Temperature!

So Lucid Dreaming is all about being relaxed and tranced out enough to fall asleep easily, yet at the same time being not TOO tranced out so you'll Crash into a Deep sleep unconciously.

Have you people ever noticed how, on a COLD freezing winter day, you are SUPER aware and much more alert? And how a very Sunny hot Summer day can make you really ''woozy'', trancy and sleepy?

Appearantly Temperature has a great Influence on our level of Conciousness.

So here's the plan:
Try doodeling around with your BedRoom's temperature: Too Cold and it'll keep you from sleep, too warm and it'll make you Plummit into sleep real fast and Unconcious.
So what about finding JUST the right temperature in which you can fall asleep quite easily and fast, yet still allows you to stay somewhat concious during the process of falling asleep and the sleep itself?

To state it simply:
Cold = Waking
Warm = Sleeping
Lucid Dreaming = ''Sleeping while somewhat Awake''
What if you can create a Temperature warm enough to fall asleep fast and easily, yet still Cold to keep you alert? A Lucid Room Temperature in the room you sleep in.

Perhaps people who have a fine-tunable room-heating system can experiment night after night with different Temperatures (Preferably those with a temperature-tuner panel connected to a floorheating)
Starting with a very Warm Bedroom Temperature to sleep in.
Next night turn the heating down by one degree.
Next night turn it down by one degree again....etc

I guess this would work best in wintertime or cold countries.

I want to experiment with this. Let me know what type of Heating/Temperature regulator you'll be using. It doesn't per sé need to be a heating, allthough that would make for much more acurate results. If you can Regulate the Temperature of your bed in some other way that'd be fine too. in Case TILD doesn't exist yet and this would turn out to work for some people in Inducing Highly Concious Lucid dreams I reserve the name TILD (Temperature Induction of Lucid Dreams) :P

Anyone in for this experiment?

I have always thought about it the other way:

Cold = long deep sleeps (hibernation in many animals)
Summer = short light sleeps


I'm interested in hearing the results of anyone who tries this though.

id definately have to agree with anonymous coward on this one...

well yeah COLD is a discomfort. Discomfort keeps one from sleep. But just a little cold could deliver only slight Discomfort. Taking a Warm shower makes you really drowsy, relaxed and sleepy. Taking a Cold shower makes you very alert and awake.

So maybe we could try taking different temperature showers right before sleep might do this trick as well.

And if Warmth works better for you to have lighter sleep. well then just use this technique in the opposite way. People differ.

I think temperature Do indeed effect one's ability to LD. This are a few things I know/heard:

In the winter people LD more.
With more clothes on while sleeping people LD more.

ok that is about it actually :) but those 2 things allready make it quite logical that LDs are more likely to happen when it's colder. Like when your skin is stimulated, like by clothes or cold (that allso isn't constant if you are under a blanket, ) your mind stays a bit more alert or something.

And when I was at wintersports-holiday I had 2 LD's in the 2 days I was there (then we had to leave or get snowed in, lol).

I duno if temperature affects my sleep that much I have had long sleep in cold and warm temperatures. :|

Interesting topic. I find that I cannot sleep at all when the ambient temperature is above 77 degrees. My preferred temperature for sleep ( and really just in general) is between 68-70 degrees. I have slept in environments as cold as 60. I find it much easier to ignore the cold while trying to sleep than I do the hot.

During REM sleep the body's temperature mechanism shut down. When external temperature is too high, the body prevents the brain from overheating by reeducing REM sleep. The best thing you can do is to keep your feet warm and your head cool.

it varies for everyone.
i can't fall sleep if i'm hot or warm. i need to be a little cold

I personally can't sleep well if its hot. I sleep much better if it's freezing cold, but I'm under my blanket.

I think it might just be that I live in California though. I get sick of the heat. I used to live more east, which was colder and snowed alot. I think it might just be due to taste in a the tempature.

But I think if each individual could find their own personal tempature, then this would be a good technique.

hmm so an overheated body during sleep causes the REM-sleep to reduce? So I guess sleeping in a slightly colder temperature than normal roomtemperature (20'Celcius) could possibly ''Optimize'' and Potentiate longer REM-sleep cycles? If so than that should result in wilder, longer and more vivid dreams. Something worth to try? Anyone?

Also I noticed what an Incredible Impact the seasons have on people's mood. Might have something to do with the Lightlevels differing and people's overal Serotonine (''Happy-Hormone'') Production in the Brain.
Noticed how waaaaay happy people are on a Sunny day? Everyone's outside in the warmth of the bright sun, being much more social, people give more parties and go and have more fun in the summer Sunlight. In the Winter it's Cold so everyone kind off Isolate themselves in their warm homes, are kinda grumpy and defenitly NOT as euphorically happy as in Summer time, The dark skies full of rainclouds.

I mean... How many of you can agree with me that a Sunny summerday can just be completely euphoric and magical and feeling almost dreamlike? And how those angry rainclouded skies can piss you off, the Summer-sunlight deprivation and the Cold makes you more sober and less Emotionally moved as in Summer.
Feelings in summertime are just much more intense usually.

It all has a Huuuuuge impact on our Moods,doesn't it? So I guess it would be a good experiment to try and doodle around by Recreating Summer and Winter-Conditions in our Bedrooms.

Summer is mainly:
High Bright Light level
Warmth

Winter is Mainly:
Low Colorless Light Level
Cold
The Warmth of your double blankets


If some people could Recreate Summertime Conditions: Simply by sleeping with a medium-bright light on and in a roomtemperature somewhere around 25*Celcius, while some Others try and recreate winter conditions ( Just let your bedroom window open some 2 hours before going to bed, or use an Airconditioner to Fill your bedroom with Cold Air. Perhaps cooling it down to something like 17*degrees Celcius
and if we carefully write down, Post and List the Results here we might find out wether sleeping in One of these 2 Conditions mght be more desirable for more Lucid and Vivid Dreams.

It sounds like a good idea, but I'd rather wait till someone else does it so I see more definate results. I can't sleep in the cold! I might try if it reaches success with others.

I agree with you on weather and moods too, however with me, rainy days make me think more about the world and its nature, rather than feel grumpy...

I sleep half wet fro mthe shower with the fan on all year lol is that bad?

this has already been done, its called seasonal depression. strangely enough, hamsters experience it.

so thats why teachers make it way cold in the room when u are taking a test! they dont want u falling asleep

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Originally Posted by freefire

so thats why teachers make it way cold in the room when u are taking a test! they dont want u falling asleep
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Yeah today I kind of did such a sleep-experment:
I fell asleep in my Atellier room after dinner time at around 7 o' clock on a matras without any covers, sheets or pillows. The window in that room had been open all day and I left it open while I fell asleep there.
There was still some indirect daylight comming into the room through the windows and since the first Autumns-Cold is kind of back in the air already my room was kind of chilly yet just warm enough to sleep comfortably in: Kind of fresh yet still comfortable. I remember having had very long and vivid dreams in a steady light sleep untill I woke up some 2 hours later. I also remember having reached very deep states prior to sleep; feeling intense hypnagogic falling sensations and seeing very realistic immersive Hypnagogic Images: Mainly illuminated screens full of random texts that popped forward in my face and the Bright white lught again. I managed to maintain VERY conscious during these eep hypnagogic states. Overal my Dreams were VERY vivid, near feverish/psychedelic and I woke up slowly and I'm still very dreamy-minded. Like a magical dream.

I'm going to try this again for sure:
Taking a Powernap some hour after I had Dinner in my Moderately-Cold and moderately Light atelier room with Minimum comfort when I'm most tired ( Minimum Comfort: No pillows, sheets covers or anything )

Does anyone else want to try this with me? Maybe if we do this together we can see if there perhaps may be a consistent patttern in the Results of each of us who experiment.

The Conditions are:
Take a Power Nap when being tired enough to sleep some hour after dinnertime in a room with minimum comfort ( Matras without covers, sheets or pillows ) and where a window had been open all day so the Temperature is slightly cold and fresh yet Warm and Comfortable enough to fall asleep in without hinder.
The cold in the air needs to be Just present enough to be sensed obviously by the skin, but not in a too bothering way. There should be moderate daylightin your room; daylight of some 3/4 hours before sundown. So leave the curtains and teh window open while you sleep there.

Anyone in for this experiment to find out if results from these conditions may deliver consistent results or not?

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Originally Posted by Neil

I sleep half wet fro mthe shower with the fan on all year lol is that bad?
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haha thats just funny

i ussually take cayanne hot pepper at meals for weight loss reasons. its in pill form so it dosnt burn or anything going down and it heats you up a lot so im gonna try taking one tonight before bed and see what happens. ill report back tommarow.

Sleeping half wet from the shower is bad for your health.

About that experiment SKA, I'm going to try it. I'm going to go for it - results will be in soon, I think you convinced me!

I've been finding it very hard to sustain sleep in the warming season of spring anyway, so...

I fell asleep around 01:30 last night and woke up with fragmented memory of my dreams. Bad Recall this morning. But then again I thought it might be TOO cold outside so I left my window closed.I also took melatonin, but it didn't seem to significantly affect my dreams or sleep. I woke up well rested and happy :)

Tonight I'll make sure my window's been open all day and that there's a nightly cold in my Room till the next morning

I'll go to bed before midnight.

If find it much easier to sleep if I am cold. Then I can cuddle under blankets. If I get hot I sleep on the floor with the fan on (I am weird that way)


I have more lucids when sleeping on the floor though.


How I Best Sleep

Cold- With many warm fuzzy Blankets
Warm- On floor with fan on (Pillow and think blanket included)

These usually give me more vivid dreams, and more Lucids

When winter starts my room can either be very cold or very warm (student house heating...) I can then check what works better for me. Right now, it's always the same though (around 22'C) whether I keep my window open or not...
So this experiment will have to wait for me, but I'm quite interested.

i took the caynne right before bed and it seemed to make my memory worse. not recommended....

I don't know if this will help, but here goes:

This summer I went up north with my family to a cottage for a couple of days.

On my first night there I woke up in the middle of the night because it was horribly cold - my parents warned me that it would get cold in the nighttime but I thought if I slept in a sweater and with one blanket I'd live.

The problem was that I couldn't get any more blankets or clothes without waking up everyone else in the cottage. Being the kind of person I am who doesn't wake anyone up if it can be avoided I willed myself to sleep.
I didn't have access to a clock or a watch or anything like that so I don't know how long it took me to fall asleep, but it felt like at least half an hour (granted, it wasn't just the cold keeping me awake, it was also people's snoring.)

After I finally fell asleep I kept waking up throughout the night because of the cold. I'd always remember my dreams pretty vividly but unfortunately I couldn't write them down because it was dark and if I turned on a light I would wake everyone up.

So I guess being in an uncomfortably cold environment highly increased my dream recall. I don't know whether it's possible to do WILD or WBTB or anything like that in an uncomfortable environment so I don't know how helpful a setting like that would be for lucid dreaming.
I didn't have any lucid dreams that night, but that doesn't really mean much because I've only ever had a handful of lucid dreams.

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Originally Posted by Like

I don't know if this will help, but here goes:

This summer I went up north with my family to a cottage for a couple of days.

On my first night there I woke up in the middle of the night because it was horribly cold - my parents warned me that it would get cold in the nighttime but I thought if I slept in a sweater and with one blanket I'd live.

The problem was that I couldn't get any more blankets or clothes without waking up everyone else in the cottage. Being the kind of person I am who doesn't wake anyone up if it can be avoided I willed myself to sleep.
I didn't have access to a clock or a watch or anything like that so I don't know how long it took me to fall asleep, but it felt like at least half an hour (granted, it wasn't just the cold keeping me awake, it was also people's snoring.)

After I finally fell asleep I kept waking up throughout the night because of the cold. I'd always remember my dreams pretty vividly but unfortunately I couldn't write them down because it was dark and if I turned on a light I would wake everyone up.

So I guess being in an uncomfortably cold environment highly increased my dream recall. I don't know whether it's possible to do WILD or WBTB or anything like that in an uncomfortable environment so I don't know how helpful a setting like that would be for lucid dreaming.
I didn't have any lucid dreams that night, but that doesn't really mean much because I've only ever had a handful of lucid dreams.
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Good good, very helpfull information. Cuz that's exactly my point:
TOO much Comfort and you'll fall asleep too deep. Too little and you can't sleep or will wake up numerous times throughout the night. So I guess something in between but still rather cold could give the same wakefull highly aware-effects yet allows you to stay asleep all night and still fall asleep fairly easily. and falling asleep in 30 minutes: That is what I consider as a really short time. Usually takes me an hour or so.