Please help!! I keep waking up

[Taromon777]

Ughhh... I'm... so... tired... The first night I tried to LD, I said to myself that I would wake up in the middle of the night and remember my dreams, which I did. But now it's happening every night whether I wanted it to or not! This is very useful for dream recall, but if I wake at sunrise I find it really hard to get back to sleep again. My curtains are paper-thin and the sunlight comes pouring in; it's like trying to sleep with the light on! Sunlight doesn't wake me if I'm already asleep, but if I'm awake anyway it keeps me awake. I've just spent a long, boring three hours lying awake in bed, when I could have been sleeping, or even LDing! How can I make myself wake up earlier, before sunrise, so I can get back to sleep again? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thankyou!

[Darkmatters]

I also found that once you successfully set your intentions they tend to continue for a while. Maybe unfortunate in your case! You might try some good dark windowshades? Mmmm... probably not. A sleep mask maybe? Or try setting an alarm to wake you up at like 4:00, before the sun starts to creep over the horizon, and get used to waking then. And try to 'don;t move, don't open your eyes' technique to train yourself to fall right back to sleep, maybe after reviewing any dreams you can remember. I don't know, just some random suggestions.

[Dre4m3r]

Why not just set an alarm? You can set it so you can wake up before sunrise so you can get more rest before the sun is up. I'm the same way... I hate sleeping with light shining in my room.

[Darkmatters]

Hey guys, take it from somebody who's literally nocturnal (I sleep in the day)... a great investment is a set of blackout shades for your room. Google it... keeps things nice and dark for awesome daytime sleepage. Though might not be worth it unless you're a total nocturnal like me.

[Taromon777]

Why not just set an alarm? You can set it so you can wake up before sunrise so you can get more rest before the sun is up. I'm the same way... I hate sleeping with light shining in my room. I don't actually have an alarm clock (I find the ticking keeps me awake) but I do sometimes use a "mental alarm clock" method, where I tell myself before I go to sleep what time I'd like to wake up (that's how I woke up in the night to recall my dreams in the first place). I find it quite effective, maybe I should give it another try!

[kingofhypocrites]

Use an Eye Mask. It's those things you see rich ladies wearing in movies. My wife uses one. It will solve your problem. It will always look like night. Make sure you spend a good $30 or so on a good one or it will be too uncomfortable to wear.