Thread: Art's Workbook

Hey NewArtemis! Welcome to the Intro Class!

My greeting is quite late, I hope you'll forgive me. We've talked a bit on that chat, and I'm hoping to talk with you more in the future. Love the goals btw

Originally Posted by CanisLucidus

Also, I admit that having a couple of small kids got me more used to grabbing sleep any way I could get it. LOL.

What concerns do you have about disturbing your mate? Are you worried about alarms and stuff? I actually don't use any alarms and eventually just trained myself to get up during natural awakenings. You can enhance this with a drink of pre-bed pee water or apple juice, too.

Lol! I bet that helps a lot I'm fairly decent about letting my mind wander before I sleep (sometimes that's the only way I can sleep), but honestly I don't understand why I can't once I've woken up. Maybe it has to do with the amount of light... I need one of those masks.

I am worried about alarms because when I am asleep it takes something damn near a hurricane to wake me up, I need a blaring alarm right next to my head. How did you train yourself? I've been awakening after my most recent dream, but not on any of the ones earlier in the night.

Originally Posted by paigeyemps

Hey NewArtemis! Welcome to the Intro Class!

My greeting is quite late, I hope you'll forgive me. We've talked a bit on that chat, and I'm hoping to talk with you more in the future. Love the goals btw

No problem, and thanks! I plan on lurking around when I have time. If you have any more ideas let me know!

Originally Posted by NewArtemis

Lol! I bet that helps a lot I'm fairly decent about letting my mind wander before I sleep (sometimes that's the only way I can sleep), but honestly I don't understand why I can't once I've woken up. Maybe it has to do with the amount of light... I need one of those masks.

Yes! I think you are right on with this. Since you go to bed at 2 am (or so), an ideal WBTB is something like 7-8 am. Problem is, the sun's already out in full blaze by then, especially with the time change.

A lot of light, particularly sunlight, greatly hampers melatonin production. A sleep mask and/or a good set of shades sounds like just the thing! If you can think of any way to keep yourself in relatively low light throughout the WBTB, that's probably ideal.

Originally Posted by NewArtemis

I am worried about alarms because when I am asleep it takes something damn near a hurricane to wake me up, I need a blaring alarm right next to my head. How did you train yourself? I've been awakening after my most recent dream, but not on any of the ones earlier in the night.

I became a bit of a fitness buff a few years ago so I drink a lot of water throughout the day. Starting this led to a lot of getting up in the middle of the night to pee. Back when I thought I "barely ever dream", getting up in the middle of the night to whiz sounded like unseemly "old man" behavior. I started cutting off water not too long after dinner and woke up in the middle of the night much less often.

To start WBTBing, I started drinking more pee water and just generally committing to writing down every dream I could remember as soon as I woke up. These practices together made me much more aware of the micro-awakenings I have throughout the night. Apple juice seems to go right through me and has tended to give me really vivid dreams. (RareCola and paigeyemps led me to this wonderful stuff.) I do recommend brushing your teeth after drinking a bunch of juice before bed though.

Since you are a really deep sleeper, I highly recommend consulting with paigeyemps, who I know has dealt with the same deep sleeper issues. I think she might have increased her apple juice consumption and relied on the bladder-based alarm clock...?

Originally Posted by NewArtemis

I am worried about alarms because when I am asleep it takes something damn near a hurricane to wake me up, I need a blaring alarm right next to my head. How did you train yourself? I've been awakening after my most recent dream, but not on any of the ones earlier in the night.

One thing I have tried with alarms is putting it where I have to get out of bed to turn it off. Whatever alarm you choose, its gotta wake you up. Personally, I use an alarm clock with bells.


or one I have now which has the same basic design as this one:




My cell phone is really loud and it will flash a light which wakes me up before the alarm goes off. Of course, I am usually a light sleeper but there have been times where my alarms were not enough.
Telling yourself that you will hear the alarm before you go to sleep may also help. And one more tip, we usually become very slightly aware between sleep cycles while at the same time we have more even levels of brain chemicals going on. When we wake up in the middle of a cycle, we are usually more lethargic, and sleepy. So it could be a good idea to set your alarm at one of the division points in your sleep cycle.

Also, as I have proceeded in the practice of awareness, I seem to be having more awareness during those gaps. So far, I have been moving around during these gaps but they are good things for DIELDs and WILDs.

Anyhoo, good hunting and welcome to the classroom!