in my case, though I'm sort of a night owl, yours might be earlier).
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make, is that we should work on playing the game smartly, know what I mean? At least, this is how I organize my nights. If I wake up from the WBTB grumpily, frustrated, excessively tired, then by all means I turn around and get some sleep! If I wake up at 4:30 am feeling pretty good, even if I slept only a couple of hours at most, then sure, go for it, practice for a bit and see if you can get lucid the next time you're dreaming. And even if I fail at these very early WBTBs, I know the real game lies in the last two hours of my sleep. That's when it really matters, what you do, so I'm left unworried. You could say these are the hours we should really tackle, not the very early ones (though I do love me some lucid dreaming if it happens earlier)! This is, of course, all based on what I've seen.
Also, if you feel the need to take a day off, go and take some overdue rest, however you may need. I see this hobby a lot like doing exercise, you know. Muscles are only going to get stronger if you let them rest, and so does the mind. I take a day off or two every week, and it's the most relaxing thing one could do. No pressure, just enjoy. And you know what, you come back all the better.
Just my two cents Tiktaalik, good night.
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