Getting Back Into Things (And Questions!)

Its been such a long time since I seriously attempted lucid dreaming. About a year or two ago during my sophomore year in High School and part of my junior year, I had a pretty good thing going. I remember a good amount of my dreams and practiced reality checks but I got out of the loop when summer hit. I started staying up REALLY late which kinda messed everything up. Anyways I'm back, and hopefully for good. I'm 100% out of practice and I had a few questions.

- What time do you guys go to bed? If you set an alarm for WBTB, what time is that alarm set ?

- If i have to wake up at about 6:00-6:30am, what bed time/alarms would you set?

- Should I write down my dreams, or should I record them with my voice?

- Has FILD worked for anyone?

Thanks everyone!

After about 5 hours of sleep you start dreaming a lot more due to the longer REM periods. FILD seems to be a proven technique. Do a WBTB if you have trouble staying conscious for 15 minutes for a WILD or MILD attempt. Regarding dream recall, do whatever's best for you, both methods work fine.

I am in the same boat as you, sir. I went to bed at a reasonable hour last night and it improved my recall exponentially! Follow regular sleeping guidelines. Get at least 8-10 hours a night. Alarms and such, you should be able to figure out enough for yourself. Here is an infographic telling you how much you should have: Experts Suggest Your Ideal Sleep Duration (Infographic) Depending on your age, it may be different.

I heard either works, really. Voice or writing. As long as it is recorded in some way. Best of luck to you. :]

Thanks for your responses :)

I first go over dreams mentally, until I can build up and remember well a list of key words representing all the scenes I remember, then (optionally) I voice record notes during the night, as much detail as I want to (typically just key words these days), and do full write-ups in the morning, referring to the voice notes if necessary. Funny thing is that the more I do this, the less and less I need to refer to the voice notes during the full write-up. The key part is the mentally going over and over the memories right after waking, until you feel like they're well-established in your longer-term memory. Reach for dream recall *every* *single* *time* you find yourself awake, and you'll have great recall soon. The more important recall is to you, the better the recall you'll build.

I'd say the place to start with is focus on recall, then work on adding in daytime awareness work and nighttime WBTB/(all the *-ILDs: MILD, WILD, DEILD, etc.). My tips on building recall: FryingMan's Dream Recall Tips