Thread: Proper Times To Wake Up?

I know that everyone says that sleep cycles last 90 minutes. No one mentions how the change in REM period durations affects this. Would someone help me figure out the best time to set an alarm for WBTB?

Lets say I fall asleep at 12 midnight, and wake up at 8. My "alarm" is a cell phone set to vibrate stuffed in my sock. It has 3 slots for an alarm. I am using two of them, set to 3:00 and 6:00 respectively. I have heard anywhere from 3-8 hours is effective, but what times do you find to be the most effective?

It's difficult to say. Sleep cycle length varies from person to person and changes as you age. While the length of sleep cycles are fairly stable for a given person at a given time, sleep architecture changes on daily basis.

If you sleep on the floor on your back you will wake up to turn on your side as soon as the bulk of your sleep debt has been dissipated. That will be somewhere between 80 and 200 minutes.

You can attempt to WILD as soon as you are coming fully awake. If you do this before your normal bed time and keep yourself awake for 2.5h you will have a pretty good chance of consciously entering sleep paralysis without doing anything.

I've found 4/3, 5/2 and 6/1 are working quite well, too. But as long as you sleep at least 80 minutes and don't interrupt deep sleep you will have a great chance at WILD regardless of time spent asleep or awake.

Originally Posted by Licity

I know that everyone says that sleep cycles last 90 minutes. No one mentions how the change in REM period durations affects this. Would someone help me figure out the best time to set an alarm for WBTB?

Lets say I fall asleep at 12 midnight, and wake up at 8. My "alarm" is a cell phone set to vibrate stuffed in my sock. It has 3 slots for an alarm. I am using two of them, set to 3:00 and 6:00 respectively. I have heard anywhere from 3-8 hours is effective, but what times do you find to be the most effective?

Well...I did time my REM as I usually wake up after REM. I don't count my first REM...my Second REM is 90min later, Third REM is 1 hour 45min later and every REM after that is 1 hour later. If your wanting to really utilize WBTB you should not use timing. Use wakefullness as a guage instead. The best wakefullness for WBTB is when you wake up not gorggy and sleepy but awake enough but not too awake. You should see Lucidipedia on Youtube for WBTB...it's very detailed.

IMJ