Thread: Age and Lucidity

Lenscaper, I was just rereading your original post on this topic....

Originally Posted by lenscaper

I am 67 years old....a young 67, though.

I stumbled into lucid dreaming three weeks ago when a pretty incongruous event in a somewhat threatening dream caused me to say, "Wait....this is a dream!" I was able to change the circumstances and deal with the issue at hand and I woke up profoundly amazed.

Amazing experience! Did you even know the term "lucid dream" when that happened to you?

Originally Posted by lenscaper

Since then things have happened very quickly....it's a bit like an ember falling on a dry brush pile. In these last three weeks I have searched out every bit of info I can find on this amazing thing called lucid dreaming and I have immersed myself in "lucidity training". I have said those same words in three different dreams in that time. Almost all of my dreams seem to now have some degree of lucidity and I feel it having a very interesting effect on my life in general.

Sounds like you're a natural LDing person! That's so great!

Originally Posted by lenscaper

Any other old folks out there that can relate to this?

I can, except I was only 5-10 years old when I had a spontaneous LD that was similar to your experience, including the threatening aspect. A bee was chasing me. Suddenly I realized it was a dream, so I stopped, looked at the bee, and told it to go ahead and sting me. It just flew away in disgust. I was amazed at the idea of being able to realize I was dreaming during a dream, but at that young age I didn't know what to do with it. However, I never forgot about it. As an adult, I eventually got into LDing. Mostly I found that supplements worked best for me. (Galantamine, choline bitartrate, theanine, nicotine, etc.)

Originally Posted by lenscaper

How does age affect the ability to experience lucid dreams as a beginner?

I'm now almost 64. I'm not a beginner, but also don't consider myself to be an expert. Anyway, as I got older, I gradually got to the point where LD supplements usually gave me insomnia. So I pretty much stopped using them for the last 10 or 15 years.

Then late last year I was discussing LD supplements with someone on another forum (Deep Dreaming). He mentioned the idea of using extended-release supplements. I thought they might be worth a try, because they might not give me insomnia. Unfortunately there's no such thing as extended-release LD supplements. At least I couldn't find any. However, in searching for them, I found something even better: empty delayed-release capsules that can be filled with whatever supplement you want. I ordered some online. It turns out they work perfectly! So now I'm using LD supplements regularly, without them causing any insomnia. Basically the delayed-release capsules provide enough time for me to get to sleep before the effects of the supplements kick in.