How important is it to sleep at night?

[Darkmatters]

Most times I tend to be pretty nocturnal, just getting to sleep about the time ol' mister sun comes peeking out. Does that kill my chances of getting lucid?

[Seykloren]

I would not say so. I am a day sleeper myself and it had never had any impact on my lucid dreaming numbers and ability. I guess it is like that because I have been sleeping during the day for a large number of years now,so my sleeping pattern is fully developed like that. At same time I can say that when I am by something forced to change this habit, my lucid dreaming does get impacted, so as the overall sleep and regular dreams. What I am trying to say is, if you sleeping pattern is developed in this way, I do not think your chances will get killed. You can always tho try to change your sleeping habits, in order to have more succses, because the natural rhytm of the body and brain is to sleep by night, live and go around and do stuff by day. If you change your sleeping behaviour to be more alligned with the natural rhytm, it might yield better results for you and I believe you would be more rested in general. Hope this helps you in any ways.

[MyCooky]

I think it's just important that you aren't exhausted - it has to be normal for you sleeping at that time. Also you should sleep long enough, like about 8 hours. And it should be dark enouh. So protect yourself from the light!

[Darkmatters]

Thanks you two! Light and sound are big problems - when occasionally I do sleep at night it's so amazing to wake in the darkness and silence - that would be prime lucidity territory! I want to become diurnal again - the way we primates are meant to be! when I live as a daywalker (ha!) it seems to make me feel generally better.

[Scionox]

Sleeping at night is not really important for lucidity as long as you can manage it, i have pretty bizarre sleeping schedule for my timezone myself yet i still get my lucid dreams fairly regularly.

[Darkmatters]

How's the light/sound level in your room in the daytime? I think I need to batten down the hatches, either put up some blackout shades or get a good sleep mask - possibly some earplugs too.

[Scionox]

Fairly bright, but not very, there's often sound from outside, especially with balcony open at summer, but i still manage to easily sleep without sleep mask or anything. The only times i ever had problems with usual sleeping was when i was super excited about something.

[Darkmatters]

Ok, appreciate the answers!! I think I'm gonna get some blackout material and try it for a while - it also insulates (you put it behind the blinds and cut to size), which is a huge plus!! My windows in my bedroom don't have storm windows and one of them is cracked, on those really cold nights I can feel waves of intense cold rolling off them!! I have some blackout blinds I took from my old house but they don't fit - it seems like once I installed those sleeping in the day was a hell of a lot easier and nicer. Of course - that could cause problems with waking in the middle of the nignt (as in NOT waking up anymore). If it does (in spite of drinking water before bed as usual) then down they go. I looked at sleep masks, but I don't think one would stay on my head all night, and might strangle me in my sleep!! I'm trying to get on a daytime schedule again, but I still want to be able to use those morning hours and naps as prime lucidity time. Ill update here with how well this works. Ordering Shift Shade Total Blackout Window Covering on Amazon.

[gab]

I can sleep during day no problem. But when WILDing when there is light, the only reason why I put towel over my eyes is so I can see the hallucination.

[Sensei]

I always feel like changing sleeping times makes me have a harder time sleeping, but be more aware during sleep. Going to sleep in different places does it as well. I knew it would help because I have always had better dreams at these times. This may be expectation though...

[Darkmatters]

Very true Brandon - I remember once camping out in the woods I had crazy dreams, in one I saw the tent I was sleeping in and molehills started spreading really super-fast outward from it and breaking open with red-hot lava bursting up from inside them! I also usually feel better when I'm on a daytime schedule - when I go nocturnal I get sort of depressive and start to get pissed off that I hardly see any daylight.

[Conscious Intervention]

I used to work nights for about two years and so the only time I slept was in the daytime. It really is a crazy life style and no one can truly understand it until they've done it. Personally I don't think it's natural. Never seeing the sun except right before you go to bed and right when you wake up will start to mess with your mind. I tried to sleep with a sleep mask but my wife would say I took it off in my sleep the second I would fall asleep. After about a year of what felt like me getting no sleep I finally blacked out my windows with curtains and it was the best choice I ever made. It was always a struggle between my mind and body when it came to that sleeping schedule. You would think that you would have more lucid dreams being asleep when your body and mind is naturally used to being alert and awake but I found this was not the case. This was probably a time in my life where I remember the least amount of dreaming and that is probably because I was not getting quality sleep. Anyways I'm back on a normal schedule now and I don't think I will ever go back to working nights again unless I absolutely had to.

[Darkmatters]

Someone who truly understands where I'm coming from! It goes against the circadian rhythm and I think living like this amounts to constant sleep deprivation no matter how much actual sleep you're getting.