Caffeine.

[swift-convoy]

Before I went to bed last night. I ate 2 teaspoons of coffee. It's not the nicest late night snack so i washed it down with some water. As soon as I had ate the coffee, I went to sleep. I woke up around 5am and remembered my dream in detail. I hardly ever remember my dreams but I could remember this one as if I'd just watched it happen in a film. So in short: Before you go to bed. Drink/eat. Coffee.

[bobvilax2000]

This is promising to me. I'm what you would call a coffee snob. Hah. I've always avoided drinking the sweet brew too late for fear that I couldn't sleep, but I could see how a small amount could keep you just awake enough to remember your dreams. I wonder how this would work in combination of WBTB. Maybe it would also work when you go to bed exhausted, so you don't go into too deep of a sleep. - -Barrett

[Howie]

Originally posted by swift-convoy Before I went to bed last night. I ate 2 teaspoons of coffee. It's not the nicest late night snack so i washed it down with some water. As soon as I had ate the coffee, I went to sleep. I woke up around 5am and remembered my dream in detail. I hardly ever remember my dreams but I could remember this one as if I'd just watched it happen in a film. So in short: Before you go to bed. Drink. Coffee. Hello & welcome swift-convoy. When you say you "ate", you mean what? did you eat the grains of coffee like some ingest the whole bean or just two teaspoons of liquid? Hey bobvilax2000. A fellow Ohioan! Where are you from in Ohio?

[Gawain]

Caffeine helps me WILD, as I've found out. Caffeine = LD elixer for me.

[swift-convoy]

[quote] Hello & welcome swift-convoy. When you say you "ate", you mean what? did you eat the grains of coffee like some ingest the whole bean or just two teaspoons of liquid? I just ate the grains. I used Nescafe, and just poured 2 teaspoons of grains.

[Umbrella]

Hello, Yesterday before going to sleep, I touched my nose with my tongue. I later woke up at 4 in the morning and remembered my dreams in detail. So in short: before you go to bed, touch your nose with your tongue. True moral of the story: when something works once, that doesn't prove it's effective. Of course you're most likely right about caffeine helping dream recall. I don't know if that's ever been researched, but it's generally accepted as true. I just thought I'd remind everyone that it's not that simple. things like caffeine work better for some than they do for others too. P.S: The anecdote told above is not true, nor is it based on truth. The truth is that I was feeling confident that I would have a lucid dream last night, but instead ended up not even being able to recall one normal dream, or part of one for that matter.

[Leo Volont]

Originally posted by swift-convoy Before I went to bed last night. I ate 2 teaspoons of coffee. It's not the nicest late night snack so i washed it down with some water. As soon as I had ate the coffee, I went to sleep. I woke up around 5am and remembered my dream in detail. I hardly ever remember my dreams but I could remember this one as if I'd just watched it happen in a film. So in short: Before you go to bed. Drink/eat. Coffee. The timing of this maneuver may be critical. You see, coffee, if taken much too soon before sleep might act to make one restless and agitated and therefore unfit to fall asleep. But if taken immediately before sleep, may 'kick in' after one is already asleep while adding enough stimulation to encourage Dream Recall. But then, it may take the devil to pay to ever fall asleep again that night. One must keep in mind that the First Duty of Sleep is to give the body its much needed rest. Everything else is gravy. The choice that is suggested here reminds me of my days at the Yoga Ashram. A friend of mine there had read that Fasting, that is, not eating food for days on end, would promote spiritual Vision and Enlightenment. This was all fine and well until he became too weak to work in the Garden and the Kitchen and I suddenly ended up having to do everything. Then I was the one who had the Big Spiritual Vision and my friend was so disconsolate and asked me what I had done to deserve it. Well, I told him "Physical Exhaustion promotes Spiritual Visions". Yes, I was funny even back then.

[Howie]

Originally posted by Leo Volont The timing of this maneuver may be critical. *You see, coffee, if taken much too soon before sleep might act to make one restless and agitated and therefore unfit to fall asleep. *But if taken immediately before sleep, may 'kick in' after one is already asleep while adding enough stimulation to encourage Dream Recall. *But then, it may take the devil to pay to ever fall asleep again that night. * One must keep in mind that the First Duty of Sleep is to give the body its much needed rest. * Everything else is gravy. * The choice that is suggested here reminds me of my days at the Yoga Ashram. *A friend of mine there had read that Fasting, that is, not eating food for days on end, would promote spiritual Vision and Enlightenment. *This was all fine and well until he became too weak to work in the Garden and the Kitchen and I suddenly ended up having to do everything. * Then I was the one who had the Big Spiritual Vision and my friend was so disconsolate and asked me what I had done to deserve it. *Well, I told him "Physical Exhaustion promotes Spiritual Visions". *Yes, I was funny even back then. Exactly. Umbrella. Your point would have some merit in some instances. In this case it is assinine. We are discussing a substance that does and has proven to stimulate. And as Leo pointed out it is the timing that makes the difference.

[Umbrella]

[quote] Exactly. Umbrella. Your point would have some merit in some instances. In this case it is assinine. We are discussing a substance that does and has proven to stimulate. And as Leo pointed out it is the timing that makes the difference. Actually Howetzer, I doubt it. I'm sorry for my seemingly respectless reply earlier. Like I said, I do realize that caffeine can have an effect on at least your dream recall (and possibly induction of lucid dreams). However, when I read someone goes to bed at night having taken caffeine and wakes up at 5am(!) remembering their dreams clearly, this sounds like a placebo effect. I must say I never experiment with any kind of substance or anything to enhance dreaming, but from what I've read, the effect of caffeine is at its hight 45 minutes after it's taken and it will have worn off before the start of the second REM-period. Sure, I'm not omniscient. It's very well possible that the caffeine still did have some effect (besides the placebo one). Just don't forget that it's also possible that it didn't.

[Leo Volont]

Oh! There is nothing wrong with taking full advantage of the Placebo Effect. It is real enough! The only problem is that the Placebo Effect will not repeat indefinitely... the Placebo Effect wears off. For instance, the Placebo Effect can reduce serious pain, but only for about 72 hours. But for 3 days, pain is significantly reduced. Now, one wonders how many Lucid Dream sessions one can get out of a good Placebo Effect, but what the Hell? Now, all it takes to Trigger a good Placebo Effect is a Prescription or Declaration from somebody who is considered an effective Authority. Anybody that is called "Doctor" works just fine. On a page like this, probably all you have to do is say "I read in a book that..." Hmmmmm.... now that I think about it, the Placebo Effect probably can account for much of the "Beginners Luck" we have with Lucid Dreaming. People get the initial pop from the Placebo Effect but in the nature of the Placebo Effect, the returns soon fall off to about nothing.

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by Umbrella True moral of the story: when something works once, that doesn't prove it's effective. That's true, everything I have tried has only worked once! Quite frustrating; but each of those times I was glad to have had at least one more LD, so every little suggestion like this helps. And now each new little trick I've tried has added up to several more LD's. When I read something and try it and it works, maybe it is just placebo, but it IS one more LD. I drink coffee and tea all day long so I doubt it would do anything to me, but for somebody who is more sensitive, who knows? Maybe I'll do a headstand before I go to bed...

[PenguinLord13]

Originally posted by Leo Volont The timing of this maneuver may be critical. *You see, coffee, if taken much too soon before sleep might act to make one restless and agitated and therefore unfit to fall asleep. *But if taken immediately before sleep, may 'kick in' after one is already asleep while adding enough stimulation to encourage Dream Recall. *But then, it may take the devil to pay to ever fall asleep again that night. * One must keep in mind that the First Duty of Sleep is to give the body its much needed rest. * Everything else is gravy. * The choice that is suggested here reminds me of my days at the Yoga Ashram. *A friend of mine there had read that Fasting, that is, not eating food for days on end, would promote spiritual Vision and Enlightenment. *This was all fine and well until he became too weak to work in the Garden and the Kitchen and I suddenly ended up having to do everything. * Then I was the one who had the Big Spiritual Vision and my friend was so disconsolate and asked me what I had done to deserve it. *Well, I told him "Physical Exhaustion promotes Spiritual Visions". *Yes, I was funny even back then. I agree with you on that. It is the timing that counts, as caffeine actaully takes 3 hours to kick in, so if you have coffee right before sleep, it would wake you up later with excellent recall, as it probably wakes you up during the dream, as it is very difficult to wake up when you aren't in REM sleep (i have slept with an alarm playing the simpsons theme loudly over and over for 20 minutes, until I entered REM sleep, where it woke me up). P.S. I have no idea what the Yoga Ashram is, but I love that anecdote.

[The_Musician]

I actually got ballsy and took two teaspoons of coffee grounds before bed. Or was it two table spoons? I cant remember. I went to bed at about 2 am and woke up at about 8:45 with a nice long, fairly vivid dream. I figured that was about 7-8 hours of sleep so i tried to WILD after that and lost conciousness. The two dreams i had are in my dream journal. The first one is the one i had after my WILD attempt, and the one below that is the one i had when i woke up at first.