Waking for dream recall

Sorry in advance if this is a dumb question. Way back in high school I was a DV subscriber and i was desperately trying to have a lucid dream. I had remembered having them when I was younger but I really wanted to be able to become lucid like everyone on DV. When I got to college I stopped trying because I was so stressed and busy that there was no way I could focus enough on becoming lucid. Anyways, now I feel like I am at a point in my life where I can start to try again but I have encountered a unique problem. I was reading up on dream recall and it was suggested that I wake up in the middle of the night during REM sleep to record my dreams. I started to do this, setting an alarm for 6 hours after I fell asleep but my boyfriend, having to get up early for class was getting really mad at me for waking him up every night. I tried drinking a lot of water before bed, as was also suggested by the site but that proved very unreliable. I was wondering if anyone else has encountered a similar problem and if there were any creative solutions.

Thanks,
-Lilly

You can sleep with socks on, put a cell phone in your sock and set the alarm to vibrate. You could also perform a mantra as you fall asleep like, "I will wake up in 6 hours, I will wake up in 6 hours" or "I will wake up after my dream, I will wake up after my dream" or something similar. Since we naturally have micro awakenings throughout the night anyway, a mantra can help bring your attention to them and wake you up naturally.

I agree with Yoshi, I have a tough time with lucid dreaming and my recall lately stinks due to college stress. But I really find simply saying the mantra 'I will remember my dream' until I fall asleep or simply thinking it to myself over and over is very helpful. I've recorded three dreams this week when the past two weeks I had not recorded any due to classes/exams.

Good luck :)

Yeah, mantras can be really helpful for a wide variety of dreaming goals. I suggest just experimenting with a few different ones and see what works best for you.

Well I have tried hiding my phone in creative places so it would only wake me but my BF is a very light sleeper. Thanks for the suggestions, I was just following the tutorial on the homepage. I guess i have a lot to learn about mantras and everything. I'm gonna give that stuff a try. Thanks everyone =)