Instantly becoming alert after waking and losing that 'dream-like state', dreams immediately fade.
Hi, I'm fairly new to this site and forums in general so apologies in advance if I'm doing something wrong. I've been practicing lucid dreaming for about a year now and my recall has always been decent. I'm usually capable of recalling 1-2 dreams a night, and with consistent practice, they become vivid and I can remember countless small details in them. I usually accomplish this by being in an odd pseudo-state where I'm somewhere between being fully awake and fully in a dream-state, and I lay still while going through all my dreams before moving out of bed to type them out.
Lately though, I immediately lose this state upon exiting my dreams. I'll instantly become alert after waking, as if my mind has been active for a few hours already, and it becomes nearly impossible to recall anything aside from distant and vague moments from my dreams. I've even lost all composure when I become even remotely aware that I'm dreaming and immediate wake up excited, which is also something that typically doesn't happen to me. Has this been an issue with anyone else? How do I solve this? I've tried setting a strong intention to remember my dreams upon first gaining some sort of consciousness, as well as setting the intention to not become so alert to quickly, but that didn't work. Any advice is appreciated, I just want to get back to doing my favorite hobby.