Effect of age on the ability to LD

[Nynaeve]

Anyone else notice that they were able to LD much more easily as a child/young adult than after age 35 or so?

[Conkt]

I think that's because, as you age, you gain more responsibility and don't have time to reflect on dreams. This makes them harder to remember over time, and no recall = no lucidity.

[Kordan]

Yeah, I think that it's due to being busy, not something physiological or chemical or anything. Just time, or the lack thereof.

[Nynaeve]

I think that's because, as you age, you gain more responsibility and don't have time to reflect on dreams. This makes them harder to remember over time, and no recall = no lucidity. Could be, I've only been able to think about this issue lately because things have changed and I have more personal time. Though I would lucid dream quite a bit during a time when I was very busy with school and work while I was in my twenties. That could have been sleep deprivation too I suppose. I can remember being happy on a Saturday morning because I was anticipating lucid dreaming, didn't even think twice about it, I knew that I would, my control over it was that good. Now I can use every technique I can get my hands on and my LD's are few and far between (in comparison to my younger years) and their occurrences don't really seem to be related to my efforts to induce one. I had a 15 year hiatus where I didn't think about dreaming at all and it's since then that my control over LDing has waned dramatically. Perhaps lack of dream recall and lack of practice combined caused this.

[Maria92]

So you're a bit out of practice...it'll come back to you if you keep with it.

[Nynaeve]

Well, I had my first lucid dream at around the age of 4 or 5, I remember being able to choose the monsters in my dreams, discarding the truly scary ones and keeping the ones I liked or being able to modify the ones I wasn't sure about. I never really had to practice anything, I just did it. When I was 13 I discovered that I could lay down for a nap, use a brief meditation technique I had read and go directly into a lucid dream any time I wanted to. I didn't have to do any extensive planning at all, it was just an ability I had. Now even with using all kinds of techniques I have very little control over when I LD. If I had known that I would lose that ability I would definitely have made a conscious effort to keep having LDs throughout the years. I am going to keep trying though...it's just discouraging because before it was so effortless. Thanks for the encouragement.