Help with CAT

Last night I tried the Cycle Adjustment Technique. I set my alarm for 6:30 AM instead of 8:00 AM. I ate one slice of colby jack before bed (i was trying to see if it would give me wierd dreams, but I think that may have messed me up).

I woke up at 4:30 AM and couldn't get to sleep at first, but I eventually did. I woke up at 6:10 AM and have now decided to just screw it and stay up.

My question is: If I wake up randomly in the night (and this has even happened without my eating before bed, also I have eaten a whole banana before bed once and I slept through the night) does that mess up the "flow" of a CAT? I'm thinking I should just stay awake all day with no coffee (which I don't drink after 12 noon).

EDIT: Forgot to mention I have no stress in my life, zero. I am unemployed, graduated from school, and basically spend my entire day just doing nothing.

I noticed the coffee part, I am new to lucid dreams, and I find when I ditch all caffeine (including sodas, iced tea (i drink a type that is very bad), and other drinks) I have some seriously messed up dreams, and vivid ones, and if I am correct when I am doing intermediate fasting, I have odder dreams too, so I would try not eating before bed/ditching the caffeine,
By weird dreams, I mean really weird ones, like a hawk flying in a thunder storm of noodles, and sharks dancing in the land of fiery ice, (This dream didn't happen, just a example), could just be me, but I think you should give it a shot if you want *weird dreams*, though I have never gone lucid in a dream like that, probably because I just started trying.

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Originally Posted by TheSheepCounter

Last night I tried the Cycle Adjustment Technique.

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I think this is your main problem. CAT isn't just something you decide to do one night. CAT requires at least a week of preparation to basically program your sleep schedule. What you did sounds more like a WBTB (though not entirely).

To properly do CAT, you first must spend a week going to bed and waking up at the same time every day. Typically you want to spend the entire week waking up an hour and a half before you normally do. So if you typically set your alarm for 8am, set it for 6:30am every day. You want to be incredibly consistent with your sleep and wake times, because you're basically reprogramming your entire sleep cycle (hence the name - "Cycle Adjustment"). It'll be hard at first, but by the end of the week it'll be a lot easier.

After the first week is done, you want to alternate between your early wake up time and your regular time (i.e. 6:30 and 8:00 from the example). The goal is that during your later wake-up times, your brain will still wake up at 6:30, but your body will still be sleeping. If you're in a dream at this time, you'll suddenly realize that you're dreaming, because your brain is now active enough to realize that fact.

CAT is, for most, one of the hardest induction methods, because instead of requiring mental preparation (even though doing RCs and awareness can help with CAT) it mainly requires physical preparation. Plus, it honestly doesn't fit in with most peoples' busy schedules (like me, hence why I've never tried it). However, it can also be one of the most rewarding methods, since you essentially have a lucid dream every other night if everything goes right.

I am trying my best to perservere through this. I slept through the night last night, and didn't remember any dreams, but I think that may be because my brain still hasn't gotten used to waking up early. I eat a banana before bed and try to do reality checks properly (after seeing something wierd instead of every hour like I used to). I'm also reading a book about lucid dreaming, staying off the screens an hour before bed, and reading my dream journal for ten minutes before I sleep. I've had lucid dreams before, but they were pretty humdrum (no flying or anything like that), and I didn't have much dream control.

I chose to do CAT because I'm unemployed and graduated school, therefore I can afford to lose sleep, and since I've already had the pleasure of a few lucid dreams, it seemed like something I should try.

If you don't care that much about loss of sleep, I can recommend you something I sometimes do. If I do WBTB and take a vitamin pill containing B6, B12 and cafeine before going to bed again, my sleep is lighter, my dreams often are more intense, vivid and weird. A couple weeks ago, it induced the first nightmare I've had in 5 years. As nightmares are just great opportunities for lucidity to me, this works quite well. Unfortunately, I always wake up feeling tired, as if my sleep rhythm was messed up and I can't afford to have that very often.

Of course it might not work as well with you as it did with me, and I'm not sure which substance in the pill did the trick, but you might like to give it a try.

EDIT: I see only now that this post was from 2 months ago, apologies if this isn't at all relevant anymore.

if your wake time on day A is at 6:30 and you wake up early don't get out of bed if you can't sleep rest
at 6:30 become active for the full 90 minutes extra RC do stuff that is mentally active (I play minesweeper at high speed, not to win or get good, but to force my brain to think fast)

if you wake time on day B is 8:00 and you wake up early don't get out of bed if you can't sleep rest

on day A or B when it is 8:00 get out of bed

but I find you can get away with much less than a 90 minute adjustment
why not try going to bed at the same time each day and just get up 30min early

but keep sleep times and get up and go times the same (or pretty much the same) and when on the adjusted time if your awake be mentally active and RC testing