Thread: Thinking what turns into dreaming

That happens to me a lot but no I don't think you can

The thing you're describing is called Hypnagogic Imagery, or HI. It occurs in Stage 1 sleep, or "at the border between waking and sleep." I've sometimes been sitting up while experiencing it. There are sights and sounds that are quite vivid, but very brief, not real, and not easy to remember on coming back to full consciousness, even if you get no deeper than Stage 1 sleep.

You can be "lucid" in this phase, but the imagery tends to be so unstable that it will fade briefly if you try to actively do anything in this state.

I think you can have a real lucid dream with the help of "lucid" HI IF you are late in your nightly sleep cycles and have gotten to the point where you don't pass through Stage 3 or 4 sleep anymore before reaching REM. This is part of how a Wake-Back-To-Bed works, at least for me. If you focus on the HI as you start to fall back asleep, and then you go through maybe a brief Stage 2 before entering REM, then your memory of being aware from "lucid" HI can be pretty fresh, and it can be easier for you to realize you're dreaming.

If it's early in the night/sleep cycles, you will go through a long phase of Stage 3 and 4 sleep before reaching REM and are unlikely to remember either being awake or the HI from Stage 1 sleep.