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How can sleeping during the day effect your ability to become lucid? I've been on third shift for the past two years now and it seems that lucidity just becomes harder and harder to obtain. I feel my main issue is that my sleep schedule is not regular, I never go to sleep (or wake up) at the same time. What can I do to get on a regular sleep schedule? Also, I sleep with a very loud fan to drown out any 'daytime' noises, could this also effect anything with LDs, dream recall, etc.?
^ Off-topic much :P
The problem isn't so much sleeping during the day: there are several benefits for taking naps and in many cultures is actually something pretty common. The problem is like you very well pointed, not going to bed/waking up at the same time, as this can disrupt your circadian cycle and influence the quality of your sleep.
As someone who does shifts (yesterday I got up at 5am, today I'm working till 1am, tomorrow till 4am), it's more important to find a balance in the middle of the chaos. Study your work hours and see how can you fit the biggest amount of sleep in the most consistent way possible: it's better to loose 1/2 hours of sleep if it means you're waking up at a closer hour than the rest of the week. At the same time, don't sleep in, but instead go to bed earlier when you want to compensate for lack of sleep. The most important thing is sleep quality, not quantity (I believe there's one study that shows that 8 hours of sleep with constant awakenings end up being as harmful as 4 hours of sleep).
If you have no troubles falling/continuing sleeping, it doesn't harm you. Much more important are things like the room-temperature, light exposure, etc. In fact, the fan might actually increase your sleep quality by silencing those noises (I have the same problem due neighbors :P).Quote:
Also, I sleep with a very loud fan to drown out any 'daytime' noises, could this also effect anything with LDs, dream recall, etc.?
PS: another study (wil link it later), shows that the way YOU FEEL about the amount of sleep you get also matters (placebo ofc): when you sleep few hours, don't think "no dreams, no recall, blaah!" but instead "yay, more rem next night!"
Just realized I'm late for work yay :panic:
So what I'm getting from this is that I want to fall asleep and wake up at the same time everyday, but at the very least wake up at the same time every day?Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoth
Yeah, I've always had to sleep with a fan on, sleeping in silence just isn't possible for me, lol. I have my window blacked out to keep sunlight out, fan on to drown out noises, and I sleep in a pretty cool temperature for the most part (although I always wake up sweaty, haha). So I think I'm set in the comfortably area.
I actually try to avoid sleeping during day. I don't feel very comfortable after that, it's like someone hit me with a baseball bat in my head :D.
Varying the time you go to sleep and wake up can sometimes promote lucidity. Especially, if you normally wake up at particular hour, and then on occasion you sleep in after that hour, your mind will be primed to be awake... which can raise your chances to get lucid. I've also found that on the rare days that I go to bed several hours earlier than normal, this can lead to a longer WBTB during the night, which can also help me get lucid.
As for the hours that are best for you to sleep, that depends on your body's natural clock, which is not necessarily identical to that of other people. Look up "advanced sleep phase" and "delayed sleep phase" syndrome. Whether you have one of these or a "normal" sleep pattern will affect the hours that you feel good about being asleep or waking up. You probably already know where you fall on the spectrum, so your best bet would be to get as much sleep during your ideal hours as you can, even if you have to break it up into multiple sleep phases. If you have to break it up for your work schedule, don't feel bad... just treat it like a hardcore WBTB and stay positive about getting lucid!
I work nights (I think it's into the third shift schedule) so I have to go to bed early and I use to take a full sleep cycle nap after work. I cannot sleep more unless I'm really exhausted, which usually turns into two sleep cycles. Of course it's not as regular as I would like because of family issues, but I try to keep focused in this full-cycle system. What I take into account is, as Zoth said, sleep quality. I mean, I already know from previous experiences how long does it last for me to complete a sleep cycle, so I always take that into account in order to take advantage of how much time is left, it doesn't matter if I can sleep two or three cycles as long as they are not interrupted.
About the amount of noise around, I had an analog clock in my room (those which use to make that hypnotic slow march sound) and I was surprised about how my mind turned all those sounds into the dream with no problem if not simply cancelled them. I think it's better to have that sort of curtain to cover annoying neighbor's noises.
Time to go to bed by the way :wink:
P.s. Forgot to mention, right now I'm recovering my lucid frequency, although I think it has to deal more with my intentions than on how much sleep I have. Some good lucids took place during those naps as an example.