Attemped to WBTB last night, could not fall asleep!

Okay so last night I went to bed at 11:00, and probably fell asleep half an hour later. I set an alarm clock for 5:00AM, so i heard it and got up and read stuff on my ipod for a while and then went to bed at 6:00AM...... AND THEN I COULDNT SLEEP! I have a few theories why, so please tell me if you think im right, or tell me what you think. I think MAYBE one of the reasons is most nights I go to bed at 10, so maybe I was messing up my sleep cycle, another reason MAY be because ive been sleeping in ALOT LATELY now that im not in school, ive been sleeping in to 11:00 so maybe thats been affecting my REM, another thing I probably did wrong was I kept moving and switchiny sides to lay on
So what do you guys think??

When I WBTB-WILD I don't stay up very long. I wake up with an alarm, turn it off, sit up in bed for 30 seconds to a minute, and start. Also, the moving and switching sides will definitely keep you up. When I WBTB, I wake up about 4.5 hours after I fall asleep (I set the alarm for a little longer than 4.5 hours to account for the time it takes to fall asleep) and that has worked the best for me. Hope this helps!

Imo most people tend to do wbtbs that are way to short to induce lucidity, but in your case it may be the opposite way around. Try experimenting with a shorter duration and also even if it takes you a while to fall asleep, take the time to just relax and think about lucidity.

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Originally Posted by Kman43759

Okay so last night I went to bed at 11:00, and probably fell asleep half an hour later. I set an alarm clock for 5:00AM, so i heard it and got up and read stuff on my ipod for a while and then went to bed at 6:00AM...... AND THEN I COULDNT SLEEP! I have a few theories why, so please tell me if you think im right, or tell me what you think. I think MAYBE one of the reasons is most nights I go to bed at 10, so maybe I was messing up my sleep cycle, another reason MAY be because ive been sleeping in ALOT LATELY now that im not in school, ive been sleeping in to 11:00 so maybe thats been affecting my REM, another thing I probably did wrong was I kept moving and switchiny sides to lay on
So what do you guys think??

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Occupational hazard :)

In all seriousness, no one can really say why you didn't fall asleep, as it was only one night. There is a German phrase that goes "einmal ist keinmal," meaning "once is never." Not enough info for us to make a solid conjecture. :)

Try again! Keep lucid dreaming!

Reading your iPod.

That's what you did wrong.

Screens, bro. Screens.

The death of WBTBers.

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Originally Posted by SinisterDezz

Reading your iPod.

That's what you did wrong.

Screens, bro. Screens.

The death of WBTBers.

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One of my all-time best LDs came after watching videos and chatting with Sensei on Skype on the computer during a long WBTB where I couldn't sleep. So you never know. Find what works for you and never assume that anything won't/doesn't work.

OP: your body/mind may have already had enough sleep. Learning to fall asleep when more aware is a critical LD skill that takes a lot of practice. It takes time and trial and error to find the right WBTB balance that works for you, keep at it!

I (and Sensei) recommend performing WBTBs erring on the side of falling asleep again, because when you're sleeping you always have a shot at a DILD. But do not rule out longer WBTBs. In fact sometimes I can only fall asleep again after 1-2 hours awake. You just have to learn your own sleep patterns.

Im going to try this again, just this time ill only stay up for 10-15 mins and im just going to sit in the dark

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Originally Posted by FryingMan

One of my all-time best LDs came after watching videos and chatting with Sensei on Skype on the computer during a long WBTB where I couldn't sleep. So you never know. Find what works for you and never assume that anything won't/doesn't work.

OP: your body/mind may have already had enough sleep. Learning to fall asleep when more aware is a critical LD skill that takes a lot of practice. It takes time and trial and error to find the right WBTB balance that works for you, keep at it!

I (and Sensei) recommend performing WBTBs erring on the side of falling asleep again, because when you're sleeping you always have a shot at a DILD. But do not rule out longer WBTBs. In fact sometimes I can only fall asleep again after 1-2 hours awake. You just have to learn your own sleep patterns.

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Agreed. One of my first high-level LDs came after waking up super early to do some last minute computer work, feeling super stressed out, and then falling back asleep after an hour and a half. So!

But many times, the screens can upset your ability to fall back asleep quickly. I totally missed that in your original post!

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Originally Posted by ThreeCat

Agreed. One of my first high-level LDs came after waking up super early to do some last minute computer work, feeling super stressed out, and then falling back asleep after an hour and a half. So!

But many times, the screens can upset your ability to fall back asleep quickly. I totally missed that in your original post!

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I was surprised nobody mentioned it.

And, you are completely right about last minute work. I wrote an essay that we had 2 months to write in less than 2 hours, fell asleep, and had at least 3 LDs that night.

Every single dream would be me writing my paper then realizing that I already finished it, then becoming lucid. :cackle:

If anyone is interested, I got a 100% on the paper.

SinisterDezz, I think that is a thing -- going to sleep after being stressed out, and suddenly becoming lucid. In my dream, my wife and I were being roughed up by this group of thugs. I became lucid, and the thugs turned into hatchet wielding zombies (lol). I've also noticed that if I have to get up early (or just at a specific time) to perform some task -- go to work to be evaluated, complete some time-sensitive project, etc. -- I often dream about either waking up and not getting enough sleep, or actually performing the task. Sometimes I can get an LD off of it :)