Sleeping in different places

[Burns]

I was on vacation last week and had extremely vivid dreams evey single night I was away from home, though only 1 was lucid. I'm wondering if sleeping in different places plays a big role on dreams. Has anyone else had any weird dreaming experiences while not sleeping in your regular bed?

[Tornado Joe]

Well I'm not sure if sleeping in different place would help with vividness, but I could see how it would with lucidity. Lucidity is based on the level of awareness of our minds during a dream. So (in theory) when people sleep in a place that is not "home", there could be a little feeling of discomfort. Sort of like not being safe. You may not actually feel this when you go to sleep, but I bet our subconscious keeps this in mind and (as a defense mechanism?) keeps you from either falling into a deep sleep, or just keeping from staying into deep sleep for too long. Your mind is sort of in a slight "ALERT" mode (or like in them nuclear war movies... DEFCON 3!) Either way, you're awareness level is more likely to increase while you're in a dream - which is the main ingredient for havin a lucid.

[Peregrinus]

I experience more vivid dreams and more lucid dreams almost every time I go on vacation or move, so long as I get a decent amount of sleep. When I was doing an internship this fall, I had a lucid dream a night for about a week before things started to settle back to normalcy. I’m with Tornado Joe as to the reasons why lucid dreams are more frequent when sleeping in unfamiliar places. Actually, I'm looking forward to taking advantage of my mind's discomfort when I travel this weekend. So long as I'm able to fall asleep, the dreams should be fun.

[shark!]

When I went away for 3 nights and slept in a condo I had 3 semi-lucids, one each night. This almost never happens to me. But when I sleep in my not normal bed, the one downstairs, I never have lucids.

[wombing]

upon consideration, i can't think of a single time since i learned lucid dreaming that i've slept away from a familiar environment...i've passed out at various locations, but that isn't very conducive to LDing although i'll be visiting family for 4 days this weekend, so i'll have a chance to see what happens. TJ's theory makes sense.

[gibbsman]

I went camping this last weekend with my two sons and was sleeping on the hard ground. I didn't hardly sleep a wink all night long and so by the time morning rolled around I was tired. You'd think that this would cause you to not have LD's, but I had two of the most vivid and lengthy LD's to date. I think it must be due to the hard ground not allowing me to get into a good deep sleep. I was really sad when my sons woke up, after sleeping like babies all night long, and interrupted my LD. Oh well! It was a lot of fun while it lasted!

[btowntkd]

Ditto. Actually, the first time I started having lucid dreams was when I started house-sitting for a friend of the family. I was all along in the house at night, every night. My recall and my lucidity rate skyrocketed. That was actually what promted me to search the internet on the topic of lucid dreaming (though at the time, I didn't know what it was called).

[Courtney Mae]

I guess that just means we'll all have to sleep around. Ok, heh, not funny. Anyway, I've experienced the same thing. For whatever reason, I get alot more dreams in hotels than anywhere.

[Scruffy]

I started living in the dorm this year, but I still go home on the weekends, so I end up spending usually one night per week sleeping in a different bed. I find that I get a lucid dream about 75% of the time when I sleep at home, though I have otherwise been stuck in quite a dry spell, with very few lucid dreams. Last summer, I was on a bicycle trip, and camped in a small tent during the night. Between the exhaustion from riding 50-100 miles each day and sleeping in the tent, I had an i mpressive number of lucid dreams. One night, I managed 3 in a row using the dream reenty technique, which had me pretty stoked. Sleeping in unfamiliar or different placed definitely seems to make a difference, and I'll bet the alertness hypothesis is probably right. Hmm, maybe I should give that beanbag in my room a try every so often...

[Gwendolyn]

This makes total sense! Sometimes, when I am away, even in naps I'll have these very vivid dreams (not always an LD). I mean, it doesn't happen every time, but it does happen more than just a few...

[Tornado Joe]

Well if what I suggested earlier is the cause of this phenomenon, then it might not be necessary to sleep in a new environment all the time. What if you simply made somekind of change in your current habitat? For instance, what if you had someone sleep over at your house? It might change your levels of 'alertness' enough to effect your sleep - knowing that there's someone else in your home. How about you mommies out there - didn't your sleep change after having a newborn in the house? (not necessarily referring to sleepless nights where baby cried every however often they do ) This would make an interesting experiment: having somone spend a night or two at YOUR place compared to spending a night or two somewhere else. I got a guestroom!

[Wolffe]

I reckon its probably mostly down to change in routine/habit that causes these changes, meaning you sleep more/less, resulting in better/worse recall/lucid-frequency :3

[godfather89]

lol jus a reply to "burns" yea, this afternoon I uncovered some info. that ppl likely to go into a vivid or lucid dream and have sleep paralysis are those who sleep in a different enviornment temporarily. according to wikipedia source on sleep paralysis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_p...ossible_causes

[JaphyR]

Putting your bed in a different location is a pretty simple change of sleep environment. Turn it 90 degrees for a week. I dream more vividly when I'm traveling, and I think it's a matter of staying more alert overall, and the overall stimulation of having new experiences. Travel is great for the spirit, and this translates to a more active subconscious.

[godfather89]

is there any prefered method to Lucid Dreaming induction than while travelling?

[Pyrox]

I guess that just means we'll all have to sleep around. Ok, heh, not funny. Anyway, I've experienced the same thing. For whatever reason, I get alot more dreams in hotels than anywhere. [/b] Hey I was going to say the same exact thing!

[godfather89]

TIP: Sleep on the other side of ur bed...