I learned about Lucid Dreams sometime last year and was excited at the prospect of being able to have them myself (in fact I had a semi-lucid dream before then involving me falling into a deep river and noticing that I could breathe underwater). Sadly I lacked the determination to put enough effort into keeping a dream journal and do regular Reality Checks and kind of forgot about it. So now I've picked it up again with a bit more resolve which is why I joined the forum.

So far my problem is that I feel as if I take too long to fall asleep at night (can't stop my bloody inner monologing). How long does it take the average person to fall asleep? Also I have a basic understanding of sleep cycles (90-100 mins each with 5 phases, longer REM cycles close to morning), but how long does the first REM last and how much does it increase by every cycle?

Lastly are there any recomendations as to what induction technique I should use? I get that everybody has differing success with different methods, but is there any correlation to personal attributes and which method works best for that person?