Anyone else struggle to get up for WBTBs?

[draksi]

I have a reasonably good success rate for wilds if I do a half hour wbtb however I have a massive problem in that I can't get up. Yesterday I woke up for a wbtb, and in my confused half asleep state I convinced myself that I was awake enough to wild and promptly went straight back to sleep. Last night I put my phone on the other side of the room and I have no recollection of turning the alarm off at all. I do this 90% of the time. Either I just turn the alarm and go straight back to sleep or I have no recollection of the alarm the next morning. Anyone else afflicted with this extreme half asleep laziness, and has anyone found a solution?

[AnotherDreamer]

Hahaha yes I definitely struggle with WBTBs. I have long preferred to simply stick to some micro WBTB's where I just go to the toilet while I say some positive affirmations about how many lucid dreams I am going to have. I even struggle sometimes to WILD or DEILD when it's handed to me on a silver platter. My partner has intentionally woken me up in the past during REM sleep, while telling me that I can DEILD right now if I want, but I always told her that I was too tired to DEILD. I'm sorry that I don't have a solution, I am pretty happy with my micro-wbtb's though!

[draksi]

I've tried just going to the toilet, but I need to stay up 20-25mins otherwise I just fall asleep in no time at all. It's ridiculous how good lucid dreaming is and how little motivation you can have when you've just woken up.

[Saizaphod]

I had the same problem with immediately falling back to sleep for many years, until just recently I realized that it's okay to sacrifice the first non-lucid dreams of the night. I had been trying to recollect them while staying still, not moving a muscle, and snap I was a sleep again and I had missed the chance for WBTB. Recalling NonLD's < proper WBTB.

[Tipharot]

First: Put your alarm at the other side of the room so you have to get up to get it. Standing up/getting out of bed is pretty much the simplest way to stop yourself being too sleepy and falling right back asleep. For people who have trouble falling back asleep the opposite is true and they need to avoid movement altogether or even sitting up in bed if they want a chance at falling back asleep - but for people struggling not to pass back out, just force yourself to have to get up and move to the other side of the room to turn off your alarm, and you should be good. Since you already seem to be doing that. Next thing I suggest is not allowing yourself to get back in bed after you've used the bathroom. Get on your PC, or write in your dream journal, or read a book, but don't get back into bed, or you'll get more sleepy. You can even go get washed and brush your teeth etc if you're one of those people who finds it REALLY easy to get back to sleep even after being up a while, or grab a small snack. Or hell, pop into wherever you keep any vitamins you might have, and take some high (50mg-150mg) amount of B6, since B6 is great for dreams. --- Also, if you're really struggling with this, just use the LD method I use: > Wake up after those ~6 hours or however long you sleep to ensure you're in REM > Repeat a phrase like "I will be lucid in my next dream" anywhere from 20-30 times in your head, or however long or short you feel comfortable doing. If you're so drowsy you can barely repeat it a few times, then just do it like 3-5 times. If on the other hand you're capable of repeating it until you fall asleep, do that. Just do what feels comfortable for you. > Go back to sleep. It's really that simple and it's honestly the LD method I use most often - the reason I use it is pretty much the exact reason you've been having trouble with WBTB - when I wake up, I'm often so sleepy I just want to go straight back to bed. I don't want to lay there performing some technique, or get up and wait for 30 minutes to pass. No I just want to go straight back to sleep. This method allows me to spend 30~ seconds repeating a phrase in my head, then do just that, and it gets me lucid about 1/3 of the time. So do it for 3 nights, and you should get lucid at least once. That's not as high a success rate as some of the more active methods out there - but it's great if you wake up as sleepy as you say you do.

[DoubleHelix]

I'm one of those who gets up every night pretty much the same time to pee. I'm cursed with the inability to fall back to sleep once up. Whether I lay back down or chose to read, it's usually an hour all tolled. That having been said, virtually all my most vivid non-lucids, as well as my lucid dreams have been prompted by a WBTB.

[cooleymd]

Before I started trying to Lucid I used to have more trouble falling asleep but all the wbtb and intention setting have helped me learn to fall asleep more easily. I do sometimes get insomnia from piles of supplements tho But since I like to wake after every cycle I include in my mantra 'I will wake after my dreams' and also drink lots of water on each awakening. I have recently begun to practice sleep disruption on a night where I never get much sleep anyway (wed night I get home like 9pm have to be up at 5am). On this night I set an alarm for 9pm and 10pm but am almost always awake when they go off. I reset them for 11 and 12, usually I am asleep by 12 and often by 11. These alarms wake me from deep sleep, each time I set alarms for next hours 1am 2am, but usually I begin to wake up just a few minutes before every hour (when the alarm would have gone off), and my sleep cycle adjusts to be awake for less than 5 min, then asleep for like 50 min then wake up before alarm, (journal) wait for alarm then reset. I often set the alarm for the last time at 3:00am and sometimes have a lucid at like 4:40 or so (because my brain is staying in light sleep and is afraid to go into deep sleep, having an active mind and usual wake up time cause me to be more likely to trigger) On other nights and this one falling asleep and waking after dreams becomes more automatic. (plus I get lots of experience falling asleep, and journaling a pile of dreams). I think the fact that I know an alarm is going to wake me soon helps me to actually fall asleep, If I am just laying in bed with an alarm at 5:12 in the the morning and its is many hours away sometimes I can't get to sleep.