The relation of happiness and awareness in in life to lucids.

[Lunica]

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[Zakar]

It takes me ~5 hours to get REM and I do realize laziness is a great LD/recall/dream killer. I'm practically forcing myself to write in my dream journal now since I am very out of practice. I have to sleep at LEAST 9 hours if I want dreams (meaning having my body in the bed for ~9 hours). I do notice when I am sad/depressed I have more nightmares. I have had bad dreams whether I am happy or sad though. I have had extremely good dreams while sick and depressed also, it all seems so random. Every time I get an LD I am totally unprepared so I want to be ready for the next time! Also stress is a major killer. Drugs do increase the chance of LDs and sometimes people get to addicted and rely on them for LDs (I was one of them, although my drug was a prescription, it enhanced my dreams 10 fold since it knocked me out cold).

[Lunica]

I also read some people end up relying on drugs for lucids. Maybe thats why I have only just started having lucids again. I have been weed free for over a year. I used to take a lot of valium when I was 17. I bought a load of it when in Egypt. I got hooked on the sleep and dreams! I would be awake for about 5hrs a day. My room was blacked out and I was addicted to dreaming! It was a really strange time in my life tbh. That lasted for about 2months. Not very good at all! I don't want to rely on drugs for lucids. I am hoping coming back to this forum and being a bit more aware will help me out. I will be putting my journal by my bed and making sure I write in the morning. The sleep thing is really tough. I am trying to find a balance and stick at it. If I sleep too much I am not tired when going to bed that following night. If I'm not tired, it takes me longer to get into deep REM. If I wake up early then I haven't slept enough to have more REM time.. !! I think I sleep abnormal amounts already. I'm not sure if I lack vitimins or something. A few months ago I slept for 15hrs straight without waking. Every night I can easily sleep 12hrs. Anything less than 9 and I can barely wake up! Ugh. Am I just lazy?

[monkeyking]

Depressed more than lazy it sounds. Diet, exercise, Pranayama to stimulate your Vagus nerve, but most importantly you need to find yourself anew. Sleeping all day and being high all the time is by no means a necessary step to being regularly lucid, but I believe that being focused and centered will help with everything. That's the condensed soup version.

[Higgs2]

I don't know about drugs or so. I used to smoke weed about 15-20 years ago, but stopped. I had LD's occasionally throughout all my life, but never noticed an increase when smoking weed (and since i am Dutch the stuff i used to smoke was really good, so...). I now have about 1 to 2 LD episodes a week (i call them episodes, because LD's come in series. like 6 days nothing, and suddenly three in a row in one night). As for real life: I do live a very quiet life without a lot of stress. I only work three days a week. refuse to let myself be stressed out, do a lot of relaxation, do some sports like fitness. I do not meditate at all, i sleep normal hours, and only think about dreams i have and what i saw there, and this leads to 1 or 2 LD series a week, and this seems to be improving. I personally think being relaxed and focused help a lot.

[Lunica]

Thanks. I do sports, I go to the gym and I do weight training. I look after myself. I have been depressed before. I'm not depressed now. I am unhappy but I know the cause. I find this to be the hardest point in my life. I think once I fix some problems I will have my mind back. I feel I have stripped my imagination bare. I'm rather ashamed of what I have become actually. I guess I will fix it and see how things go. I deleted my post.