New here, thought I'd share...

[MichaelInUtah]

My name is Michael. I'll start off by clarifying my situation: I've had lucid dreams on and off nearly all my life. I've wondered if it is due to being Bipolar, as I was diagnosed so and there is some evidence that a side effect is increased lucid dreaming. No, I'm not on any medications, and haven't been in over a year. They don't work, the physical side affects are horrible, and I do a better job of managing symptoms on my own than with pills. I have a stable life- job, wife, family, kids. I'm not religious; I think of myself as agnostic. I don't take drugs, smoke, or even drink. I try to keep a logical, intellectual view on life. The worst I can say is I probably don't eat right or exercise enough, but who does these days? Over the years I've gained some amount of control over the dreaming, though it's still very much a double-edged sword. The problem is it's so intensely realistic, while in them I can't differentiate it from reality. Nightmares become real-life personal horror films, and more than once I've woken up (or been woken up by my spouse, seeing or hearing physical signs of distress) momentarily confused, then completely relieved and thankful that it wasn't, after all, real. Another unfortunate side effect is that unlike normal dreams, which start to fade almost immediately upon waking, lucid dreams are so real to me that they are stored like any other memory. I've even found myself feeling or acting certain ways, subconsciously influenced by events that never truly happened. On the positive side, I've had some great lucid experiences. I started "flying" back when I was around ten, I think. Over the years I've worked on it (silly as that sounds). It's more like, if I concentrate correctly, I can do a sort of float/hang thing in the air, though with limited control. I recall doing a rather poorly executed hover over my neighborhood then, thinking how neat the tops of trees and houses looked. Sometimes in my dreams, I'd do something impossible in real life and be excited and happy- then wake up to the fact it wasn't real! The 'welcome back to reality' factor is also both good and bad, I guess. I've got a really vague theory about how it happens, actually. We've all heard that you have an unconscious mind (which is responsible for dreaming) and a conscious mind (which is 'you'). My thought is that normally, it's all one or the other. In rare cases both are on, which creates what we call lucid dreaming. Call it a defect, or in tech terms an 'undocumented feature' of the brain either way, it seems to make sense. For example, this morning I had a series of lucid dreams. I was 100% awake from 6AM to 7AM. Then I dozed back off, but instead of sleeping normally, my brain kept running while I dreamed. I couldn't tell what was reality anymore- though a few times I started waking up, recognized I was in bed and that I was dreaming, and closed my eyes to successfully return to the dream. While I couldn't completely control the dream, I was able to guide it in the direction I wanted and achieve the goal experiences. I had multiple nice experiences, then left for work by 8PM. Hardly enough time to hit normal REM sleep, huh? There's also a few side effects (which may just be specific to myself). Lucid dreaming makes me tired. A night full of it, and I wake up pretty exhausted. This also makes me think my theory is correct- the concious brain never getting a chance to rest. A lot of times it's worth it, but sometimes I really miss old-fashioned sleep. I've also had the problem that my brain seems to keep going even while I sleep... if someone watches a TV at night in the other room, I often wake up tired but able to quote from whatever program/movie was on the next day. Obviously, I now seek to always have a quiet, dark house at bedtime. Lucid dreaming can also be addictive. Imagine your own personal real-life playground, where you can run, explore, and do anything without consequences. I once remember running (? I was moving quickly, anyway) through a series of rooms; another time I was in a town, going through doors. The detail and realism was wonderful. Once there was a long line of people before me, and I slowly looked each one in the face, marveling later that my brain could create all these individual diverse persons so effortlessly. Perhaps that's one of the reasons I'm convinced it's reality during the experiences. I've explored actions I would never do in real life. I've used it as my own little fantasy world, having pleasurable guilt-free experiences with others. I've just had fun exploring houses I used to live in, captured in perfect detail (though usually with some strange changes), never knowing what or who was around the next turn. I haven't read any of the forums here yet, but I'm looking forward to doing so. It will be interesting to see if anyone else has comparable experiences or comments. Just thought I'd say hi and introduce myself

[Clairity]

Michael, I'm glad you decided to join us! I enjoyed reading your intro and I feel as tho I already know you in a way now. I think you have a lot to offer to the forum and I look forward to reading more about your experiences! If you should like to start an online dream journal you can find information on how to do that in the Newbie Zone Guide. The Newbie Zone Guide contains helpful information about this site: http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=36723 You might also want to check out the Tutorials forum which contains information on the various lucid dreaming techniques and other helpful stuff: http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...splay.php?f=25 If you should have any questions, please ask and we'll do our best to get you answers. Welcome to Dream Views!

[drmrgrl]

Michael- wow! your situation is a unique one, i've never heard of Bipolarism(or however you'd say it!) affecting lucid dreams, then again im not one to talk since im not bipolar! so, you never know. i am sorry that i cannot read all you posted, but i will definately check back in an hour and reply to everything. anyways, to DV!!!

[Moonbeam]

to DreamViews, Michael! Your experiences with lucid dreaming are very interesting. For example, this morning I had a series of lucid dreams. I was 100% awake from 6AM to 7AM. Then I dozed back off, but instead of sleeping normally, my brain kept running while I dreamed. I couldn't tell what was reality anymore- though a few times I started waking up, recognized I was in bed and that I was dreaming, and closed my eyes to successfully return to the dream. While I couldn't completely control the dream, I was able to guide it in the direction I wanted and achieve the goal experiences. I had multiple nice experiences, then left for work by 8PM. Hardly enough time to hit normal REM sleep, huh? That is called WBTB - "Wake Back to Bed" which is a common technique used to induce lucids. You have independently discovered it. Part of the reason it works is that you go into REM sleep almost immediately when you go back to bed. There's also a few side effects (which may just be specific to myself). Lucid dreaming makes me tired. A night full of it, and I wake up pretty exhausted. I'm usually energized after a really good lucid, but sometimes I lose sleep because of it, so I'll be tired later. Lucid dreaming can also be addictive. Yes, it can be! A good addiction tho. Have fun on the forum!

[MichaelInUtah]

By glancing over some other posts, it looks like I am unique in some ways. Namely, I don't try to attain LD, it just happens for me. I think I can explain why, by continuing my theory on how it occurs at all, and what being Bipolar means... When you're Bipolar, your brain cycles between slower, depressive, "sleepy" thought and manic, fast, "wide-awake" thought. Normally this is tempered and hopefully (to some degree) controlled by medications. During manic phases, most people talk fast, are very intellectual/creative, and have less need for sleep (plus a hard time falling or staying asleep). 'Manic behavior' can obviously lead to some unwise choices, like promiscuousness or racking up credit card debt. Eventually that 'high' feeling ends, and one crashes down, usually into depression. How extreme these cycles are and how fast one changes have to do with the individual, health habits, stress, age, and other factors. Now, personally I've used my intellect and logic skills to temper this disorder, after medications failed miserably. The cycles still occur, but not in destructive ways anymore. During manic phases, I'm just very productive and ambitious. Hopefully the worst I get in a downcycle is grumpy or irritated, perhaps a bit forgetful. The best way to imagine being Bipolar is a car analogy; you always have the same engine (brain), but during a manic phase you just temporarily got an oil change, new spark plugs, and are running hi-octane fuel instead of the cheap stuff Back to my theory on how LD occurs. Normally, when you go to sleep, your conscious mind shuts down and your unconscious mind takes over. On some rare occasions (caused by drugs, herbs, chance, or whatever) your conscious brain stays awake to some degree. The more awake it is, the more lucid, controllable and memorable your dreams are. This also explains that rare condition where a person put under sedation for surgery can't move, but is still completely aware and awake. There's usually a switch that gets triggered automatically, telling the conscious brain to turn off. If the switch fails, we get lucid dreaming. I get to LD a lot because my brain is already wired badly While 'manic,' my brain never wants to sleep... even while sleeping. Like this morning, my brain woke up at 7am and refused to turn back off, even though my body was willing to sleep some more. The switch failed- so instead of interacting with the external world, my consciousness began interacting with my subconsciousness. This brings us to another part of my theory (am I boring anyone yet?): nightmares and LD episodes. When your consciousness starts interacting internally instead of externally, it's harder to wake up- because the switch is technically already halfway on. You're somewhat awake already, just not in the conventional way. My spouse, as I mentioned, has sometimes had to wake me up when I'm obviously having a bad LD experience. Even if I'm aware I'm dreaming, it's difficult to get myself fully awake. How many other people have had a scary, realistic nightmare they can't wake up from? Just another lucid dream, IMO. Moonbeam- That's kind of neat that I figured out a LD technique by accident! As I often wake up in the middle of the night and go back to bed, it might also help explain why I have them so often. I'm not sure I've ever been energized, but then see my first post about not exercising or eating right! Maybe I should LD about eating vegetables and doing push-ups... though then it wouldn't be very addicting, huh? I guess the bad part about how I specifically LD is that I can't give much helpful advice on getting there. Nor can I control when it happens. I'll go weeks or even months with normal or no dreams, then hit a solid week or more of lucid dreaming. I could probably give a lot experiential information, based on what I've figured out myself over the years. I don't think I would really journal my dreams though, as I know I can keep having them, and guide them toward what I want. Besides, I'm sure some of them aren't fit for reading...

[Moonbeam]

I wish I could have lucids as easily as you. Moonbeam- That's kind of neat that I figured out a LD technique by accident! As I often wake up in the middle of the night and go back to bed, it might also help explain why I have them so often. I'm not sure I've ever been energized, but then see my first post about not exercising or eating right! Maybe I should LD about eating vegetables and doing push-ups... though then it wouldn't be very addicting, huh? Or fun, either! I think stick to the fun stuff in dreams. I get energized because it was so cool. Maybe because I don't have them all the time like you. If you want to eat right, you can save your bad eating for lucids! That makes it guilt-free. Besides, I'm sure some of them aren't fit for reading... We don't worry too much about that....they're just dreams, after all.

[DreamingGod]

MichaelInUtah I've see that you've had a very interesting life of Lucid Dreaming