Is Darkness a key?

Recently for most of this year I have been unable to lucid dream, this has been most frustrating for me as I have been a natural since I was a boy and would have at least 2 or 3 a month without even trying. I had some breakthroughs with Galantamine and choline and used them whenever I wanted to be lucid with about 75% success rate but for many month of this year nothing worked, I dream journal every day, draw and paint my more interesting dreams, perform constant reality checks throughout the day, read all I can on lucid dreaming techniques, eat a dream diet and take many supplements and dream teas on a nightly basis.. and nothing has worked in in nearly 8 months! last night I installed a black out blind, this was the velcro sort that attaches to your window frame. My bedroom was complete inky blackness, so dark I could not tell if my eyes were open. I had 3 or 4 continuous lucid dreams that lasted long periods of time and woke feeling extremely rested this morning. I have read that complete darkness helps the pineal gland to function better, this is what lead me to darken my room it could be a coincidence but I have a feeling the darkness was a key factor in my recent lucid success.

Any thoughts?

INteresting.

Congrats on figuring out something that worked for you :) hopefully others can try it out and get the success.

I have an issue with my room being overly bright in the mornings, so I bought a cheapo sleeping mask. I didn't really feel any major improvement, except for the mask helping with false awakening, keeping eyes closed upon awakening and keeping the light out. I thought about trying to shut out the light somehow, but there's nothing I can hang a sheet or blanket onto :|

How long has it been since you blacked out your room? I might try this out.

I blacked out my room last night and BAM! loads of LDs with false awakenings that went into further lucid dreams.

I used hook Velcro around my window frame and had a big sheet of black out material that I cut to the size of my window that I stuck loop Velcro tape. I have been using a sleeping mask for years but always find the light comes through the bottom, I’ve been interested in Ayahuasca shamanic visions for a while now and read that this is done in a completely dark room, I guess this was what initially sparked the idea. Well its only day one and this could have been a placebo effect of the darkness or a coincidence but I’ve got high hopes and it felt so much more restful in complete darkness I will continue to sleep like this from now on. I will keep you posted if I have any further success with this recent change to my routine.

Please note that I do regular RCs and take supplements, dream journal and meditate, + many many more things for lucid success this is just a recent breakthrough that I wanted to share and gauge opinions on.

It is indeed one of the keys to Lucid Dreaming.

I, for example, wake up naturally at about 9-10 AM. If I want to have a Lucid Dream, I put on my sleeping mask the second I wake up and literally seconds after I do that I'm in a dream.

You don't need your room blacked out completely, only your eyes need to be tricked that it is black -> you can use whatever you want, for instance when I didn't yet have a sleeping mask I simply put a t-shirt over my head and that seemed to do most of the magic.

That is because, when you wake up, your REM period is still active and strong and stays like that for a couple of HOURS (that's why you can have amazing LDs when you are just taking an afternoon nap). And when you black out your room or simply darken your eyes, the body thinks it is sleep time and bam - suddenly you are in a lucid dream - because you weren't tired enough to fall asleep, BUT your body was still not woken up completely.

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Originally Posted by thefunze

I blacked out my room last night and BAM! loads of LDs with false awakenings that went into further lucid dreams.

I used hook Velcro around my window frame and had a big sheet of black out material that I cut to the size of my window that I stuck loop Velcro tape. I have been using a sleeping mask for years but always find the light comes through the bottom, I’ve been interested in Ayahuasca shamanic visions for a while now and read that this is done in a completely dark room, I guess this was what initially sparked the idea. Well its only day one and this could have been a placebo effect of the darkness or a coincidence but I’ve got high hopes and it felt so much more restful in complete darkness I will continue to sleep like this from now on. I will keep you posted if I have any further success with this recent change to my routine.

Please note that I do regular RCs and take supplements, dream journal and meditate, + many many more things for lucid success this is just a recent breakthrough that I wanted to share and gauge opinions on.

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Keep us all updated, I'm definitely considering blacking out my room to see if it helps.

There's a blackout shade available that doesn't require anything to hang it from or installing velcro tape or anything - it's pretty ingenious really. Instead they include 3 long fiberglass rods with rubber tips - you cut the rods so they're an inch longer than your window frame is wide, put the rubber tips on, and then you flex the rods so you can fit them inside the frame and they straighten out as much as they can, acting like springs and holding the piece of fabric in place. One rod goes across the top, one the bottom and one in the middle to hold it very securely. Let me see if I can find the name of it…

Here - it's called the Shift Shade. Oh oops - you're in Australia - guess they probably don't have the same product there. But yu might be able to use the same principle.

Here's a pic in case my description was confusing and useless:

Attachment 7590

You might be able to cut some flexible sticks or something and bow them like that - you can just make out where they are in the picture.

Hello Quick update, Night 2 after installing the blinds I had a further 2 lucid dreams (shorter ones this time) - Though I am aware darkness is not the only ingredient required to incubate lucid dreams, I have always had issues with light when sleeping and felt even with a sleeping mask the light that came through always irritated me. With a totally dark room I am having more restful enjoyable sleep. the following 2 nights I had just regular dreams. I previously have had around 3 to 10 LDs per month without any full on practice so will be interesting to see if this count improves with a blacked out room.

I normally sleep in really bright rooms, so I've been wearing a sleep mask for my year of LD practice, and I find that if I'm near a bright window in my room and take off the mask then recall is a bit harder.

I've done some business travelling and slept in almost totally blacked out rooms, but didn't notice any increased incidence of lucidity. Of course the issue may have been the jet-lag I was experiencing.

I've gotten used to the feel of the sleep mask now and even find it sort of a welcome sensation, without it I feel "exposed", it's sort of like a security blanket I guess :)

OP what happened to you happened to me almost identically. I've had around 30 lucid dreams or so but I've barely had any dreams this whole year due to lack of effort. I recently blacked out my room a few weeks ago which resulted in me getting much more restful sleep (prior to me blacking out my room I suffered from milk insomnia). After blacking out my room I have been able to fall asleep faster and sleep for longer periods of time. I just recently decided to give WILDing a shot again and put in a good WILD attempt last night resulting in two 10 minute lucid dreams. I was able WILD fairly easily, something I was not able to do, prior to blacking out my room. I've been deterred from attempting WILDs in the past because of my low success rate and losing sleep in the process. However I'm now much more motivated to put effort in them again now and I feel confident I'll have lucids again tonight.

The timing of this thread and similar events of the OP to mine are strange!

Scizorist, is also strange you should mention your recent success in wilding as I have had a very similar experience, I previously had WILDed by accident only once or twice when I was younger ( ihad tired a few times throughout my life but without any official technique without success) but since blacking out my room (I WILDed using methods learned on this site and google) and had the most incredible LD experience of my life I had roughly 15 false awakenings when I finally woke I was not sure for the whole day if I was still in a dream or not and had to keep on performing reality checks, throughout this epically long LD, During this LD I stopped flying out of my window and started using the front door instead for fear that when I eventually wake for real I might wake up and jump out the window!
My LD dream count has gone through the roof since blacking out my room but I cannot say for sure if it is the primary cause for my recent success as I have been intently studying techniques, all day awareness, and meditating 2 to 5 times a day, eating well + much more.