My apologies if this post runs too long or seems scattered brained but I am new and have read a few post on here before joining that has sparked many questions on LD's and dreams in general (glad i stumbled upon this site). First off I know there are general signs that a dream is a lucid one but in my recollection, I can't think of a dream where I couldn't control it in some way and for the majority of the dreams I have I usually feel "conscious" that I'm dreaming. For example: most dreams I have or can recall I feel as if I'm in a hovering state above myself but usually can control my limbs,thoughts and even the events in the "surrounding" area. Would this be classified as LD's, dream control or is it possible to have a mixture of both? Maybe I'm mistaking the definitions of LD"S and or control dreams but this is why I'm asking you for a better understanding of both. Don't know if this question is in the field of LD's but does anyone know why in some of my dreams whenever I try and focus on a person's face, there is a bright light in it's place? It's weird to me but when It's just a glancing look I can see them but when I put emphasis on trying to make out their appearance I get "spotlighted". Also with in the past 5 years or so, I've had a really bad problem with getting or preparing myself for sleep but in this time I've had the most lucid dreams, with a average control over it all. Does anyone know of any good studies on the correlation of insomnia and lucid dreams? I was reading the part on sleep stages and the paralysis of the skeletal muscles and reminded me of a dream I had in which: I was chasing "bad guys" around a city until they just stopped, looked at me and their necks started to twisting upward and I immediately awoke and found myself choking. Now is this some kind of brain thing that happened in reaction to the dream or could I have been involuntarily choking myself while I was asleep (in which I had no recollection of my hands on my neck when I woke up nor did I remember any noticeable redness around my neck)? Well I think I've covered my most random and self interesting questions for now, any feedback will be appreciated on any of my scattered thoughts or questions. Thanks for sticking in till the end and have a good one.