Lucid Dream Capacity and Waking Activity

Hi this is my first post so im going to give a brief introduction of myself as I hope to be a regular contributor in this forum. Im 18 years old and im a young man from puerto rico. I had a rough childhood, which im proud of as it has enabled me to break through the blindness and ignorance fueled by the system and become one of the aware 5 percent (an earning of stripes if you will). The fact that I had a rough childhood left me feeling that many things were out of my control, such as my own security and physical capacity to defend my self. This vulnerability mixed with a phobia of wasting my life causes me to lead a very productive and active existence. I lift weights, I do grueling conditioning for fighting, I feed my mind with information, I rap, im computer savvy, im one of the fe in my family to ever go to college and the list goes on. This is how I fell upon lucid dreaming. I saw lucid dreaming as an oppurtunity to gain a skill that a VERY small minority of people have and as an oppurtunity to capitalize and be productive in those supposed inactive 8 or so hours of sleep, as well as explore the unknown that is the lucid dream phenonema.

That being said, the problem is the following: monday through friday, apart from college, I literally attempt to kill myself in the gym in order to become more physically capable. When I get home at around 4 im ussually destroyed and drained in everyway possible. You would think that being this tired would enable me to sleep better and achieve a certain ammount relaxation during said rest that would enhance the possibility of lucid dreams. Unfortunately it is much to the contrary. I feel so tired that I cant even concentrate on attaining lucidity, its like my physical exhaustion affects my ability to focus and to do reality checks. I guess what im looking for advice on or im asking is if this seems plausible, and if anybody else has experienced something like this and found a solution.


To summarize, has anyone had any experiences with activity enduced exhaustion in correlation with negative lucid dream effects or the hampering of dreams? Or simply put, does being too tired affect your ability to focus and attain lucidity? If so, any solutions or advice?

First off -- :welcome:

There is actually an on-going study on the effects of exhaustion (among a few other things) on lucid dreaming (LDing) at another LD site. So far it appears that extreme exhaustion can have a negative effect on LD focus and ability.

This is especially bad for people who are just learning to LD, as the focus and the desire to have a lucid dream is so important in causing the first several LDs.

It sounds like your physical training is really important to you, so I wouldn't want you to have to reduce how much effort you put into it. I suggest working on inducing lucid dreams in the morning before you go to the gym and then again as you get ready for bed. I think that doing this coupled with some intensive focus at convenient times during the day should allow you to do enough to get lucid.

I suggest this:

• In the morning, before you get out of bed, lay still for a few minutes and try to recall any dreams that you can. Immediatly write down some short notes on them. Even if you can only recall how you felt, write it down.
• As you prepare for the day (get dressed, etc) repeat a mantra to yourself that makes sense to you. I personally like "I will realize I am dreaming."
• Later, during your first meal take a few minutes to write more detailed notes on the dreams or dream fragments you were able to recall.
• During the day whenever you go to the toilet or have other unused time repeat your mantra to yourself. Repeat the mantra the whole time you are at the toilet (or during the unused time). Try to think of your mantra as weight training. Approach it with the same dedication. To get the most out of the mantra think about what it means to you and what it will feel like to realize you are dreaming. Try to feel that excitement.
• After you finish with your mantra do two different RCs. I suggest the nose-pinch RC be one of them. Here is a tutorial on RCs.
• Then when you are getting ready for bed (brushing your teeth, showering, etc) do your mantra again. Repeat it for a minute or two. Then think back to a dream you were able to remember. Imagine what it would have been like if you had realized it was a dream and done a RC in that dream. How would you have felt? What would you have wanted to do? You've said you are exhausted at this point, but do your best to focus. If you find you are too exhausted at this time of day find a time earlier when your are able to focus to do this.
• You will have to adjust this next step to how quickly you fall asleep, as each person is different. This shouldn't keep you awake. Allow your mind to briefly review the day. Then repeat your mantra again. Then fall asleep.

I really hope you can do what I've suggested, or adjust it do work with your own schedule and exhaustion level. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Good luck!

Thanks a ton seeker, Im surprised I was answered so quickly and in such detail. I neglected to mention that I have willingly attained lucidity before (even though they are not as visually clear as i would like them to be, and spinning doesnt seem to be effective) and I do keep a dream journal and have decent recall day to day. Aside from that, your information is very helpful and I thank you for it. I am still a beginner truly enough, so I guess its a slow process. Ive been at it for about a month and have had about 5 lucid dreams. 16 percent success rate isnt something I would be proud of but being a novice, its better than nothing. Its just that I feel like I have so little time to work on dream control, as I attain lucidity so rarely. Any one screw up, any over excitement will cause the lucidity to go out the window and I get frustrated cause I probally dont get another chance for awhile. I havent been able to maintain the state long enough to manipulate, I havent had shared dreams, I havent talked with the dream characters, nothing. But I guess its a slow process, and my exhaustion isnt helping any either. Frustations aside I thank you for your reply and I will put your suggestions into practice.

That is amazing progress! Five in one month! Most newbies (and many vetran LDers) would kill for that! Dream clarity comes with experience.

If you are serious about learning dream control I suggest reading the first few pages of the thread The Nature of Dream Control by The Cusp. It is the best guide to understanding and controlling the dream world that is out there. It is an on-going thread, and some of it isn't dream related, but it is well worth reading the first few pages worth. Hopefully The Cusp will eventually put it all into a convenient tutorial format.

As always, feel free to ask any questions you have!

Thanks seeker, Ill look into it.