Thread: Should you practice WBTB every day ?

I have never heard anything about the brain getting used to it. I drink lots of fluids; I wake up at night frequently to eliminate it. I am also good at falling back into sleep. Why not try to WILD every time you awaken later in the night. If trying to WILD is keeping you awake you probably need to work on relaxation methods and anchors so you fall asleep fairly easy. I would say to use WBTB as often as you want, but if your WILD attempts keep you awake work on the sleeping bit and only do it as much as you can spare the lost sleep.

I don't think it matters because it's more about your brain being "more awake" during sleep cycles with longer REM periods. If your brain "gets used to it", that's a good thing, it means you're setting a natural schedule for WBTBs. Your brain will still be more active due to the WBTB.

I think my problem is that i never remember my awakenings during the night . I have tried drinking a lot of water before going to bed but it doesn't seem to wake me up . short WBTBs don't work for me eighter in getting Lucidity , these days I am going for a full hour of WBTB .

Thanks for the answer tho

Consider me a naysayer on the subject. Sufficient sleep is required for both mental and physical well being. By interrupting that sleep regularly, one risks succumbing to ailments, not to mention developing insomnia. In other words, consider how often you do so with great care. I'd take the suggestion of max two intentional WBTBs spread out in a week, and only after feeling well rested.

I think it depends on your definition of a WBTB and the reason for doing it.

Definition
Do micro-WBTBs count? Even if you don't get out of the bed at all? Toilet breaks? Natural awakenings?

Reason
Micro-WBTBs, quick journaling only (keywords), or reminding yourself of your intention - I think these can be done every night or even multiple times per night.
A short WBTB (5-10 minutes) after a natural awakening, for MILD or SSILD or a similar technique - here the point is to gather enough awareness to be able to do the technique. I think this can be done daily too.
A medium-long WBTB (20-30 minutes) for whatever reason, mostly as above but gathering more awareness - only if you can sleep for longer. It would be a too significant sleep loss otherwise.
A long WBTB where the primary intention is sleep disruption - it shouldn't be done too often.

If you do WBTB every day around the same time, the body adapts and the sleep architecture changes around that. This is absolutely true. But for most techniques, it doesn't matter. For example, biphasic sleep could work well for lucidity, even though the body is used to it.

One thing to watch for (that happened to me but lucid dreaming is only a part of it) is if you disrupt your sleep in the morning hours too often too much, the brain learns this and will start to take longer REM periods at the beginning of the night and shorter ones in the morning. But this could be just REM rebound rather than a long-term thing - if you disrupt your morning sleep so much that you get less REM than you would get normally, the early REM periods the next night will be longer - and if it is everyday thing, it becomes a pattern.

Thanks a lot for the nuanced answer , I personally only use long WBTBs so I guess I shouldn't be overusing them

Originally Posted by IndigoRose

I think it depends on your definition of a WBTB and the reason for doing it.

Definition
Do micro-WBTBs count? Even if you don't get out of the bed at all? Toilet breaks? Natural awakenings?

Reason
Micro-WBTBs, quick journaling only (keywords), or reminding yourself of your intention - I think these can be done every night or even multiple times per night.
A short WBTB (5-10 minutes) after a natural awakening, for MILD or SSILD or a similar technique - here the point is to gather enough awareness to be able to do the technique. I think this can be done daily too.
A medium-long WBTB (20-30 minutes) for whatever reason, mostly as above but gathering more awareness - only if you can sleep for longer. It would be a too significant sleep loss otherwise.
A long WBTB where the primary intention is sleep disruption - it shouldn't be done too often.

If you do WBTB every day around the same time, the body adapts and the sleep architecture changes around that. This is absolutely true. But for most techniques, it doesn't matter. For example, biphasic sleep could work well for lucidity, even though the body is used to it.

One thing to watch for (that happened to me but lucid dreaming is only a part of it) is if you disrupt your sleep in the morning hours too often too much, the brain learns this and will start to take longer REM periods at the beginning of the night and shorter ones in the morning. But this could be just REM rebound rather than a long-term thing - if you disrupt your morning sleep so much that you get less REM than you would get normally, the early REM periods the next night will be longer - and if it is everyday thing, it becomes a pattern.

Yeah, this is my understanding as well. I believe Daniel Love said similar in one of his videos and mentioned brief, natural awakenings in the night are fine. The problem occurs when you disrupt your cycle with an alarm or spend a long period of time awake with insufficient sleep afterwards. I think this is what the traditional outline of a WBTB suggests you do which is why it’s recommended to only do it once or twice a week.

I tend to do one or two micro-WBTBs every night during natural awakenings and I wouldn’t say it’s negatively affected my sleep though it certainly does if the awakening leads to long spells of insomnia. I sometimes do longer WBTBs on weekends when I can sleep in longer but I always make sure I’m getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night and have at least one night a week where I don’t disrupt my sleep at all.