caffeine, MILD, and falling asleep

I've heard that drinking some amount of caffeine before sleeping will help you remain more alert and aware in your dreams...is that true? and why doesn't it just keep you up?

I use MILD to some extent...when I first lie down I tell myself I'll have an LD, I explain my dream signs to myself, etc...but at some point I have to do my best to think of nothing until the HI beings to kick in and I finally fall asleep. I've heard that MILD only works if you can keep thinking until the moment you fall asleep. is that true? and how can you fall asleep if you're maintaining a constant inner monologue?

Good questions....

I have the exact same problem! I find it hard to do that right until I fall asleep. What I have done is recorded myself repeating the phrase, put it on my laptop and stuck on my headphones but I make the headphone wires tight into my ear so when I roll over in the middle of the night it falls out. I have et to have an LD yet though.

I get up after about 6 hours, drink a small cup of coffee and then go back to bed after about an hour. This has given me many MILDs. The coffee certainly can keep you up, but I drink probably 3 or 4 cups a day, so I'm pretty desensitized to it. It won't work if you can't fall back to sleep!