Trying to find out when my REM sleep is?

I'm trying to figure out when my REM sleep comes. I've tried setting an alarm for every 90 minutes, but my dream recall was still bad. I'm thinking that maybe since I knew I would be waking in 90 minutes my sleep cycle rearranged to put me in light sleep at the time of wake-up, is this possible?

I heard that when you wake up having to go to the bathroom, that only comes at the end of an REM cycle, since you wake up then anyway, you just don't remember usually unless you have to go, in which you really feel it. Is this true?

Any good smartphone sleep-graph apps you've found to be good for figuring this out?

Any other advice is welcome! I think once I figure out when this cycle comes I can set alarms to perhaps be heard/felt in the dream without messing up the rest of the sleep cycle.

You have 4 REM cycles per night, each of which get longer throught the night(from around 10 minutes to about 45 minutes or longer).So, for example, if you were to go to bed at 9:00 P.M., wou would have an REM cycle at 3:00 A.M. Do you keep a dream journal? At first, I attempted to start LD'ing without a dream joirnal, and had about 0 recall. I started keeping one, and am recalling about 5 or 6 dreams per night. I find that it helps if I write down the dreams that I want to have with as much vivid detail as possible, and If I do not, I normally recall about 1 or two dreams that night.

As far as apps go I've used Sleep Cycle, Dream:ON, and I'm currently using DreamZ. Sleep Cycle is just a general sleep graph app with a smart alarm feature. Dream:ON and DreamZ are similar, yet DreamZ has a few more features that I like, which is why it isn't free I'm sure.

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Originally Posted by swagmaster

You have 4 REM cycles per night, each of which get longer throught the night(from around 10 minutes to about 45 minutes or longer).So, for example, if you were to go to bed at 9:00 P.M., wou would have an REM cycle at 3:00 A.M. Do you keep a dream journal? At first, I attempted to start LD'ing without a dream joirnal, and had about 0 recall. I started keeping one, and am recalling about 5 or 6 dreams per night. I find that it helps if I write down the dreams that I want to have with as much vivid detail as possible, and If I do not, I normally recall about 1 or two dreams that night.

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I've been keeping a dream journal for three weeks, and I usually remember 2-4 dreams a night; but I don't remember much from each one. Maybe 2-4 sentences usually. And I can only remember that many when my sleep is interrupted and I write what I have so far down each time I wake.

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Originally Posted by imrossed

As far as apps go I've used Sleep Cycle, Dream:ON, and I'm currently using DreamZ. Sleep Cycle is just a general sleep graph app with a smart alarm feature. Dream:ON and DreamZ are similar, yet DreamZ has a few more features that I like, which is why it isn't free I'm sure.

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How well have these worked in timing your REM or figuring out when to time an external stimulus?

I hopped into this thread with the intent of bringing up Sleep Cycle, but I see someone beat me to it. So I'll just add my support for Sleep Cycle, it's a fantastic app that I wholeheartedly support.

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Originally Posted by Matt1

I've been keeping a dream journal for three weeks, and I usually remember 2-4 dreams a night; but I don't remember much from each one. Maybe 2-4 sentences usually. And I can only remember that many when my sleep is interrupted and I write what I have so far down each time I wake.

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If you are looking tonimprove your recall, try laying in bed without moving as much as you possibly can, and asking yourself what you were dreaming the previous night. This always works for me. As far as the apps go, I wouldn't know, because I don't use them XD

You could get a Zeo if you really wanted to. I've got one for my polyphasic sleep and it works really well.

5HTP - USE IT!
Forget about sleep cycles and take this safe supplement at bedtime, wake up after 4 hours and then its up to whether or not you want to be woken out of your dreams in order to give you another chance to wild and to write down whats happened
Advanced Lucid Dreaming: The Power of Supplements

I also suggest you read through this book, I lucid dream for about 2-4 hours (straight) every other day (5htp everyday, the rest only 4 times a week) thanks to a combination of pills and practice

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Originally Posted by swagmaster

If you are looking tonimprove your recall, try laying in bed without moving as much as you possibly can, and asking yourself what you were dreaming the previous night. This always works for me. As far as the apps go, I wouldn't know, because I don't use them XD

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This works good for me too but only usually if I have been awoken directly from REM. Otherwise I can only remember a little.

APP QUESTION: Do any of the suggested apps allow you to set it to have an alarm or vibrate when or shortly after it detects you enter REM? I find that awakening during other sleep phases messes up the cycle and hurts dream recall/vividness.

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Originally Posted by Matt1

This works good for me too but only usually if I have been awoken directly from REM. Otherwise I can only remember a little.

APP QUESTION: Do any of the suggested apps allow you to set it to have an alarm or vibrate when or shortly after it detects you enter REM? I find that awakening during other sleep phases messes up the cycle and hurts dream recall/vividness.

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From a person that tried at least 3 or 4 of them: don't use them, they're not reliable enough (at least the ones I used), it's far better for you to keep a regular sleeping schedule and just make changes based on dream recall. For sure you will recall something if you wake up during or right after REM.

One of the ways is also having a small alarm clock that turns off by itself, I use the app Chronolite (free and works great), and then use a strong alarm that you must turn off going off like 10 minutes after the previous one, to make sure you really wake up and don't get late for your appointments.