So, I'm confused!! Contradictions??

[Carlitos]

Well, where to start.... ever since I was... younger than I am now I've loved dreams and always thought dreams were amazing, and now that I discover this Lucid Dreaming I wander what level I might be at already, and what things to do. THere is a lot of confusing things on the forum but I'll get to those later; First I want to start on what seems to be a contradiction to my experience; I basically seem to, no not even seem to, begin to dream as soon as I fall asleep... mainly on occassions where I am quite tired; You may asak how I know this, and the best thing I can do is give an example... Like last night I was watching something on TV before I went to bed.. a sitcom o some sort on Iplayer about half an hour long. Anyway, I started to drift off, and sure enough a dream started to form but it was alot sooner than 90 minutes. In this dream near the start I jumped off of some something or over something I don't remember exactly but my legs spasmed as if they were really trying to jump and I woke up and noticed that the comedy was still on and near a bit I remember seeing before laying down so I know that it was fairly soon. And obviously it's not just happened on this one occassion... at sleepovers I've been drifting off, maybe fallen asleep for 15 minutes and woke up and had like a 1 - 2 minute dream within 1 minute of falling asleep. I want to know how this is possile since it's supposed to be after 90 minutes of sleeping, or so I've read?? Anyway next, what is a dream guide? :O Any help or tips to Lucid Dream would be greatly appreciated!

[Conquer]

As far as I know, It's not always after 90 minutes you start dreaming. But if you've read about WBTB, the whole "sleeping for 5 hours thing" is a technique to help you enter REM sleep faster (where the most vivid dreams occur). About dream guides; they're a mental image and form of your subconcious in your dream- a figure that takes a shape usually of a person, which you could have conversations with, and in theory it's the thing that causes that little voice inside your head, and what decides what you dream about. However, I've yet to find mine (or attempt to), but theres a lot of discussion posts about it and I think a couple tutorials. As far as if it's true or not, I guess it's impossible to prove or disprove. The quick start tutorial (here) is a great place to start. Once you've finished with that, you might want to move onto some techniques developed by people around the forum. Keep in mind that everyone is different, and what works for someone twice a week might only rarely work for you. http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ead.php?t=1518 Above is a link to the tutorial page, I advise a simple technique like DILD, reality checks, dream journals, etc. Don't go for things like WILD if you haven't had many lucid dreams as it's very difficult and takes lots of people months to make it happen for them. As far as the whole ''reality checks'' business, I'd advise performing ones that are publicly acceptable - such as simply asking yourself (when you see something that makes you think you might be dreaming) how did I get here? Does this make sense? Could I be dreaming? If you're still unsure you could go for something like inspecting your hands - lots of people report their hands being strange during dreams; a different color than normal, skin looking strange, even missing fingers. Blah sorry I realized I'm rambling and I hope this was of help to you, best of luck. Welcome to dreamviews, enjoy your stay. Tyler.

[Carlitos]

Oh yes that helps alot thanks... now I know what a dream guide is... I wonder what form mine would take... if I ever manage to find it :S What does WBTB stand for though? And is it usual to just sometimes start dreaming as soon as you fall asleep? I mean like how I mentioned... I guess I'm just confused on how it's possible...

[Videogamer 4 Life]

WBTB stands for Wake Back To Bed. It's when you wake up during or just before one of your REM cycles and then stay up for a varied amount of time (from 15 seconds to 15 minutes) while looking at something involving lucid dreaming. It's most useful, though, when combined with another technique, it kind of works like a boost. FILDs, HILDs, and MILDs are some of the more common techniques used with a WBTB. If your confused (like I still am a bit ) with the acronyms, a full list can be found here. As for how long it takes to actually start dreaming at all, I have no clue.

[Carlitos]

Ahhh thanks for your help! That list of acronyms truly does make it easier for me. There's soooo many on this forum. Also, I've never tried the technique WBTB so I don't know how I can dream almost as soon as I sleep? I suppose it's a question I'll never get answered!

[Robot_Butler]

If you are really tired, you could enter REM as soon as you fall asleep. Normally, you do not, but sleep deprivation or abnormal sleep schedules can cause it to happen. Naps also seem to drop you directly into a dream. Or falling asleep during a boring presentation. Also, you can have dreams during your other sleep cycles, but they are not as vivid or coherent as the dreams you can have during REM. They are mostly little blips of dream. Since you don't wake up after them naturally, they are almost impossible to remember. As the night progresses, your dreams become longer and more vivid. Wake Back To Bed (WBTB) is a technique to take advantage of your longer REM periods later in the night. You wake yourself up after a few hours of sleep, get your brain active, and then return to sleep.

[NostalgicHoney]

Welcome to Dreamviews, Carlitos!

[Carlitos]

@Robot_Butler: Ahh, thanks! That gives me a little more insight and understanding into what exactly is going on! I guess that's all my questions answered! Thanks guys! @NostalgicHoney: Hey! Thanks for the welcome! I hope my stay here is a long one and that I can get to know people (who are hopefully awesome, as I'm sure you all are) and most of all, learn how to lucid dream

[ninja9578]

If you had poor REM sleep the previous night then you might have a freak REM rebound as soon as you go to bed, but it is uncommon. Also a strange sleep schedule will cause that, if you are doing some sort of polyphasic sleep then you may have REM at random times. In a normal 8 hour night on a steady sleep schedule you will not enter REM for a good 90 minutes. Another possibility is that you are simply remembering a dream from the previous night that was stored in your dream memory.

[Robot_Butler]

Another possibility is that you are simply remembering a dream from the previous night that was stored in your dream memory. Ooh that sounds cool, I never thought of that. Have you heard of that before? Is it a common thing? I've been really into exploring dream memory lately.

[ninja9578]

Occasionally at night when I'm going to bed I'll remember a dream from the morning that I forgot all about. It doesn't happen to me very often, but I'm sure it could be happening here. I also tend to recall things from dreams in a meditative state. If you're exploring dream memory, try in the middle of the day like that, laying down works best for me. Don't know why

[ninja9578]

REM is a brain thing, not a body thing. It doesn't go into REM during the day unless you fall asleep. Naps are almost exclusively REM, that's why it's so easy.

[Videogamer 4 Life]

If you are really tired, you could enter REM as soon as you fall asleep. Normally, you do not, but sleep deprivation or abnormal sleep schedules can cause it to happen. Naps also seem to drop you directly into a dream. Or falling asleep during a boring presentation. Also, you can have dreams during your other sleep cycles, but they are not as vivid or coherent as the dreams you can have during REM. They are mostly little blips of dream. Since you don't wake up after them naturally, they are almost impossible to remember. As the night progresses, your dreams become longer and more vivid. Wake Back To Bed (WBTB) is a technique to take advantage of your longer REM periods later in the night. You wake yourself up after a few hours of sleep, get your brain active, and then return to sleep. I heard that the body goes through a REM cycle in the afternoon, is this why you can enter a lucid when taking a nap? Also, does this happen normally, or do you have to be really tired to have it happen?

[Conquer]

Normally, you do not, but sleep deprivation or abnormal sleep schedules can cause it to happen. Naps also seem to drop you directly into a dream. Or falling asleep during a boring presentation. Thanks for the explanation, I've experienced the whole 'sudden dreaming' thing too when I was really tired and I think I fell asleep during a movie. (It's happened quite a few times while very tired) Another possibility is that you are simply remembering a dream from the previous night that was stored in your dream memory. I think the idea of dream memory is very interesting- we have trouble remembering things from when we were awake while we're in a dream, and vice versa.