If I wake up in the middle of the night, I usually have a hard time getting to sleep again,

[gndiego]

Which is becoming a huge problem to me as I try to wild. I wake up around 6am to try it, and if I stay up for more than a minute or so what happens is that I just lie there forever without anything happening. I know I'm supposed to fall asleep again while maintaining my awareness but that's the whole problem: I don't lose awareness because I can't sleep again. It doesn't matter if I'm in the middle of a WILD attempt or not, even if I fail and try to sleep like normal it takes hours for me to sleep again, specially if I'm trying hard to sleep. If I'm concentrating about it, I'd just lie there for a day, without any sleep, apparently. Any tips on this subject? I already read two similar threads about this and people said it might be related to stress but I don't think that my case. I even thought about taking medicine to help me sleeping better because that's been quite a problem to me even If I'm not trying to WILD, but it might make it even harder 'cause I'd lose awareness very easily during my attempt. So, everyone already experienced this and managed to get over it? Might DEILD be a better technique for me since I need to go back to sleep right after waking up? please excuse my english Thanks

[pruzel]

Maybe you should try a different technique. WILD may not be the one for you. MILD is easiest because it is just telling yourself that your going t be lucid tonight. DEILD is a lot like WILD without all the preparation and such. I think if you want WILD but just can't, DEILD is the way to go. ~pruzel

[dutchraptor]

Well first of all we need the details, how long did you sleep already, what are you eating and drinking and how long before sleep. Do you take a large amount of junkfood or drinks or alcohol or anything unusual. Is your room well heated, does sun shine through the windows. What I will say about Deild is that I honestly believe it is easier anyways, however some people have trouble learning what kind of experience it is, so maybe you should have at least one Wild first.

[gab]

It's possible that at 6am you are already well rested. How long do you sleep? Try WBTB after 4.5 hrs of sleep. You should be still sleepy enough to fall asleep.

[gndiego]

Maybe you should try a different technique. WILD may not be the one for you. MILD is easiest because it is just telling yourself that your going t be lucid tonight. DEILD is a lot like WILD without all the preparation and such. I think if you want WILD but just can't, DEILD is the way to go. ~pruzel Thanks, I'm really considering it. Well first of all we need the details, how long did you sleep already, what are you eating and drinking and how long before sleep. Do you take a large amount of junkfood or drinks or alcohol or anything unusual. Is your room well heated, does sun shine through the windows. What I will say about Deild is that I honestly believe it is easier anyways, however some people have trouble learning what kind of experience it is, so maybe you should have at least one Wild first. Hello DutchRaptor. For the answers: - I'm sleeping 6hrs before trying to WILD - I usually have my last meal 2-3hrs before sleeping, no junk food usually - It's not unusual for me to drink before sleeping but whenever I drink, I don't even bother trying to WILD. - My room's got a good temperature and no sunshine comes through the window most of the time. It's possible that at 6am you are already well rested. How long do you sleep? Try WBTB after 4.5 hrs of sleep. You should be still sleepy enough to fall asleep. Yeah 6-7 hours have been good enough for me nowadays. I usually sleep around 00:00 and wake up naturally around 7am, or 6am, when I try to WILD and fail, thus not having any more sleep afterwards. But if I try to do it 4 hours after sleeping, am I not risking trying to do it when my REM cycle is too far away? thanks all

[gab]

Yeah 6-7 hours have been good enough for me nowadays. I usually sleep around 00:00 and wake up naturally around 7am, or 6am, when I try to WILD and fail, thus not having any more sleep afterwards. But if I try to do it 4 hours after sleeping, am I not risking trying to do it when my REM cycle is too far away? As we sleep, we go through sleep cycles. Each one is about 90 min long. Starts with NREM and ends with REM (stage where we have our best dreams). First cycle of the night has about 80 min long NREM and 10 min long REM. As you sleep, NREM gets shorter and REM longer. So after about 8 hrs of sleep, it's almost all REM. So if you know what time you fell asleep, when you wake up, you can tell where in a sleep cycle you are. Ideally, you want to wake up during REM, but other than an alarm, I don't really have a method to wake up then. We do wake up naturally between cycles, after the REM is over. So if you are after 8 hrs of sleep, your next REM will be very close. But if you do it after 4 hrs, it's still doable. Plus, you have to do it that way, since you can't fall asleep if you tried this after longer sleep. if you have time in the morning, like on the weekend, best time for a WILD is when you wake up 90 min before your normal waking time, stay up for 90 min, do 10 min of mantras and take a 90 min nap. Also, keep practicing for DILD. Happy dreams

[gndiego]

As we sleep, we go through sleep cycles. Each one is about 90 min long. Starts with NREM and ends with REM (stage where we have our best dreams). First cycle of the night has about 80 min long NREM and 10 min long REM. As you sleep, NREM gets shorter and REM longer. So after about 8 hrs of sleep, it's almost all REM. So if you know what time you fell asleep, when you wake up, you can tell where in a sleep cycle you are. Ideally, you want to wake up during REM, but other than an alarm, I don't really have a method to wake up then. We do wake up naturally between cycles, after the REM is over. So if you are after 8 hrs of sleep, your next REM will be very close. But if you do it after 4 hrs, it's still doable. Plus, you have to do it that way, since you can't fall asleep if you tried this after longer sleep. if you have time in the morning, like on the weekend, best time for a WILD is when you wake up 90 min before your normal waking time, stay up for 90 min, do 10 min of mantras and take a 90 min nap. Also, keep practicing for DILD. Happy dreams Thanks that was very insightful. Also, I never stopped practicing DILD. All my LD's were DILDs and they were a lot of fun too =)