The oldest lucid dreamer you know.

[Howie]

It seems pretty evident that younger people, as a whole, have better dream recall. Dream View's is teaming with youthful members. It seems the older we get that the more difficult it is to attain lucid dreams on a regular basis. I think there are more reasons behind this than it appears on the surface. Meaning more than just age. I would like to hear some of you theories. In addition, please include the age of the oldest lucid dreamer you know. PLEASE DO NOT USE SPECIFIC NAMES WITH OUT PERMISSION OF THAT PERSON. THE NAME IS NOT IMPORTANT ~THE AGE IS JUST FINE Thank you very much ~Howie What is the age of the oldest lucid dreamer you know? a. I am going to give a few of the elder Dream View's members an opportunity to post first. Do you think the older a person is, that it is more difficult to practice lucid dreaming? <WHY> Do you not think that age has any effect on Lucuid dreaming abilities? <WHY>

[pj]

I'm 47 (soon to be 48. ) That makes me the oldest lucid dreamer I know. I have read that age makes a difference, but I don't believe it based on my experience. I had LDs as a child but didn't understand what was going on. Then I started anew last year and met with very satisfactory and continuing success, except for a several month dry spell toward the end of last year.

[Moonbeam]

Hmm, I guess it's definitely pj! (uh-oh I think I just put myself into an elder category by posting 2nd--43 years old.) I was just reading that newborn babies spend more than 50% of their time in REM, and then it decreases with age. However, it must level off at some point after the first few years, and then depend more on the person and their motivation than age. Let's hope. I do think that young people sleep more and have more opportunity; that may be the main advantage. I can't sleep more than 6-7 hours at the very most, while I used to be able to sleep 9 hours or more sometimes.

[Mes Tarrant]

I definitely do not think that it has anything to do with age in the sense that our bodies are changing and whatnot. I think that the main factors are that adults have more going on in their waking lives so they don't have the opportunity to devote the needed time and energy to lucid dreaming.. like moonbeam said. I thought Seeker was older than you pj?

[Phydeaux_3]

Now.. I'm 38 so that puts me in the outer reaches, but you guys have heard me say this before, my Father is a lucid dreamer. He's 61. He's the one that got me hooked on the Casteneda books which is what got me hooked on the LD'ing idea and ultimately what got HIM into lucid dreaming. I'm his "mentor" if you will. He's had 6 or 7 LD's at this point, first one being maybe a year and a half ago, none of which would have happened if I hadn't given him the heads-up on the whole thing and a bunch of tips and pointers. Also, we are both big believers in the Bardo Thodol (Tibetan Book Of The Dead) so we are "practicing" at this point. I don't want to be a stranger in my own mind when the time comes for me to spend the rest of my "life" there. I just hope that I have enough time and perserverance to become adept at being lucid before I die. For me it is being a real uphill climb. With ONE LD to my credit after this many years of attempting it is somewhat discouraging (which is why I always get a bit of a laugh when I hear people piss and moan about "I've been trying for X amount of months & I can't do it, I'm going to quit" LOL!!!) try being in my shoes! 12 years later and still only 1 lucid to my name. But, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Do I let it get me down? Hell NO!!! I've even quit toking COMPLETELY at this point because I started noticing that whenever I smoked even a little I didn't dream for days, totally not worth IMHO. I'm still waiting for my Galantamine to arrive, I'm very hopefull that it will accelerate my progress. In the meantime I'm eating chocolate & cheese & bananas & B6 like it's going outta style before bedtime, and about every 3rd or 4th night I eat about 15-18mg of melatonin (seems to work "for me") and try to keep up my journal. How "old" do you think the Old Hag is? Old as manking ourself?

[Phydeaux_3]

I definitely do not think that it has anything to do with age in the sense that our bodies are changing and whatnot. I think that the main factors are that adults have more going on in their waking lives so they don't have the opportunity to devote the needed time and energy to lucid dreaming.. like moonbeam said. I totally agree, I think too that we're born with the ability only very few of us actually tune the skill. We're told that dreaming is nonsense and spend the majority of the rest of our lives unlearning how to understand our dreaming. When (if even) we start to try again later in life there is a LOT of damage to be undone before we get back to where we started out at in the first place. I'm trying very hard to get my daughter (almost 4) in tune with her dreams so that she never has to unlearn and relearn the way I did. I just wish to Jebus that someone had been there for me when I was little, it would have been SO MUCH easier than starting over again.

[Spartiate]

I am the only person I have met that has lucid dreams . Anyways, I'm not so sure that aging has no physical affect on lucid dreaming. It's known that the brain, along with its functions, degenerates with age (sorry but it's true ). So age must at some point physically interfere with dreaming, especially when it comes to dream recall.

[Mes Tarrant]

I am the only person I have met that has lucid dreams . Anyways, I'm not so sure that aging has no physical affect on lucid dreaming. It's known that the brain, along with its functions, degenerates with age (sorry but it's true ). So age must at some point physically interfere with dreaming, especially when it comes to dream recall. Yeah like in the case of say a 90 year old... Actually yeah, I'm sure your ability to remember dreams is correlated with your ability to remember things in waking life. So in general, as you get older, your memory in general starts to go, and hence your dream recall. But again, I don't think this should be a hindrance unless you are of advanced years.

[Oneironaught]

The guy who introduced to lucid dreaming just turned 57 (I believe) a few weeks ago. He still does LD but only about once every few months because he's not been actively engaged in it in years now. I think age does affect one's LD ability but not in a way that can't be countered with conscious attention and working at it, like what we here at DV. It's common for natural LDers to be so at a young age then taper off or completely lose it as they grow to adulthood. [mytheory] The focus of daily attention from play and fantasy to awareness of the external world and responsibility tends to make dreams more distant to us. As we become more a part of the external world the inner world gets squelched and muted. Children tend to be better at dream recall, or at least more aware of the dream world. But, generally speaking, as they learn to distinguish that dreams are not the real world*, the perceived importance of dreams lessens. [/mytheory] In the very ways that we - as active** LDers - improve our odds of success, anyone with a sound mind (able to understand what 'dreams' are) of any age can have lucid dreams. I think a lot of it (especially for non-naturals) is about mindshare. Restore mindshare to childhood levels and you improve your odds of becoming lucid in the dream state. Even if that mindshare is on a subconscious level. * Not necessarily in a lucid dream sense but rather, in terms of after the fact recollection. ** Active in the sense of intentional attention to (and mental occupation with) dreams during waking life.

[Merlock]

A bit off-topic but... I know it's a serious thread but we were all thinking it. On-topic though: the age difference is pretty obvious. A new age is upon us when people are becoming wiser, more open-minded, etc. Before, lucid dreaming seems to have been the kind of deep secret kept only by zen monks and what not. Then along came LaBerge and others and...here we are!

[Mes Tarrant]

A new age is upon us when people are becoming wiser, more open-minded, etc. Ahhh... I think that explains perfectly the reason for all the youngsters on DV. I think that in some point in the future if/when lucid dreaming becomes very popular, a place like DV will see a much more equal age distribution. Edit: And of course it also has to do with which group tends to use the internet the most.

[Adam]

Depends on what ages you are talking about. I used to lucid dream from when I was about 12 I think, might have been younger, but they were all natural DILDs and only occurred sporadically. Since then, now being almost 26, I can lucid dream pretty much as often as I like through induction techniques learnt. So for me, getting older, has made me get better.. I think later in life though, this could change with deteriorating health etc, and I think this would play a big part, that and the fact you sleep a lot less when you get older, so you have less REM sleep, from which most lucid dreams occur so you are shortening the window of opportunity for them. Just my thoughts..

[skysaw]

43 here, so another "oldbie." I only had my first lucid when I was about 30, so I don't know what it would have been like in my teen years. I can tell you though that I've never had more lucids than I'm having this year. Plenty of recall and plenty of control. No complaints here!

[Oneironaught]

Edit: And of course it also has to do with which group tends to use the internet the most. Yes, it has a LOT to do with that, as far as the website goes. I don't think that Dreamviews gives an honest, random sampling of lucid dreamers by the very nature of the Internet and the demographic that generally has the most time to spend on forums.

[three and four]

I’m 37. I first got interested in lucid dreaming when I was about 15, but was not able to have an LD. I think that lack of perseverance and discipline was the problem. I had my first LD when I was 26 – it just happened spontaneously and it was awesome. So damn beautiful... I started working seriously at LDs about three years ago, and have had about 75 during that period. I do find it difficult, and they don’t come easy. WILD is best for me, but GalantaMind and Alpha-GPC have been a great help, but I don’t want to become too much of a junkie... If the brain does indeed become less supple with age, I think this can be compensated by discipline and will (I certainly have more of these now than when I was 15...). I know a small number of people who’ve had lucids, but I don’t personally know anybody who works at it regularly. But luckily we have DV!

[Howie]

There is scientific data, compliments of EEG, PET, and FMRI scans that do show that older people do spend less time in REM periods of sleep. Also less sleep and more sporadic. For me personally, My mind is always requiring new ideas and techniques to achieve what I consider adequate lucid dreaming abilities. It has been a fight. Why? Lots of things to take into consideration. As was pointed out, much more stress for most adults. (always exceptions on both ends) Much more conditioned thoughts to overcome too. I am similar to Skysaw. I had my 1st Lucid dream in my thirties. Damn I wish I had known about them in my teens.