Leaving T.V. on while going to sleep, good, bad?

Hi, just found this board today, very interesting, i've had a few lucid dreams in my life (including flying dreams), and am interested in pursuing it.

I have a question though (which you've already read in the thread title), I leave the t.v. on while going to sleep. usually in 'sleep' mode to turn off after a couple hours. (one reason for this is that i tend to have a hard time falling asleep, takes hours sometimes).

is this likely to interfere with lucid dreaming, i tried searching but haven't found any threads relating to this. in the past i have found that the t.v. will sometimes trigger dreams for me (i hear it while asleep and start dreaming about what's going on on the tube). and in a few cases it's helped me remember dreams when i see something on the t.v. awake that is associated with a dream i had.


so on the surface it seems ok to me, although maybe likely to break concentration? anyone have any constructive advice?

Hi Trichome!
I like falling asleep with the TV on in the day, I think the tv programs enter my dream and give me vivid images. Im not sure whether it aids lucid dreaming tho, you could always set your tv to come on while your dreaming, maybe you will hear it and realise you are dreaming.

Yea it seems to help you have dreams, its normally of whats on tv. Some times you can get confused if you are remebering something that was on tv or in the dream. I think you might even fall asleep faster though it isn't really a deep sleep. I don't think you will become lucid doing that though, because when you become more aware you will just wake up instead.

just DONT watch the clinton testimony while ur falling asleep, you might go insane while you're sleeping. I have tried falling asleep with the t.v. on before, I cant do it :(

It's okay, as long as you don't fall asleep during the 24 hour long reruns of Star Wars, because you'll be muttering them for the rest of your life:

Boss: What's the company's finincal status?
You: Klingons on the starboard bow!
Boss: What? Another anti trust lawsuit?
You: Star date 3.0342!
Boss: Uh?
You: Beam me up, scotty!
Boss: You're fired, bye.
You: Spock, look out!

I fell asleep watching kim possible...(my bro was watching it it was on tv.)

That night I dreamt of being Kim and flying around in my jet pack.. :P

...i share a room wit my sis....and she has to keep the tv on to fall asleep......ive found that sometimes the charaters or voices that are on the tv...play into my dreams...i remember once...one of those fitness machine sellers came on as i fell asleep...and i remember 2 gay guys doin excersizes sayine 1 and 2 and 3 and 4....in my dreams was real odd....but...other times it gets my mind jumbled...and will ruin my concentration....ive found i cant b lucid as i dream wit distartions like that..but thats just me personally...every1s mind is different..hmm if yer wondering for advise....a sleep timer would work..if its bothering u...or keep the volume low....or just barry yourself into yer pillow...well.....juwst try different things...never no wat it could spark or corrupt....

stay up

I like the feeling of falling asleep as I listen to the TV, the sound gets more distant and echo'y as if im going down a tunnel away from the set.
anyone else notice this?

Yeah, I have a problem with falling asleep unless I have some music or the t.v. on. It usually will still take me about 40 min at the least to fall asleep. One thing I have found though is that the t.v. and music (more so music, in my case) will cause me to have much more realistic dreams and in turn lucid dreams.

(By the way: One period is enough to let me know when to breathe :) .)

i would argue that television is equivalent to electronic heroin. interesting link: http://dieoff.org/page21.htm . I've been watching a decent amount of television recently, conscious that I was disconnecting from reality, and i noticed that there were definitely symptoms of addiction, disassociation from reality. i don't think falling asleep to the t.v. is a good idea...seems like a very hazy, unconscious proposition. better to get yourself good and tired and listen to crickets or something, music if you need some noise...

although i do think it's important to ask yourself, why do i need noise and distraction in order to relax and rest?

I find the sound of the telly on low volume very relaxing. I also like the high frequency noise it makes. Off topic: None of my friends can hear this noise, but I can tell if a telly's on without looking, and the telly on mute. Tell me, do I have higher frequency hearing, or do I just have ignorant friends who don't appreciate the small things?

when i sleep with the t.v. on, the words enter my dream, and my mind generates pictures to go with the words

I need distraction in order to sleep, because until I moved off of base housing the sound of the airplanes put me to sleep, and now I don't have that. (And plus, I 'daydream' about the battles of yoshimi...)

Quote:

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Originally posted by jwg
i would argue that television is equivalent to electronic heroin. interesting link: http://dieoff.org/page21.htm . I've been watching a decent amount of television recently, conscious that I was disconnecting from reality, and i noticed that there were definitely symptoms of addiction, disassociation from reality. i don't think falling asleep to the t.v. is a good idea...seems like a very hazy, unconscious proposition. better to get yourself good and tired and listen to crickets or something, music if you need some noise...

although i do think it's important to ask yourself, why do i need noise and distraction in order to relax and rest?

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thank goodness someone views it that way. i just found this post, and was about to speak of the evils of the box, but you beat me to it. excellent link.

i live with my girlfriend and her brother. we're all pretty poor,
so we have no cable, and never bothered with putting an antennae on
our television. i was definitely happy with this turn of events, as they are both intelligent and thoughtful people.

but recently my father began taping cartoon network and the sci fi channel and bringing the tapes over when he visits. even worse, my room mate has been downloading massive amounts of shows through limewire.

our apartment went from productivity (people reading books, making jewelry, being social with our friends, writing, playing music, intellectual arguing/conversation) to the exact opposite. my room mate now has marathon show watchings in which he leaves the room only to urinate, spending the rest of his time watching digitized television and sleeping. my girlfriend isn't so bad, but now she comes home, pops in a tape of television, and just sits on the couch until she passes out.

even though they have the capability to think, they waste all of their free time zoning out on non-interactive 'entertainment'. a complete turn around from the way we used to live.

it was even hard for me to try to write tonight, with the television blaring two feet away in my bedroom, and i am adamantly against the tube.

i don't wish to sound like a prosthylitizing neo-luddite. i feel television is a lot more damaging than anything else, and i would not want it poisoning my dreams.

I use to listen to audio books when I go to sleep.
It's very relaxing, and I fell asleep faster than I do when I don't listen to any audio books.

The audio books have also sometimes made my dreams more cool. :D

I hope and believe that this audio books will be a dreamsign for me in the future, since I always let them play when I sleeps :idea:

i didn't know so many people did this.

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Originally posted by padfoot
i didn't know so many people did this.

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It rocks with audio books or radio shows both when you are waiting to fell asleep, and of course when you sleeps.
I have had several dreams where the replies are the same as in the radio show.
It is a passive method to "control" your dreams if you have little succes with lucid dreaming.
If you for instance want to have a science fiction- related dream, listen to a science fiction radio show or audio book.
It is really worth a try. :)

I guess it would be okay in sleep mode. After all, we aren't in REM sleep for a while right? You should be carefull though.
I once fell asleep on the couch at my grandmas house. They started watching a movie After I went to sleep. I had a very Vivid Nightmare that a king cobra snake was crawling up my body slowly........! It was almost to my neck when my Grandma woke me up. She said I was gasping and sort of sqealling in my sleep. I wasn't lucid, thank god she woke me. I was freaking out!
Then when I told her what I was dreaming she said that they were watching a movie about that very kind of Snake. So the TV , radio must sneak in there into your subconcious somehow.
star****

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Originally posted by Kaniaz
It's okay, as long as you don't fall asleep during the 24 hour long reruns of Star Wars, because you'll be muttering them for the rest of your life:

Boss: What's the company's finincal status?
You: Klingons on the starboard bow!
Boss: What? Another anti trust lawsuit?
You: Star date 3.0342!
Boss: Uh?
You: Beam me up, scotty!
Boss: You're fired, bye.
You: Spock, look out!

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Star Trek..?

I've always listened to the radio when I sleep, but I don't watch too much TV (less than an hour a week). Still, radio has given positive effects to my dreams. When the morning show DJs come on in the morning I realize it in my dreams and am able to wake up on time/go lucid if I can sleep in that day. I can also faintly hear the music in the background of my dreams, which rocks, and I also experience an increase in vividness and lucidity when a song I like comes on. So, I'd say that it couldn't be too bad.
-Just to note, I also can hear those high-frequency noises from TVs, but they're quite annoying for me, so I prefer to keep to lower-power appliances in my room (I still have a dial-phone because key pad and cordless phones kept me up at night. I also had to get rid of my TV and computer...) Anyway, I've noticed that not everybody can hear it, or at least they don't notice any more. So, I'd say that it might not be that your hearing is capable of hearing higher frequencies, but that everybody else is used to hearing the noise and you are simply more perceptive. Either way, it's good to know that there's some other people who hear that kind of stuff!

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Originally posted by MentalBakura
I find the sound of the telly on low volume very relaxing. I also like the high frequency noise it makes. Off topic: None of my friends can hear this noise, but I can tell if a telly's on without looking, and the telly on mute. Tell me, do I have higher frequency hearing, or do I just have ignorant friends who don't appreciate the small things?

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That always happens to me, too. I couldn't tell you if it's a common thing though, I've never really thought about it or asked anyone else.

Anyways, I don't have a TV in my room, and usually don't fall asleep in the living room, so I don't know if it would affect me. :/