Thread: Yay Winter?!?

It is funny that you say that. I was just thinking today about how the last few nights have been sooooooooooo cold...and the last few nights, I haven't remembered a single part of any dream. Maybe my good ol' Wisconsin blood just hasn't kicked it yet. (I can't deal with one day being 54 degrees and three days later it is 18 with a wind chill of 8! Yuck.) I will have to let you know if my dream recall gets any better once I am not in cold shock.

Winter helps my lucidity because it's a major dream sign to not have snow when you have snow outside. Other than that I don't think it affects my recall.

I don't know, I've only been trying to have lucid dreams for a month (but already I've had over a dozen! ) Anyhow, I hate winter. Especially since I live in Buffalo.

Winter is an excellent time of year to WILD!! Yay!
I have been studying & experimenting the seasons, & what effects they have on people. Splash has done the same.... We have come up w/the following results:

Spring:
Recall=
LDing(for beginners)=
Uggh! Seems spring is the most common time for Dry Spells. Depending on the weather can depend on which method is a lot easier (clear makes it easier to DILD, & rain seems to make it easier to WILD).
Summer:
Recall= Neutral
LDing= Neutral
It gets hot here... It does not have the same dry spell effect as the spring, but the heat makes it a lot harder to do methods beyond LDing (difficulty DSing w/Splash, ...?, etc). The heat can actually make it a lot easier to pass out in real time, hence shutting down your LD for a while.
Fall:
Recall=
LDing (or even sleeping at all)=
Like spring, there is possibilty of a Dry Spell, but it is more likely to become an issue w/insomnia (I have noticed that alot of people suffer that in the fall). This is mostly caused by DLST ending.
Winter (got this from last year):
Recall=
LDing=
The best time to LD! Recall can rocket, & LDing seems to get even better. It may be b/c of the cold air (I love that!!). In fact, that is when Splash & I can do more beyond that (DSing, ...??, & more). Also, we admit it is alot easier to WILD then too!
The experiment comes to a close, now, b/c splash & I know already enough!!! How'd you like this one, Howie?

Now that you mentioned it...
Yes, it has increased the last days.
Odd.

I haven't remembered a dream in a whole week

I was sick though, so maybe it will come back?

I live in the SW US so I am fortunate that it only gets down to about the 50s at night. I sleep with my window open until about 3AM, when I wake up. It will be cold, so I'll shut the window and go back to with the fan off sleep for the rest of the night. For all other seasons I use the ceiling fan and no window.

Maybe I should be living in Wisconsin the rest of the year so I get good dream recall the rest of the year.

Nesgirl: I think summer is a little better than the other two months because you get to sleep in longer and have more dreams, leading to a higher expected dream recall, if the probability of remember a dream stays constant.

Originally posted by DistantClone

Nesgirl: I think summer is a little better than the other two months because you get to sleep in longer and have more dreams, leading to a higher expected dream recall, if the probability of remember a dream stays constant.

Agreed, but actually, some people might be a bit weak against the heat of the summer..
And in actuality, b/c it is so hot, Splash & I found that it was a lot harder to try to DS & ....? during this time.

I've found since the nights have gone colder, my dreams have become more vivid, also slightly darker and more distressing.
I put that down to the peppermint tea i drink before bed, a regular night time ritual, and the fact that the nights are longer, mornings are darker, so maybe i have a 'second wind' with regard to dreaming.
I don't know.
Although some of my 'summer dreams' have been pretty vivid.

Originally posted by irishcream
I've found since the nights have gone colder, my dreams have become more vivid, also slightly darker and more distressing.
I put that down to the peppermint tea i drink before bed, a regular night time ritual, and the fact that the nights are longer, mornings are darker, so maybe i have a 'second wind' with regard to dreaming.
I don't know.
Although some of my 'summer dreams' have been pretty vivid.

You bring up a good point. Perhaps part of the reason lucid dreams seem to be more common in winter is that the sun rises later and sets earlier. This means that people not tied down to a strict schedule have more dark hours in which to sleep. It's a well known fact that most REM activity happens in the later hours of sleep, which means more and more dreaming as time goes by. Also, in winter we tend to stay indoors more instead of going outside for physical activities. Experiments have shown that we tend to have more REM sleep after a day of mental activity and more delta (non-REM) sleep after a day of physical activity. Both of these factors may contribute to more dreams and consequently more lucid dreams.

Originally posted by irishcream
I've found since the nights have gone colder, my dreams have become more vivid, also slightly darker and more distressing.
I put that down to the peppermint tea i drink before bed, a regular night time ritual, and the fact that the nights are longer, mornings are darker, so maybe i have a 'second wind' with regard to dreaming.
I don't know.
Although some of my 'summer dreams' have been pretty vivid.

Then again, i'm having to eat my words, because yesterday and this morning i've really had to work at it!

I don't know about you guys but I love winter! Sledding is still a pastime which I partake in quite often. And yes, my recall had spiked slightly but I have always had a good recall (2-3 dreams a night). But now my dreams seem a bit more vivid and I had my first LD last night. It was only for a few seconds but I have passed an important milestone in my book. Well, I look forward to more snow and more LD's.

Winter is my favorite season!

I'm a summer dreamer myself (mainly because then I have time to keep a journal), though the winter isn't too bad for lucid dreaming. Autumn seems to be the worst time for me, what with the workload I get then. (Though I don't really need lucid dreaming in the autumn, it's a beautiful season so I can get all my inspiration from that.)

Well, looking back over the years...as for dream recall it seems about the same for me all the time. Not one time is better than others. I usually can remember my dreams pretty well, and always have. Unless I write them down I will eventually forget them, like a couple days later, but unless they had a lasting impact, I can't see a reason to remember them anyway.

As for lucid dreaming, I can't really say as I've only had a couple before I found this site, so it's hard to say if the seasons change it. It'll be interesting to find out over the next six months