Night or Afternoon?

[styxcb]

Quick question: I've heard that a lot of people have success with WILD (and lucid dreaming in general) in the afternoon. Why is it so easy to dream while napping, but I have to wait 4.5 to 6 hours to dream at night?

[Puffin]

At night, you don't go into a REM cycle until you sleep for a few hours. WILDing is easiest when you're in the middle of your REM cycle, because that's the time when dreams are made. If you try WILDing at the beginning of the night, you might end up falling unconscious anyways because there may not be a dream to go into (or it may be extremely short). During a nap, your body still has remnants of REM from when you woke up that morning, I believe.

[Feick]

Well stated. You can enter REM for several hours after you wake up. Also, an afternoon nap can also coincide with a natural crash that your body goes through during the early afternoon. I believe it has to do with adenosine being very high in the brain, which accumulates in the brain and plays a part in tiredness and play a large role deep sleep. That's just speculation though.