Heavy / Light Sleepers and Lucid Dreaming.

[sekurit]

I was thinking about general sleep questions today and I was curious how LD's may differ depending on whether or not the dreamer was a heavy or light sleeper. I lived in Florida as a kid and my location let us hear sonic booms as the space shuttle would come in to land. Needless to say, even a few miles from the space center, the sound was loud enough to startle you if you weren't expecting it. On one descent I remember a sonic boom actually caused my dog to jump through the screen on the screened in porch :p while I laid in bed, never hearing a sound. I know of people who are far heavier sleepers and I, and some who wake up at the slightest noise! Does anyone know if light sleepers have a harder, or perhaps easier time with certain aspects of lucid dreaming? Perhaps experienced members could list what type of sleeper they are and what they think. Also, since REM sleep occurs at around 90 minute cycles, and progressively gets longer the longer you sleep - will waking up in the middle of the night, sort of "reset" this internal clock our bodies have and begin right back from where we started when we fall asleep again? Thanks

[Serith]

I think being a heavy sleeper and being a light sleeper both have their individual benefits to lucidity. For example, if you're a heavy sleeper, you'll probably get more sleep, giving you more time to have a lucid dream, and because you sleep deeper, the excitement of becoming lucid would be less likely to wake you up. If you're a light sleeper, you'll be more likely to wake up after your dreams, which will allow you to remember them better, and you'll be better at waking yourself up from a dream if you wish to. As to your second question, no, sleep cycles don't get reset if you wake up in the middle of the night. That's why the WBTB method works so well, because when you go to sleep after you wake up in the middle of the night, you have far less time to wait until the next REM cycle, and the REM cycle is longer and more vivid.

[sekurit]

Ah, great! Thanks for the reply.

[Seeker]

What I have noticed is LDs that occur during heavy sleep periods are much more realistic. More real than real life in many cases and lasting much longer. Now, the light sleepers seem to have LDs more frequently, but they are not a clear or last as long.