Want to have Lucid Dreams, but have a slight problem.

I don't know if this is common or not, but I have a hard time getting to sleep. I used to have dreams all the time as a little kid, but now I don't have any (that I remember). I know this can be fixed with practice in Dream Recall, but I take forever to fall asleep. I can't tell when to set my alarms, because it can be up to two hours off (as in, when I lay down to sleep, I don't fall asleep till two hours later). I guess I'm asking for a way to fall asleep faster (preferred) or a better way to wake up during my dreams.

Hi, welcome to the forum.

I've got a similar problem to you there and I know how annoying it can be. What I find can help is doing some exercise before tying ot sleep, or listening to some music in bed just before you go to sleep.

Also, self-suugestion is goof for waking up and remembering dreams. Try telling yourself upon going to bed that you are going to wake up and remember your dreams when they finish over and over. You'll find this helps a bit.

You might also want to look into sleep patterns and sleeping problems, there's bound to be a lot of good advice to help you get to sleep quicker.

-Redrivertears-

Hello :welcome:

Well you could try listening to soothing music like whale songs and what not. As Alex said, self suggestion works a treat. You can try relaxation techniques, for example tense up your muscles in your toes for a few seconds, then release. Work your way up every part of your body up to your face.

It usually removes tension and helps to relax you.

^^ These people are correct, u must listen to them. :)

I used to have alot of trouble falling asleep when I was younger and it was terrible. It was almost like I would lay there waiting to fall asleep and keep checking the clock. Now I fall asleep easily. With school in now I am usually pretty tired from having to get up that early so by 11 or 12 at night I can fall asleep no problem. I listen to alot of music at night and that really helps. I usually flip through the local AM and FM radio stations (and even some not so local ones) or listen to a cd. With listening to music you don't notice yourself drifting off as much and it will get to a point where you aren't really hearing or understaning what the music is or what the talk show is talking about and then I just usually throw my cd player under the bed, roll over, and pass out.

Maybe you should get up earlier for a while? That way you would be tired when you got to bed, and hopefully you will fall asleep faster. Also, by setting your alarm earlier, hopefully you will catch yourself in the middle of a dream and you will improve recall. If you have to wake up at a certain time, maybe you could set alarms for like two hours before and then for every half hour until time to get up. Surely you'd be dreaming one of those times, and you would be really tired at night from the disrupted sleep.

If the music doesn't work, maybe the opposite would help--ear plugs. I used to live in a noisy place and they really helped a lot. But then I got addicted to them and even the noise of my pillow rustling would keep me awake. I forced myself to learn to sleep without them tho.

Good luck.

Thanks for the responses, all!

I know exercise is good for going to sleep, but does it need to be done at a certain time? I'm in a marching band, and that is 1-2 hours of marching with a 50lb drum on. I consider that exercise, but that is about 7:00 in the morning.

And as far as listening to music, I've had mixed experiences. Sometimes I fall asleep very easy with it on, but sometimes it keeps me up. One time I couldn't fall asleep untill I figured I had messed with the Tone, and was able to go to sleep after that.

I just don't know what to do. I miss being able to sleep easily. Sometimes, I will be extremely tired, but just lay in bed for hours trying to go asleep, and it is the most annoying thing ever. I am going to try some warm milk tonight, and maybe that will help.

I have problems falling asleep, i got into the habit of going to bed late and i can't get out of the habit. I have tryed everything to sleep but nothing works so i just wait until i get tired. I way i got to sleep this afternoon which was the first successful nap i have had in about a year was i kept switching the attention of my thoughts because this induces hynagogic imagery which leads to sleep, and in about 20mins i was sleeping.

I was pretty tired though because i had been playing sport and it was really hot outside.

Check out these great posts where hopefully you will some more useful information:
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=25386
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=29056
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=26495
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=22782
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=10027
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=13241
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ead.php?t=4904
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ead.php?t=1352
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=25304
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=14558
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=41171
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=15892
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...read.php?t=710
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=23390
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ead.php?t=5444

And from Lucid Seeker:
Below are some of the ways you can fall asleep quicker.
· Try relaxing your entire body
· Try concentrating on your breathing to achieve a relaxed state quicker
· Try not to think about stress or worries from the previous day since these high emotion will keep you awake
· Try keeping yourself warm so that you can maximize your comfort
· Lay in your bed and imagine all your conscious thoughts drifting away slowly and your vision blurring as your last thought leaves your mind and feel yourself being carried away into the dream world.

It's more common than you think, though be weary of taking sleeping pills (which I did so very often) because of friend psychology teacher said it reduces REM sleep.

Haha, what dodo said was what i was actually going to put down for you, anyways :welcome: to the forum and please feel free to ask anymore questions :) I hope you stick around.