Thread: Wake back to Bed issues and frustrations....

Well, all I know is that twice I've gotten lucid after being up a couple hours and going back to sleep.
One night I got 4h of sleep, got up, went to teach 7th grade some physics and got home to sleep a bit before afternoon lectures. Instant lucid dream in the morning nap.

Best way to figure that out would be some device that detects if you are in REM or not, but I think you are fine.

There is nothing wrong with the WBTB, the only problem I see is going to bed so late. What is important so late at night that you cannot get to it in the morning? Many disagree, but actually sleeping at night is healthier and most of what i have seen is that the healthier you are, the easier it is to LD.

I am not saying it is impossible, or even hard, but harder. Even if you went to bed at midnight, and got another hour after your prayer time, I think that you would start to see a big difference.

Ok thanks guys! Yeah, I can definitely see going to bed late being a big negative. I'm trying to sleep earlier, but I keep getting caught up in all the work I have to finish. But I'll definitely try sleeping better though.

I stay up until between 1-3 am 4 nights a week and it does not negatively affect my LD practice. We all have different sleep rhythms and I like to respect mine. I think our culture thinks it's bad (morally, health wise, etc) but I don't know why. I think Laberge recommended staying awake for 30 mins to a couple of hours so I don't think this would reset your REM cycle. It sounds like you have been doing this already. How is it working for you? Are you doing a MILD or WILD technique after your prayers?

I know it's just anecdotal, but I've personally found, after years of experimenting, that getting to sleep around 3am, waking at 8am, and then a minimum 20-minute WBTB yield by far the best lucid results for me.

That said, DreamBeard, I think your real risk here isn't the staying up late part, but the fact that you're only getting 3 hours' sleep before your WBTB when you're up until 3am. WBTB tends to work best after 5 or so hours' sleep, and three might not be enough to properly catch that REM "sweet spot" that is the very reason WBTB works.

Also, I think your WBTB as described -- as long as you're asleep by 1am -- seems almost textbook perfect; if you are avoiding using phones, TV, or having lengthy conversations, then your walk to prayers, and probably the praying itself, seem an excellent use of WBTB time. Also, yes, if your WBTB is less than 90 minutes, you likely will not interrupt your sleep cycle. Exposure to light is an issue, but I think that if you can keep your mind calm and your thoughts dreamy, that exposure might not be able to fully wake you up on its own.

Awesome! Thanks for that extra bit of information Sageous! I figured the prayer part would actually, in some ways, be a positive since it is basically a form of meditation. For the light exposure, maybe an alternative to "reducing" that light exposure could be wearing something such as a dark tinted sunglasses (as silly as it may seem). I do avoid cell-phones. So that shouldn't be too much of problem.

Thanks! I'm going to be experimenting around tonight hopefully. It'll be a while to become lucid though since the last time I became lucid was a couple of months ago.