Making the best of the REM rebound effect?

**GiraffeMan** · 07-18-2012 12:59 PM

Hey, I'm new and about to head to work and wanted to post a thread before I head out so I didn't have time to search if this has been covered or not, so sorry if it has!
It's not uncommon for me to naturally wake up after 6 or 7 hours of sleep; not ideal, but I recently quit smoking cannabis so that's expected for a while. However last night I woke up after about 3 and a half hours of sleep and thought "Ooo I'll try a WILD." long story short: I thought I laid there awake four 45 minutes, but the next time I checked the time it was already 5 in the morning and I was wide awake. Considering that cannabis inhibits REM sleep(I smoked for a little under a year before I quit) and my waking up early, I feel like my body has tons of REM rebounding to do. I just never seem to get a good solid second half of sleep when the REM cycle is at its best. I stop eating at least 4 hours before bed and don't have too much trouble falling asleep, steer clear of bright lights, etc. I am also very familiar with natural sleeping supplements, but I can't usually take anything late in the night because I don't want it to effect my work.
I'm sorry if I sound like a total n00b, but does any one have any ideas? Thanks!

**dutchraptor** · 07-18-2012 02:31 PM

So is your question, how to make use of rem rebound or how to fall back asleep?

**GiraffeMan** · 07-18-2012 05:32 PM

How to make use of the rebound.

**dutchraptor** · 07-18-2012 05:36 PM

Well firstly you should try Wild a bit later, maybe 4 or 5 hours after walking up. Other than having a higher chance of becoming lucid due to the extra rem time I couldn't think of a way you can really use it to yuor advantage. In some cases I could see this as a disadvantage because you might be too tired to try Deild for example.

**Jdeadevil** · 07-18-2012 05:49 PM

Welcome to the forum.

The best thing to do now that you've quit is give your internal system time to adjust to the defaults, in other words make sure your body gets used to falling asleep and waking up at around the same time without any external substances. When you feel like the time is right you will want to concentrate on getting at-least (and I quote a dream guide for this number) 4.5 hours sleep. The reason behind this is because our brain produces the vital brainwaves required to alter our states of consciousness, so waking up after that many hours will give you the spark to try a lucid dreaming technique, like the one you mentioned. Keep in mind though that everybody's different and 4.5 is just an average for most people, so experiment with different hours of sleep as I've seen a lot of people say different things with how long you should sleep.

Again, your recent departure from Cannabis (which altered your sleeping cycle) could get in the way and move around, so you may want to experiment for much longer than usual, or wait a little bit before trying again.

Hope that helps. Need more advice, ask away.