Thread: Having a hard time falling asleep

Hello.
First some background information about my situation. I've always enjoyed daydreaming in the past and found out that it's very easy to immerse myself in fantasies just before I fall asleep. Over the years I started enjoying these just-before-falling-asleep daydreaming sessions, created fantasy worlds in my mind, and soon got into a mindset that falling asleep is the end of my fun. Without realizing it, I started conditioning my mind to not fall asleep so I can spend more time doing it.
This was before I heard about LD, and I've been doing this for quite a long time, at least 5 years, but I can't even remember anymore when I started.

And this brings us to this problem that I created for myself. Several LD techniques rely on falling asleep quickly in a certain state of mind. Through years of effort, I conditioned myself to not fall asleep for at least 30-40 minutes after hitting the bed. I set my alarm clock to wake me after 4-5 hours of sleep, but it's all useless if my brain doesn't let me go back to sleeping for an hour.

Do you guys have any tips? I guess I could try something like MILD and reality checks which doesn't rely on falling asleep quickly, but it's probably time to fix my sleeping habits too. Also my dream recall is terrible, which is why I opted to try something like WILD first.

Your situation is similar to my own, only due to a different reason. I attribute the lengthy time in falling asleep to ADHD or whatever..

Anyway, for people like us, who take a long time to sleep and/or cannot wake and go back to sleep -- WILD is not the way to go.
I would suggest to you that you try DILD and MILD -- but take a "MIDR"(Mnemonic Induction of Dream Recall) approach instead of a MILD approach.Instead of saying "I will realize I am dreaming" -- first start by saying "I will have a dream and when I wake up I will write it down". Focus on dreaming and getting to know your dream world, and then work on lucid techniques for DILD/MILD

As far as... Still pursuing WILD goes... I will give you some advice from personal experience, however I must warn you that I am not a medical doctor and I would advise you first seeking out the opinion of one before attempting this. I have noticed great results with Benzodiazapine drugs, particularly Temazepam. Because it is a sedative, it will help you fall to sleep fast, but more importantly will prevent you from waking up easily. I have found that the effects continue well into the next morning, and that's the important part. It's important because when you take prescription pills to sleep, you will wake up but find that you are too doped up to get out of bed, and you will pass right back out. In my personal experience, that has resulted in me having a lot of WBTB Lucid Dreams after using the substance. On the flipside of that coin, it can also result in you blacking out solid throughout the night and remembering nothing when you wake up 4 days later.

I am not advocating drug abuse here. I merely want to suggest that OP talk to a doctor about using a drug which is commonly used to treat his insomnia, and share my experience with insomnia and how the drug has helped me with dreaming(as a result of helping me to sleep better). While it is true that sedative drugs have helped me with Lucid Dreaming, I want to emphasize that I DO NOT claim that Temazepam is a miracle dreaming drug. On the contrary, it is more likely to hinder your efforts by putting you in a haze than helping. If you are not an insomniac, sleeping pills will not help you dream better.

I know that a lot of people who read dreamviews posts are desperate to find "get-rich-quick schemes" to attaining lucidity, and I don't want ANYONE to misinterpret my message to say that "WILD is easier with this drug!". Because it's not! And it's important that we all make adult decisions when it comes to these issues, which is why I suggest speaking with a certified medical professional prior to using any drugs.