Main concern about lucid dreaming

How often do lucid dreams turn into nightmares? Actually when I'm almost-lucid (I've never been really lucid) I usually wake up, and I know that if I didn't there would be a >50% possibility some nightmarish creature would appear, and because dreams are sooo realistic...

So, I wake up almost instantly, one time I saw my hand and saw 6 fingers and I woke up, it's a reflex that I learned when I was younger (8, 9 or 10 years more or less).

So, I have some questions, feel free to give short answers :)

1-How often a very fun or absolutely fantastic dream turn into a nightmare?

2-How often do you have false awakenings?

3-How often do those false awakenings turn into nightmares?

4-When you have a nightmare, how often you end unable to wake up (that is due to a lot of lucid dreaming experience) or having false awakenings?

5-How can I develop the ability to lucid dream while keeping my ability to escape nightmares? (Developing the ability to keep dreams nightmare-free is secondary)


Thanks in advance :)

I may be a little demanding now but if I start lucid dreaming I'll surely participate more in this forum :)

I think you should stop paying attention on these. Because attention is energy. When you withdraw the attention from something, it ceases to exist directy or at least after a while on a subconscious level, as far as my experience goes.

1. That depends or your thoughts/expectation, it can happen that you have an unpleasant thought in a great lucid dream, and then you will suddenly have those uncomfortable thoughts, i see that they manifest a little later when i give them attention and trying to get rid of them. Just ignore them without trying to get rid of them, will help, even if you think that the thoughts appear very strong, try to let them just be, so that they can move fast through your awareness, without bothering you and shaping your dream reality.

2. Oh, very often. I think everyday, without me being aware of them. Today i had two false awakenings, as far as i can remember, since i do not keep a dream journal. Sometimes i have a false awakening on the other side of my bed and then i fall asleep again and realize later that i laid on the other side of the bed. But i often also hear false sounds, like neighbors screaming far away, after waking up, i realize that there is no way to hear them with such clarity that far away.

3. I can not remember, a false awakening had turned into a nightmare, maybe one or so out of hundreds, that i had, but that was funny though.

4. I used to wake up all the time. After i started having lucid dreams, literally every time i have a nightmare i become lucid and after that i do not care about the old environment at all and have some fun. But i think i can remember where i had a strange, maybe frightening dream within a dream and i wanted to wake up from it, and i woke up in my bed, but not actually phyical as i later realized, that was very weird and fascinating at the same time.

5. Drop the idea of having nightmares at all. Instead use the nightmares as a tool for your subconscious mind, to act on them and realize that you are in a dream since unusual things happen. I do not know why you are so obsessed about nightmares, the best way of not having them is to stop yourself protecting from them, and just let them appear in your mind without giving them any association whatsoever, you will realize that there is just no such thing as a "nightmare" anymore.

if you see that your hand has 6 fingers, then you know that this is a dream and you can enjoy it. I remember one of my most vivid dreams in my house where my hands literally melted away. I thought it was real and wanted to go into my bed and relax since it is impossible that this was a dream, so i watched my hands and saw that they appeared to be very strange, lol.

Don't be afraid of nightmares. Nothing can harm you. In real life, I get scared way to easily. And my first lucid dream was actually a nightmare, and I woke up having sleep paralysis. But for some reason, I wasn't scared at all. Probably because I was thinking positively. I also had a few false awakenings, but they never turned into a nightmare. :)

The most reliable way to have your lucid dreams turn into nightmares is to expect them to.

The more you go into a lucid dream with the mind-set that "they are just dreams. They can't hurt me," the less significance your subconscious is going to put on trying to scare you.

Your own fear perpetuates itself. It may sound a little cliche, but that's pretty much how it works.

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Originally Posted by presence

I think you should stop paying attention on these. Because attention is energy. When you withdraw the attention from something, it ceases to exist directy or at least after a while on a subconscious level, as far as my experience goes.

1. That depends or your thoughts/expectation, it can happen that you have an unpleasant thought in a great lucid dream, and then you will suddenly have those uncomfortable thoughts, i see that they manifest a little later when i give them attention and trying to get rid of them. Just ignore them without trying to get rid of them, will help, even if you think that the thoughts appear very strong, try to let them just be, so that they can move fast through your awareness, without bothering you and shaping your dream reality.

2. Oh, very often. I think everyday, without me being aware of them. Today i had two false awakenings, as far as i can remember, since i do not keep a dream journal. Sometimes i have a false awakening on the other side of my bed and then i fall asleep again and realize later that i laid on the other side of the bed. But i often also hear false sounds, like neighbors screaming far away, after waking up, i realize that there is no way to hear them with such clarity that far away.

3. I can not remember, a false awakening had turned into a nightmare, maybe one or so out of hundreds, that i had, but that was funny though.

4. I used to wake up all the time. After i started having lucid dreams, literally every time i have a nightmare i become lucid and after that i do not care about the old environment at all and have some fun. But i think i can remember where i had a strange, maybe frightening dream within a dream and i wanted to wake up from it, and i woke up in my bed, but not actually phyical as i later realized, that was very weird and fascinating at the same time.

5. Drop the idea of having nightmares at all. Instead use the nightmares as a tool for your subconscious mind, to act on them and realize that you are in a dream since unusual things happen. I do not know why you are so obsessed about nightmares, the best way of not having them is to stop yourself protecting from them, and just let them appear in your mind without giving them any association whatsoever, you will realize that there is just no such thing as a "nightmare" anymore.

if you see that your hand has 6 fingers, then you know that this is a dream and you can enjoy it. I remember one of my most vivid dreams in my house where my hands literally melted away. I thought it was real and wanted to go into my bed and relax since it is impossible that this was a dream, so i watched my hands and saw that they appeared to be very strange, lol.

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Thanks for your awesomely long answers! :D

So, basically dreams aren't scary if you know how to control them, false awakenings aren't scary, and rather than waking up when I have a nightmare I should try to become lucid... I think I got the main points, thank you! :)

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Originally Posted by Crashyy

Don't be afraid of nightmares. Nothing can harm you. In real life, I get scared way to easily. And my first lucid dream was actually a nightmare, and I woke up having sleep paralysis. But for some reason, I wasn't scared at all. Probably because I was thinking positively. I also had a few false awakenings, but they never turned into a nightmare. :)

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Think positively and try to laugh off nightmares, got it :)

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Originally Posted by Oneironaut Zero

The most reliable way to have your lucid dreams turn into nightmares is to expect them to.

The more you go into a lucid dream with the mind-set that "they are just dreams. They can't hurt me," the less significance your subconscious is going to put on trying to scare you.

Your own fear perpetuates itself. It may sound a little cliche, but that's pretty much how it works.

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Thanks for the advice! :)

I used to have nightmares, but when I started waking myself up from them, they stopped happening. I have had over 500 dreams in the last 6 months, 50 lucid. I haven't had anything near a nightmare. I never expect nightmares, and they never seem to come.

I have had probably 40 false awakenings. They have never turned into nightmares either.

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Originally Posted by Oneironaut Zero

Your own fear perpetuates itself. It may sound a little cliche, but that's pretty much how it works.

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It no wonder he's so scared then.

My advice to you is to man up a little when your in there. I can't remember the last nightmare I had. Anytime its shapin up to be one, you gotta put your foot down and drive away whatever it is that is trying to scare you. This will not only be effective in taming your Demons, but it can induce Lucidity as well.

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Originally Posted by BrandonBoss

I used to have nightmares, but when I started waking myself up from them, they stopped happening. I have had over 500 dreams in the last 6 months, 50 lucid. I haven't had anything near a nightmare. I never expect nightmares, and they never seem to come.

I have had probably 40 false awakenings. They have never turned into nightmares either.

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Thanks for the info :)

Most of my dreams are nightmares. lucid or not. Every false awakening I have turns into a morbid terror, stringing together in and endless dream each time BELIEVING yourself to be awake, but what perpetually haunts you will drag you deeper into the dream...

But I love horror movies and books, so I'll keep it like that! :)

Anyways, don't take m word cause I purposely induce such nightmares...

In all honesty, the chance is lower than 50 AND this ONLY happens after you've WILDed (assuming you don't have night terror or narcolepsy...) and from the looks of it you haven't done that yet so don't worry and have fun. Remember: the dream is entirely subjective, and if you think scary thoughts your subconscious is going to produce scary dreams. Don't worry and you're gonna be fine. Same thing goes for SP: thinking of happy unicorns means that instead of that nasty b^tch by your bed trying to strangle you, it'll be an elagent unicorn just outside your window :shock:

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Originally Posted by PlanesWalker

It no wonder he's so scared then.

My advice to you is to man up a little when your in there. I can't remember the last nightmare I had. Anytime its shapin up to be one, you gotta put your foot down and drive away whatever it is that is trying to scare you. This will not only be effective in taming your Demons, but it can induce Lucidity as well.

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Actually I'm trying to feel more not less, and a side effect of that is being a little more prone to being scared, trying to "man it up" has many emotional side effects that I definitely don't want to suffer.

However, a useful technique for that is just to "laugh off" nightmares, I haven't actually tested it in a nightmare but it seems quite useful and doesn't have any side effects. Though, I can't trust it as when you're scared the last think you want to do is to laugh...

But thanks anyway for your advice :)

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Originally Posted by Jabre

Most of my dreams are nightmares. lucid or not. Every false awakening I have turns into a morbid terror, stringing together in and endless dream each time BELIEVING yourself to be awake, but what perpetually haunts you will drag you deeper into the dream...

But I love horror movies and books, so I'll keep it like that! :)

Anyways, don't take m word cause I purposely induce such nightmares...

In all honesty, the chance is lower than 50 AND this ONLY happens after you've WILDed (assuming you don't have night terror or narcolepsy...) and from the looks of it you haven't done that yet so don't worry and have fun. Remember: the dream is entirely subjective, and if you think scary thoughts your subconscious is going to produce scary dreams. Don't worry and you're gonna be fine. Same thing goes for SP: thinking of happy unicorns means that instead of that nasty b^tch by your bed trying to strangle you, it'll be an elagent unicorn just outside your window :shock:

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Wait a moment... I'm currently trying the WILD, do you mean that I'm in risk of having nightmares?

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Originally Posted by Miguelinileugim

Wait a moment... I'm currently trying the WILD, do you mean that I'm in risk of having nightmares?

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no, not at all... I'm saying that you could get SP more frequently if you WILD. But like I said, it's only a small chance (personally I have never woken up in SP out of my WILDs) and nothing to be concerned about. No, no nightmares

Since you can usually control what happens in a lucid dream, it will be easier to stop nightmares. But it might also be your subconscious trying to tell you something. You can use lucid dreaming to help you. It isn't always just a fun escape from life.

1. Not very often. For me it seems that if a dream is going to go bad, it's not a very wonderful dream to begin with. Although it could be that I don't remember what happens before it becomes a nightmare. If you mean how often does a fun or fantastic lucid dream turn into a nightmare, hardly ever. More recently especially, if I am fully lucid in a dream then I know not to be afraid of anything that happens. I face the potentially scary thing with confidence.

2. Not as often recently as I use to. I haven't had a false awakening in...I don't know, many months.

3. The times when I have had false awakenings did sometimes become unpleasant or scary, but not nearly as bad as my regular nightmares. False awakening are a bit confusing, but not too bad.

4. In the "lucid" nightmares I've had (I'm generally not fully lucid when it's a nightmare), I didn't try to wake up.

5. Best thing I can think of is to not worry about having nightmares and don't try to avoid them. You can use them to become lucid even, as I've done a few times. Just think if something scary happens, consider that it may be a dream. And if you are lucid in a dream, remember that there's no reason to fear anything. Just face the thing with as much courage as you can muster, and usually this makes the thing change or go away. I don't mean you have to fight the thing. You could show it kindness, or treat it with disregard. If you ignore the thing and it will usually go away because you are paying no attention to it.

1: Don't think i have got many of what people usually call 'nightmares', possibly because as video game player i got used to many things, so seeing some weird creatures or shadows or such became actually good experience for me :vampire: . Though even if i experience sort of fear towards something, i quickly turn it onto my side in lucid dreams as it seems. :zzz:
2: 100% of my WILDS were FA's, so i guess pretty often :content: . Non-lucid they are rare though.
3: For lucids see 1, for non-lucids don't think i had FA's turn into nightmares.
4: See 3.
5: Well, the only thing i could advice is to not think about things that are bad for you and think about things that are good for you. :peek:

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Originally Posted by Miguelinileugim

1-How often a very fun or absolutely fantastic dream turn into a nightmare?

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None, though I've only had 12, and most of them were extremely short, like half a minute or something.

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Originally Posted by Miguelinileugim

2-How often do you have false awakenings?

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So far, about a fourth of my lucid dreams have started with or were followed by false awakenings.

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Originally Posted by Miguelinileugim

3-How often do those false awakenings turn into nightmares?

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None so far.

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Originally Posted by Miguelinileugim

4-When you have a nightmare, how often you end unable to wake up (that is due to a lot of lucid dreaming experience) or having false awakenings?

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Well, up until recently I've had absolutely no trouble waking up when something get's scary. I had learned when I was younger, when something is scary, to concentrate on counting down from 10 to 1, and then when I get to that last number, focus on it very intensely as something that will wake me up, and then after one or two tries I'm awake. My nightmares went a way after a few months of this, so I haven't actually used it for a long time.

Curiously, I seem to have had a very intense nightmare last night, from which I apparently either didn't know I was dreaming or was unable to get out of. It was of such intensity that I was groaning and woke up my Dad, which I've never done before, and when he came in the room I was so terrified (he looked like just a black figure) that apparently I knocked over my digital alarm clock and fan that I had next to my bed, and caused my digital keyboard/piano to fall off of its stand. Dad put them back up, and I calmed down. But for the next hour or so I didn't want to fall asleep, or even think back over what happened, because of how intense my earlier fear had been. This was around 6 AM, I believe, and I don't think I even fell fully asleep after that, and so was in a half-sleeping state until I woke up a few hours later.

I'm going to start using my method of waking up, though, if I have this again, as well as trying some ways of not being frightened (of what I presume to have been an in-dream character, as I can't imagine anything else that could have scared me so much). I have a few ideas, (and I like to test things and improve techniques), so I'm not too worried, at least in the long run. (I'm going to try ignoring them, mentally conversing with them, etc.)

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Originally Posted by Miguelinileugim

5-How can I develop the ability to lucid dream while keeping my ability to escape nightmares? (Developing the ability to keep dreams nightmare-free is secondary)

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Experimentation, I think. Just sit down for a few minutes, in bed with the lights off, and imagine something very frightening. You won't actually be scared, but you'll be able to tell which methods would probably work to relieve potential fear when you're actually in one. For instance, one way that felt like it would help, is to imagine that as soon as you seen someone scary, rather than feeling helpless as they come closer, imagine that you have a giant magnet on, and then imagine the character being drawn towards you against their will. Even if you're scared to death, the fact that you're the one causing the coming together may very well give you a sense of power and confidence, especially if you imagine the creature getting nervous, and will certainly relieve that (potential situation) where you can't escape and they come up to you in their own leisure. So pretend that you're the one pulling them in, and keep pulling them in, almost like a super power, and hold them up against you forcefully, I think that would work. (in sleep paralysis you can't move, but you sure can imagine things and make them happen)

Good luck! I think you'll be fine, just experiment a bit and find a method that makes you feel less anxious of things.

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Originally Posted by Jabre

no, not at all... I'm saying that you could get SP more frequently if you WILD. But like I said, it's only a small chance (personally I have never woken up in SP out of my WILDs) and nothing to be concerned about. No, no nightmares

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Thanks! :)

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Originally Posted by Woodstock

Since you can usually control what happens in a lucid dream, it will be easier to stop nightmares. But it might also be your subconscious trying to tell you something. You can use lucid dreaming to help you. It isn't always just a fun escape from life.

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In my last dreams I usually get expelled from my high school due to a triviality, no zombies, no monsters, no crazy teachers with chainsaws, I think I'll be fine, thanks :)

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Originally Posted by insideout

1. Not very often. For me it seems that if a dream is going to go bad, it's not a very wonderful dream to begin with. Although it could be that I don't remember what happens before it becomes a nightmare. If you mean how often does a fun or fantastic lucid dream turn into a nightmare, hardly ever. More recently especially, if I am fully lucid in a dream then I know not to be afraid of anything that happens. I face the potentially scary thing with confidence.

2. Not as often recently as I use to. I haven't had a false awakening in...I don't know, many months.

3. The times when I have had false awakenings did sometimes become unpleasant or scary, but not nearly as bad as my regular nightmares. False awakening are a bit confusing, but not too bad.

4. In the "lucid" nightmares I've had (I'm generally not fully lucid when it's a nightmare), I didn't try to wake up.

5. Best thing I can think of is to not worry about having nightmares and don't try to avoid them. You can use them to become lucid even, as I've done a few times. Just think if something scary happens, consider that it may be a dream. And if you are lucid in a dream, remember that there's no reason to fear anything. Just face the thing with as much courage as you can muster, and usually this makes the thing change or go away. I don't mean you have to fight the thing. You could show it kindness, or treat it with disregard. If you ignore the thing and it will usually go away because you are paying no attention to it.

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Thanks for all the info! :)

But what's better, to treat nightmarish things with humour, with kindness or with courage? Actually I'm not very courageous but I'm trying to be emphatic and I have a strong sense of the humour, so maybe courage isn't the best way to confront nightmares... What do you think? :)

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Originally Posted by Checker666

1: Don't think i have got many of what people usually call 'nightmares', possibly because as video game player i got used to many things, so seeing some weird creatures or shadows or such became actually good experience for me :vampire: . Though even if i experience sort of fear towards something, i quickly turn it onto my side in lucid dreams as it seems. :zzz:
2: 100% of my WILDS were FA's, so i guess pretty often :content: . Non-lucid they are rare though.
3: For lucids see 1, for non-lucids don't think i had FA's turn into nightmares.
4: See 3.
5: Well, the only thing i could advice is to not think about things that are bad for you and think about things that are good for you. :peek:

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You answer questions the same way I do the exams :)

So, don't play horror videogames/films and thing about pretty and cute things, got it :)

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Originally Posted by Venryx

None, though I've only had 12, and most of them were extremely short, like half a minute or something.



So far, about a fourth of my lucid dreams have started with or were followed by false awakenings.



None so far.



Well, up until recently I've had absolutely no trouble waking up when something get's scary. I had learned when I was younger, when something is scary, to concentrate on counting down from 10 to 1, and then when I get to that last number, focus on it very intensely as something that will wake me up, and then after one or two tries I'm awake. My nightmares went a way after a few months of this, so I haven't actually used it for a long time.

Curiously, I seem to have had a very intense nightmare last night, from which I apparently either didn't know I was dreaming or was unable to get out of. It was of such intensity that I was groaning and woke up my Dad, which I've never done before, and when he came in the room I was so terrified (he looked like just a black figure) that apparently I knocked over my digital alarm clock and fan that I had next to my bed, and caused my digital keyboard/piano to fall off of its stand. Dad put them back up, and I calmed down. But for the next hour or so I didn't want to fall asleep, or even think back over what happened, because of how intense my earlier fear had been. This was around 6 AM, I believe, and I don't think I even fell fully asleep after that, and so was in a half-sleeping state until I woke up a few hours later.

I'm going to start using my method of waking up, though, if I have this again, as well as trying some ways of not being frightened (of what I presume to have been an in-dream character, as I can't imagine anything else that could have scared me so much). I have a few ideas, (and I like to test things and improve techniques), so I'm not too worried, at least in the long run. (I'm going to try ignoring them, mentally conversing with them, etc.)



Experimentation, I think. Just sit down for a few minutes, in bed with the lights off, and imagine something very frightening. You won't actually be scared, but you'll be able to tell which methods would probably work to relieve potential fear when you're actually in one. For instance, one way that felt like it would help, is to imagine that as soon as you seen someone scary, rather than feeling helpless as they come closer, imagine that you have a giant magnet on, and then imagine the character being drawn towards you against their will. Even if you're scared to death, the fact that you're the one causing the coming together may very well give you a sense of power and confidence, especially if you imagine the creature getting nervous, and will certainly relieve that (potential situation) where you can't escape and they come up to you in their own leisure. So pretend that you're the one pulling them in, and keep pulling them in, almost like a super power, and hold them up against you forcefully, I think that would work. (in sleep paralysis you can't move, but you sure can imagine things and make them happen)

Good luck! I think you'll be fine, just experiment a bit and find a method that makes you feel less anxious of things.

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That was quite an horrifying nightmare, right? Was it original? Mine are or plain simple or extremely original! :D

Well, thanks for you awesomely² long reply! I hope I don't have any nightmares, and about counter-nightmare weapons I think I have quite a useful one (just try to summon X real/imaginary person/character you have confidence in, won't tell you mine :) ).

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Originally Posted by Miguelinileugim

Thanks for all the info! :)

But what's better, to treat nightmarish things with humour, with kindness or with courage? Actually I'm not very courageous but I'm trying to be emphatic and I have a strong sense of the humour, so maybe courage isn't the best way to confront nightmares... What do you think? :)

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I think it depends on the person and on the type of nightmare. Possibly a combination of all three is best.
I'm not very courageous either, and I prefer to resolve dream problems non-violently. Simply telling myself or the nightmare that there is no reason for me to be afraid helps some. Saying it with a laugh would do even more to dissolve the nightmare, I imagine. Showing the scary thing kindness is likely to change it into a positive thing.

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Originally Posted by insideout

I think it depends on the person and on the type of nightmare. Possibly a combination of all three is best.
I'm not very courageous either, and I prefer to resolve dream problems non-violently. Simply telling myself or the nightmare that there is no reason for me to be afraid helps some. Saying it with a laugh would do even more to dissolve the nightmare, I imagine. Showing the scary thing kindness is likely to change it into a positive thing.

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You usually get what you give, at least in dreams, got it :)